Death Knell Sounded For Traditional Staff Surveys

Two well-known names in the Yorkshire legal world have joined forces to replace the traditional staff survey with a “next generation” listening tool powered by artificial intelligence and tailored for solicitors.

Ann Page, who has been training and coaching lawyers for more than two decades, and Andrew Gray, founder and former managing director of Truth Legal based in Harrogate and Leeds, are convinced that they can rapidly improve Yorkshire’s law firms by harnessing all the talent within these firms.

They have pooled their legal experience and partnered with an AI tool, Polis, which is an intuitive platform for gathering, analysing and understanding viewpoints, to provide a staff survey tool for the digital age.

This ethical AI tool, in the hands of two experienced lawyers, is playing a key role in improving workplace wellbeing, building consensus on divisive and complex issues, and engaging staff in business planning in ways old-style surveys cannot match.

Andrew, who is speaking at the Leeds Digital Festival on Thursday September 28, said: “Polis has broken new ground in the way it captures the expression of views in real time, providing leaders with authentic and actionable information.

“It is the most effective interactive survey tool on the market and trusted by four leading UK Councils, as well as debuting in the recent Selby by-election. It sounds the death knell for traditional surveys.

“We are proud to bring the AI of Polis to the legal sector for the first time, equipping businesses to harness the energy and ideas of their people like never before.

“By unlocking this potential, it takes employee engagement to new heights and gives law firms a new, competitive edge. It enables firms the opportunity to take a deep dive into the heart of its business to find out exactly what is going on.”

The duo are deploying this AI tool in response to the hierarchical nature of the legal profession, where staff are reticent about speaking up.

Evidence shows that staff retention rates suffer when people do not feel they are listened to.

“Traditional surveys are clumsy, unsophisticated and cannot guarantee anonymity,” said Ann. “These issues often lead to low levels of engagement and poor-quality data. This can mean that legal business owners and partners are dragging their staff along - rather than working together as a cohesive team.”

“As the AI world continues to evolve, legal businesses ought to be constantly on the look-out for innovative and effective ways to gather feedback and input from their teams.

By blending human intelligence with AI, it is now very easy to shape consensus around the very best ideas in real time. This means it does more than just collect individual responses – it maps out the landscape of opinions and finds common ground between the participants.”