Employee Focus Groups Best Practices

Done well, employee focus groups can play a very useful role in internal communications, with the ability to gain valuable insights. But done badly they can do more harm than good. The secret is knowing how to conduct them properly: employee focus groups best practices, and here’s how.

The best way of learning the secrets of how to conduct successful focus groups is of course through experience, or in the absence of having it yourself, the experience of someone who really knows what they’re talking about.

Angela Sinickas is one of the world’s leading authorities on internal communications and has vast knowledge of employee focus groups. She knows all the opportunities they present and how to maximize their benefits, and she also knows the pitfalls that can turn a potentially great experience sour, with negative consequences for the wider organization.

We asked Angela to share the benefits of her insights so that we could share them with you. The result is her invaluable Top Tips & Traps, brilliant advice that takes you through what you should and should not do and how to handle tricky situations in employee focus groups.

Check it out here:

The subject of focus groups was also addressed in a Newsweaver best practice webinar with guest presenter Cindy Crescenzo, where she spoke about using them along with surveys and executives to measure the impact of internal communications.

Cindy has over ten years of experience in building communication and marketing strategies with both corporate and non-profit organizations. Using best practices in the industry, Cindy also helps clients create and carry out strategic communication plans.

"Great communication starts with listening - to your audience, your leaders, and your managers. It is also about using insights from channel metrics to see how your audience actually interacts with your messages." says Cindy. "Focus groups help you dig beneath the numbers and collect quotes and anecdotes that illustrate the situation. You can ask people about something that is happening."

The webinar provides a step-by-step guide for communicators that want to improve communications engagement and move from ‘order taker’ to ‘strategic counselor’.

Watch the on demand webinar now and learn:

• How to get a complete view of your communications using these three measurement tactics:
  • Focus groups
  • Surveys
  • Executive interviews
• What quantitative metrics to measure in order to support the qualitative insights and how to use it to
• How to change the the role of communications at the company
• How to do “guerilla measurement” on your own—without having to hire a high-priced consultant
• What to do with your research once you’re finished gathering it and how to get the most out of it.

Watch the on demand webinar now.