Every company has implemented a customer or employee survey at one time or another. Often times, a lot of time and effort are put into these surveys, only to result in a little generic input, ample complaints, vague feedback, and minimal insights or "ah-ha" moments. Why is this the case?

We had an organization come to us that was struggling with getting sales trajectories turned around - a common problem for many companies. Through extensive discussions, we identified a wide variety of issues, from bloated inventory to high-cost/low-return investments, to ineffective marketing strategies - all of which could be easily changed to get sales back on track. The team agreed that these areas needed addressing, and were eager to get sales moving up.

Yet, nothing happened. Literally nothing. Follow up meetings and discussions resulted in rehashing the strategies and discussing justifications for maintaining the status quo. Time was of the essence, as the organization was struggling to stay afloat. Why did the leaders resist the opportunity to change?

This fourth of July, I enjoyed a game at our regional Single-A affiliate stadium, with sun, beer, brats, and great baseball. We also had the pleasure of sitting next to 2 scouts, who were clocking pitches, detailing the stats and performance of every player on the field. They had been following all the teams in the division and attending every game, including taking videos of key player performances, as well as the stadium, noting attendance and atmosphere. A detailed analysis indeed.

So what does this have to do with recruiting and retaining talent for your organization? Everything.

When a company decides to do something new, employees usually try several different ways of carrying out the activity. But once they have found a way that works particularly well, they have strong incentives to lock into the chosen process and stop searching for alternatives.

Fixating on a single process frees people’s time and energy for other tasks. It leads to increased productivity, as employees gain experience performing the process. And it also provides the operational predictability necessary to coordinate the activities of a complex organization.

But established processes often take on a life of their own. They cease to be means to an end and become ends in-and-of themselves. People start following the processes not because they’re effective or efficient, but because they’re well known and comfortable.

I received an unsolicited email from a consultant, talking about their services and inquiring if I would be interested. Disregarding the fact that the email was littered with generalities about "successfully serving large clients" and "creating win-win" outcomes (which is a whole issue in itself), the big theme throughout was that they provided "value-added" services. Even worse, the contact's title was "Value-Added Consultant".

We have all dealt with it. Someone in the organization that's an Eeyore. Maybe it's someone on your team, or maybe it's even the head of your department. What is an Eeyore? In the story, he is generally a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, and anhedonic character. Pessimistic, gloomy and depressed people usually wear their unhappiness on their sleeve for all to see like Eeyore. But outside of a diagnosed condition, this attitude can be toxic for your organization.

When we talk with companies about gathering insights about customers, often times there's a push for getting a ton of information. From interests to behaviors, companies want to understand each and every detail in the hopes of identifying that new thing which will create growth, increase customer retention or expand share of wallet.

The problem is, it can be too much information.