How Wild Birds Unlimited Improved Internal Communication & Team Alignment
Learn how Wild Birds Unlimited used FBR’s employee engagement survey to improve communication and better align teams across the organization.
Wild Birds Unlimited has grown their staff significantly over the past several years and in 2022, almost a third of the corporate employees had joined the organization within the past three years. “With so many dynamic changes, you can’t take your eye off the ball with culture,” said Pat Perkinson, COO of Wild Birds Unlimited.
What They Did
Wild Birds Unlimited partnered with FBR to survey their employees and benchmark satisfaction. The executive team reviewed the survey data and set up focus groups composed of team members grouping various seniority levels and departments within the company. Each group had a moderator and met regularly over the course of five weeks to discuss takeaways and brainstorm ideas, which they then presented to the executive team.
The result? Using the focus group feedback, the executive team created an internal follow up survey to drill down into the top issues to tackle in the coming year and shared those objectives with the entire staff. It also had the added bonus of introducing team members who don’t regularly work together to each other and helped them understand what other teams were doing.
What Changed
Wild Birds Unlimited started with creating a new HR manager role. In addition, they implemented the following changes:
Internal Communication
During the pandemic, the leadership team dialed back communication in an effort to give employees (and franchisees) an opportunity to disconnect. However, survey results showed that staff actually preferred more frequent communication. The team implemented more consistent communication as well as direction on how to communicate and which platform to use.
Fewer Meetings
Meetings were streamlined with more consistent agendas to be able to convey more information while cutting down the number of meetings needed.
Better Alignment Across Teams
This included prioritization of projects, identifying who determines priorities, and opportunities for dialogue when discrepancies arise.
More Opportunities for Learning and Engagement in Staff Meetings
Staff members present what they’re doing so they can learn from each other. Surprise guest speakers are also brought in: during one meeting store owners spoke in the all-staff meeting, which gave employees who don’t regularly interact with franchisees (e.g., IT, marketing) an opportunity to hear how their efforts make a difference for franchise owners.
If you’d like to learn how you can start benchmarking employee satisfaction to identify gaps in your culture, book a demo now.
Related Resource
The Ultimate Guide to Employee Engagement for Franchises
Employee engagement is critical to the success (or survival) of franchise organizations, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to foster engagement.
Download your free guide to learn how to:
- Recognize barriers holding employees back from fully engaging
- Create a supportive and engaging workplace culture
- Make engagement a key part of your hiring and retention strategy
- Measure and benchmark your team’s engagement against other franchise employers