. If You're on a Workplace Improvement Team, Please Read This! by Tom Terez . This article is available for free reprinting in your newsletter, e-letter, magazine, Web site, intranet site, or training materials. Sign up for instant access to the Reprint Center.   . When it comes to workplace improvement, nothing holds as much unfulfilled potential as the leadership groups that are set up to make it happen. Maybe there's one in your organization. Perhaps you're a part of it. They go by names like Workplace Improvement Committee, Engagement Team, and Employee Satisfaction Task Force. These groups are always created with good intentions. They're staffed by people who want to make a difference. Sometimes they get things done. But all too often, the well-intentioned Workplace Improvement Committee becomes its own bureaucracy. The seven or so people who make up the group attend regular (usually monthly) meetings. They talk. They produce meeting notes. They meet again. They talk some more. What rarely occurs is any significant action that truly changes the workplace for the better. So what's the solution? How can these important groups become a force for positive change? Here are five essential actions: 1. GET SMARTER ABOUT THE WORKPLACE Gather all available data, information, and stories that can provide insights into the state of the workplace. Customer satisfaction surveys and employee surveys can provide all sorts of clues -- if you dig deeply. So can info from focus groups and meaningful exit interviews. Even unsolicited stories and testimonials can shed important light on the current situation. Is available information sorely lacking? Then create a simple process to capture it. 2. BRING IN BIG IDEAS Turn the team into an aggressive think tank that's always on the lookout for big ideas. For starters, make the most of all that nearby brainpower by getting input from colleagues. Then fan out and visit other organizations that are doing great things to build their cultures. Comb through the latest business magazines to find rich examples and case studies. Attend conferences. Share all of this gathered intelligence at the group's meetings, so everyone can get wiser about workplace improvement. 3. MAKE IT EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY Seize every opportunity to get more people involved. Hold regular employee dialogue sessions to get input. Sponsor project-specific teams, made up of people who do the work that's the focus of the improvement efforts, to plan and implement specific action ideas. Hold periodic planning sessions that involve a wide cross-section of the workforce -- like an annual gathering to reflect on progress and plan the next stage of improvement efforts. The challenge of building a better workplace should be everyone's responsibility, and this will happen only if everyone has a meaningful role. 4. ENGAGE THE LEADERSHIP Ideally, the group should include (but not be dominated by) key leaders from the organization, or at least one top manager who can serve as a communication conduit to the rest of the leader- ship team. A second-best approach is to have two or three people from the group fill this conduit role -- by engaging the leaders in periodic dialogue, ideally at meetings when all top managers are present. Leadership support has to be earned -- by doing work and generating results that relate to the bottom line and the strategic goals of the organization. So leverage the heck out of every success story as it develops. 5. TAKE THE LEAD IN TAKING ACTION Each and every committee member should be an instigator-in-chief who leans forward and gets things done. Have you been talking about organizing a regular series learning forums for employees? Make it happen! Have you found several best practices at other organizations that can improve your hiring process? Then get with human resources and unload your findings. Are committee members buzzing about a new book they've just read about workplace improvement? Pick out one or two of the book's best action ideas and put them to work now. Won't a bias for action get messy? Sometimes. Learn from it and keep going. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tom Terez (TomTerez.com) is an international consultant and frequent speaker on organizational performance (BetterWorkplaceNow.com) and personal excellence (InnerBest.com) Copyright 2007 Tom Terez. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2008 Tom Terez Workplace Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. P.O. Box 21444, Columbus, Ohio USA 43221-0444. Tel. 614-488-9721. Online Contact Form Home | Ideas and Insights | Improvement Tools | White Papers | Reprint Center | Talks, Workshops, Consulting | E-Letters | Contact | For Clients Visit our other sites:...TomTerez.com...InnerBest.com BetterWorkplaceNow.com, Better Workplace Now, TomTerez.com, InnerBest.com, and Inner Best are trademarks of Tom Terez Workplace Solutions, Inc.