How to Make a Suggestion Box Exciting + Draft Email
In today’s fast-paced business world, startups are so busy pushing a product to be released within a tight deadline, that they often forget that the best ideas can come from their employees.
One way to tap into transforming your workplace is to implement a suggestion box.
I know, I know, that’s the boring part of ‘’what else to write’’. But stay with me!
But first, what is a suggestion box?
A suggestion box it’s a safe space where employees anonymously submit their ideas, recommendations, concerns, or feedback. It’s a communication channel to share insights related to the organization’s products, workplace environment, operations, etc.
Its purpose is to encourage open communication, promote continuous improvement, and foster innovation.
Implementing a suggestion box for your company
There are a few criteria to keep in mind:
1. Focus on one area at a time
Choose a single focus area to allow your team to allocate its resources more effectively. It’s better to do one thing well than 100 things in a mediocre way.
Focusing on one area will lead to incremental progress, and you want to adopt small and consistent improvements that can support change over time.
You will be able to track, and more importantly, analyze the results more effectively.
Here are some examples of areas to focus on:
Employee engagement and wellbeing
Product/Service Enhancement (ideas to improve the existing product/ service or expand the offerings)
Process Improvement (how to streamline the existing processes- workflows, SOPs, Knowledgebase, etc)
Training and development (the need for training, workshops, mentorship, etc)
2. Have a clear and standardized process
Start by establishing a clear and structured process for collecting, analyzing, and managing the suggestions. Determine who will be responsible for overseeing the suggestion box, how often should be reviewed, and who will analyze the data.
In a startup environment, the Head of Operations can take over, and present the data to co-founders for future implementation. In a larger organization, you will find HR is responsible for monitoring it.
3. Is it accessible?
Your suggestion box should be accessible. If you have a physical box in your office, place it in a visible location. If it’s digital, have a short link and create it on a user-friendly platform.
A lot of times, founders think they need to pay for another tool to get this running. However, you can start using Google Forms or Microsoft Forms.
4. Make it anonymous (or maybe not!)
Most of the time, you will find suggestion boxes ensuring anonymity. You will find startups that have a mandatory box to put down your name to promote a culture of openness and not make employees fear to vocalize their thoughts. However, before you do that, make sure you are fostering an environment where every employee feels safe sharing their thoughts, without fear of repercussion.
Anonymity will encourage candid feedback.
5. Revision and evaluation
Review the suggestion regularly. Define what regular means to you: is it on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis? Categorize the ideas based on their relevance and put those into ‘’data buckets’’.
Let’s say that your suggestion box is about gathering data regarding employee engagement and well-being. Your ‘’data buckets’’ could be health and wellness requests, team-building initiatives ideas, work arrangements, etc.
Another example would be if your suggestion box’s purpose is to gather ideas regarding training and development. Your data buckets could be related to training program requests and ideas, mentorship opportunities, skill development workshops, and ideas, etc.
During this stage, you have to document common issues, trends, or recurring themes.
6. Don’t let it die in an Inbox!
One big mistake companies make is getting all that feedback and just letting it sit in an inbox.
Acknowledge the receipt of every suggestion to inform participants that their input is valued and that you appreciate every message that was received.
Inform participants about your plan on how often you will review those. Keep submitters informed about the progress and the outcomes of their suggestions.
Don’t forget to share the results with the entire company!
Your future submissions will double when employees see how their suggestions led to change.
How to make it FUN!
How many of you opened an email before others just because it had an intriguing subject? Me too!
Raise your hand if you love a good story. I do too!
It goes the same way for suggestion boxes. Here’s my 4-step framework to make your employees drop their ideas more often:
Choose another title than ‘’Suggestion Box’’, or ‘’Anonymous Feedback Form’’
Let’s say that your startup operates within the gaming industry. One way you would create a fun and engaging suggestion box would be as follows:
Instead of ‘’Our Suggestion Box’’, choose a different title such as:
Gamecrafter’s Ideas Vault
Game On: The Idea Invasion
Jedi Ideas
Doodles and Daring Suggestions
Treasure Trove of Tidbits
Let your creativity flow, and use humorous ways that circle back to your company’s culture.
2. Choose a great email subject
Again, assess your company culture and start based on that. Some ideas:
Spill the Beans (anonymously, of course)
The Mystery of Anonymity: Share Your Thoughts, Sherlock
Secret Squirrel Survey: We’re Nuts for Feedback
3. Make storytelling your mission
Storytelling can be a valuable tool when asking for feedback from a suggestion box. It will capture people’s attention, it will follow a narrative, and it will be memorable.
4. Have a clear call to action
You can’t assume that just because you put down a link to your suggestion box people will just click on it. You have to provide direction, whether it’s ‘’Click here to share your thoughts’’, your call to action must be the last thing your employees read.
See that in action- Draft Email
Subject: Spill the Beans (anonymously, of course)
Email Body:
Hi Team,
I hope you are ready to embark on a top-secret mission!
We’ve been searching to gather your brilliant ideas and feedback to improve our workplace. Our suggestion box it’s like a treasure filled with gems of wisdom, and we need your help to unlock its maximum potential.
I know you might be thinking ‘How can something as a suggestion box be exciting?’ Well, here’s where the fun begins. We are turning this into a covert operation, and your mission is to complete it with your honest feedback, ideas, and suggestions.
Here are your mission’s briefings:
Operation Code: Feedback Vault
2. Objective” Fill the suggestion box with your feedback and ideas
3. Rules: no need to reveal your true identity if you don’t want to
4. Deadline: 5th of December. Don’t worry, this message will not self-destruct if you miss it!
If you choose to accept this mission, simply click on the link below and share your suggestion:
(your link here)
With a touch of intrigue (and a smile),
HR
Will this work for every team? The answer is no. Some will be like What the Hell? , and some will probably smile, but you should step into this knowing your team very well: are they more introverts, would they find it funny, or intriguing? Will they find it a challenge that they have to accomplish?
Find out what works best for your team and continue to improve.
If you liked this article, connect with me on LinkedIn and share what’s working for you!