{"id":2824,"date":"2018-04-05T21:53:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T21:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=2824"},"modified":"2024-05-13T16:10:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T16:10:36","slug":"polling-tools","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/chapter\/polling-tools\/","title":{"raw":"Polling Tools","rendered":"Polling Tools"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Discuss when and how to use polling tools<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn a meeting that has lots of people in various locations and several agenda items to accomplish, it can be a little scary to make sure you have all the details nailed down. Sending an email saying \u201cwhat do you need?\u201d not only can yield answers from \u201ca flip-chart and markers\u201d to \u201csix webcams and a tap dancing iguana,\u201d it\u2019s also hard for you as the meeting planner to keep track of all the moving parts: schedule, topics, equipment, menu, location.\r\n\r\nConducting an online poll among your team members lets you collect all the information in one place and it gives you control over limiting the options. For example, if you are asking about equipment and supplies, you can choose to list only those items that are reasonable and easy to find. If you\u2019re asking whether a meeting requires video chat, you can ask where people will be joining from. \u201cSwitzerland,\u201d \u201cthe factory in Omaha\u201d or \u201chome with a broken ankle\u201d are valid reasons for video chat. \u201cSimultaneously watching <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> on my iPad\u201d is not.\r\n\r\nBut you can also use polling to get an anonymous take on more serious issues around meetings.\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Example<\/h3>\r\nLet\u2019s look at a hypothetical situation in which polling tools might be useful not just in deciding whether you serve pizza or burritos at the meeting but also in handling a challenging agenda item:\r\n\r\nShawn is a regional manager for a clothing retailer. He wants to have a meeting to share the results of some shop-alongs conducted in eight stores in his region by a qualitative researcher and a set of loyal customers. Most of the news is good, but there are a few issues to fix. Some of these issues are systemic and will require input from all his store managers. Others are limited to two specific stores and are concerning because they show those stores are not meeting basic customer service standards.\r\n\r\nShawn decides to send his own summary of the report to the store managers prior to a conference call, specifying the problems but not which stores have them, and asking managers to brainstorm on solutions in advance. Then he starts to plan his meeting agenda. He can envision this meeting playing out in a few different ways, and he can\u2019t quite make up his mind how to proceed.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Does he focus only on the positives and the systemic issues in this meeting and save the store-specific problems for one-on-one calls?<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Does he talk about the store-specific issues as a group, allowing the other managers to offer suggestions and support to the managers of the struggling stores?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nSince all the managers have his summary, he decides to give them a say in how the meeting is run. He creates an account in SurveyMonkey, and he goes through the steps of making a survey.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe basic rules of survey creation are pretty simple at this level, and the software makes it easy.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask as few questions as possible while still getting the needed information.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask only questions that related to the issue at hand. Don\u2019t ask questions just because you\u2019re curious or want to provoke your respondents.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Phrase questions in a way that gives a full range of options and doesn\u2019t \u201cbeg the question.\u201d That is, don\u2019t ask a question like, \u201cHow much do you hate plaid pants?\u201d and then give a ranking from \u201cMore than a root canal\u201d to \u201cAbout the same as a hangnail.\u201d The plaid pants-lovers of the world will not be pleased.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Think about the best question type for what you need to learn. In the scenario above, Shawn decided he really wanted to know how intensely his store managers felt about the agenda issues, so he chose a Ranking question to help them express it. He asked this same kind of question about \u201cproblems we face as a region\u201d and \u201cissues at individual stores.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3452 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2785\/2018\/04\/26213451\/SurveyMonkeyScreenshot1_update-1024x496.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of an online poll with the posed question, &quot;I would prefer to talk about the positive findings of the research as a group&quot;. Answers of &quot;strongly agree, somewhat agree, no preference, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree&quot; are given as options.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"496\" \/>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">He also wanted to give people an opportunity to express their feelings in their own words, especially if they didn\u2019t want to talk about a topic, so he created a Comment question.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3454 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2785\/2018\/04\/26213549\/SurveyMonkeyScreenshot2_update-1024x496.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of an online poll with the instructions, &quot;If you answered Somewhat Disagree or Strongly Disagree to any of the first three questions, please give a brief explanation.&quot; with an answer box below to type your response. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"496\" \/>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finally, he figured he would directly ask how bad news should be discussed. He had some ideas of his own, but he also wanted to be open to approaches he hadn\u2019t thought of. For this, he used a Multiple Choice question type with a final Other option with a text box.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3455 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2785\/2018\/04\/26213609\/SurveyMonkeyScreenshot3_update-1024x495.png\" alt=\"An image of an online poll with the question, &quot;When it comes to problems at individual stores, I think the best way to discuss them is...&quot;. Options are provided as well as text boxes for explanations of answers.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"495\" \/>\r\n\r\nAs you can see, a well-constructed poll or survey can really help a meeting host or leader plan for everything from snacks to serious issues.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Practice Question<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/683caef3ae6142eb914368ea96d866c9\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Discuss when and how to use polling tools<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a meeting that has lots of people in various locations and several agenda items to accomplish, it can be a little scary to make sure you have all the details nailed down. Sending an email saying \u201cwhat do you need?\u201d not only can yield answers from \u201ca flip-chart and markers\u201d to \u201csix webcams and a tap dancing iguana,\u201d it\u2019s also hard for you as the meeting planner to keep track of all the moving parts: schedule, topics, equipment, menu, location.<\/p>\n<p>Conducting an online poll among your team members lets you collect all the information in one place and it gives you control over limiting the options. For example, if you are asking about equipment and supplies, you can choose to list only those items that are reasonable and easy to find. If you\u2019re asking whether a meeting requires video chat, you can ask where people will be joining from. \u201cSwitzerland,\u201d \u201cthe factory in Omaha\u201d or \u201chome with a broken ankle\u201d are valid reasons for video chat. \u201cSimultaneously watching <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> on my iPad\u201d is not.<\/p>\n<p>But you can also use polling to get an anonymous take on more serious issues around meetings.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Example<\/h3>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at a hypothetical situation in which polling tools might be useful not just in deciding whether you serve pizza or burritos at the meeting but also in handling a challenging agenda item:<\/p>\n<p>Shawn is a regional manager for a clothing retailer. He wants to have a meeting to share the results of some shop-alongs conducted in eight stores in his region by a qualitative researcher and a set of loyal customers. Most of the news is good, but there are a few issues to fix. Some of these issues are systemic and will require input from all his store managers. Others are limited to two specific stores and are concerning because they show those stores are not meeting basic customer service standards.<\/p>\n<p>Shawn decides to send his own summary of the report to the store managers prior to a conference call, specifying the problems but not which stores have them, and asking managers to brainstorm on solutions in advance. Then he starts to plan his meeting agenda. He can envision this meeting playing out in a few different ways, and he can\u2019t quite make up his mind how to proceed.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Does he focus only on the positives and the systemic issues in this meeting and save the store-specific problems for one-on-one calls?<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Does he talk about the store-specific issues as a group, allowing the other managers to offer suggestions and support to the managers of the struggling stores?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since all the managers have his summary, he decides to give them a say in how the meeting is run. He creates an account in SurveyMonkey, and he goes through the steps of making a survey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The basic rules of survey creation are pretty simple at this level, and the software makes it easy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask as few questions as possible while still getting the needed information.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ask only questions that related to the issue at hand. Don\u2019t ask questions just because you\u2019re curious or want to provoke your respondents.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Phrase questions in a way that gives a full range of options and doesn\u2019t \u201cbeg the question.\u201d That is, don\u2019t ask a question like, \u201cHow much do you hate plaid pants?\u201d and then give a ranking from \u201cMore than a root canal\u201d to \u201cAbout the same as a hangnail.\u201d The plaid pants-lovers of the world will not be pleased.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Think about the best question type for what you need to learn. In the scenario above, Shawn decided he really wanted to know how intensely his store managers felt about the agenda issues, so he chose a Ranking question to help them express it. He asked this same kind of question about \u201cproblems we face as a region\u201d and \u201cissues at individual stores.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3452 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2785\/2018\/04\/26213451\/SurveyMonkeyScreenshot1_update-1024x496.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of an online poll with the posed question, &quot;I would prefer to talk about the positive findings of the research as a group&quot;. Answers of &quot;strongly agree, somewhat agree, no preference, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree&quot; are given as options.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"496\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">He also wanted to give people an opportunity to express their feelings in their own words, especially if they didn\u2019t want to talk about a topic, so he created a Comment question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3454 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2785\/2018\/04\/26213549\/SurveyMonkeyScreenshot2_update-1024x496.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of an online poll with the instructions, &quot;If you answered Somewhat Disagree or Strongly Disagree to any of the first three questions, please give a brief explanation.&quot; with an answer box below to type your response.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"496\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finally, he figured he would directly ask how bad news should be discussed. He had some ideas of his own, but he also wanted to be open to approaches he hadn\u2019t thought of. For this, he used a Multiple Choice question type with a final Other option with a text box.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3455 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2785\/2018\/04\/26213609\/SurveyMonkeyScreenshot3_update-1024x495.png\" alt=\"An image of an online poll with the question, &quot;When it comes to problems at individual stores, I think the best way to discuss them is...&quot;. Options are provided as well as text boxes for explanations of answers.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"495\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, a well-constructed poll or survey can really help a meeting host or leader plan for everything from snacks to serious issues.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Practice Question<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_683caef3ae6142eb914368ea96d866c9\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/683caef3ae6142eb914368ea96d866c9?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_683caef3ae6142eb914368ea96d866c9\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-2824\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Polling Tools. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Barbara Egel. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":62559,"menu_order":8,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Polling Tools\",\"author\":\"Barbara Egel\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"683caef3ae6142eb914368ea96d866c9, b00813db08bd4bdf8298041cfa445add","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-2824","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1014,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62559"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8218,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2824\/revisions\/8218"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1014"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2824\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=2824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}