"We love Know Your Company... The Icebreaker questions are a great way to get to know some of the new people."
David Brown, Partner at TechStars
Uncover the blindspots in your company.
Know Your Company is a simple web app that helps you learn something new and important about your company every week. You'll learn what your employees are working on, how they feel about the company, and who they are as people.
The software is centered on a basic belief: Answers only come when you ask questions. So the entire app revolves around asking questions to you and your employees – the right questions, in the right way, at the right time. And, none of it is anonymous (we believe anonymous feedback breeds a culture of distrust ).
The questions come as an email (or Slack message) so there's nothing you need to set up, install, sign-in to, etc. Once you get started, the whole thing runs like clockwork.
Let's jump in and see how it works...
Get warmed up with the Icebreaker
You'll first get kicked off with an Icebreaker. The Icebreaker is five fun questions, where you'll get to share a bit about yourself with the rest of the company.
New hires are also asked the Icebreaker questions – it's perfect for introducing them to the company (especially if you've been hiring a lot recently!)
The Heartbeat Question:
Keep a pulse on your team
After the Icebreaker, you’ll then get asked three core Know Your Company questions every week.
On Mondays you'll always be asked: What are you working on? This will give everyone a bird’s eye view of what’s happening across the company while encouraging your employees to think about the week ahead.
“The Heartbeat Question in Know Your Company gives me a helicopter view of what’s happening on the ground.”
Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu
The Company Question:
Clear the air in your company
Every Wednesday we'll ask a different question to help you uncover how your employees feel about your business, the work, the culture, etc. A question might be... "Seen anyone do something great recently that's gone unrecognized?" Each person decides who can see her or his answer – just the leadership team, or everyone at the company.
We give you more than 100 Company Questions out-of-the-box, and 100% flexibility to edit questions. See all the tools we give you to ask the best questions...
“The Company Question has brought employee concerns to the surface numerous times — without it these issues would likely not have been raised.”
Ben Callahan, President of Sparkbox
The Social Question:
Bring your employees closer together
And then on Fridays everyone is asked a Social Question. Something non-work related. Like... Read any good books lately? or What's your earliest memory? You'll see what people have in common, discover something new about someone, share an experience, etc.
“With Chromatic being a distributed company, the Social Questions have been great conversation starters.”
David Look, Partner at Chromatic
Timelines:
Get caught-up with employees
As a CEO or manager, you can dive into an employee's profile. You'll learn what a person has been working on lately, what they think about work-life balance, who their favorite band is, etc... all in a single glance. You'll now never be in the dark about a particular employee.
“The Employee Timeline has helped us to be better at our one-on-ones – it’s been super convenient, easy to use, and a phenomenal tool for us.”
Stephanie Hudson, Operations at Uncorked Studios
Will my employees use Know Your Company, or is it annoying?
Here's what CEOs and employees said...
“We started using Know Your Company, and people started using it straight away. And so here we are a year later and we are still using the system – much more than company feedback now, Know Your Company is ‘teamsourcing’ ideas, starting conversation and supporting decisions."
Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu
“Know Your Company is super easy to use and has an intuitive interface.”
Beth Adele Long, Planet Argon
“Know Your Company is to the point, doesn’t take much time to get involved with, but is useful.”
James Elliman, Engage Interactive
How do I roll out Know Your Company?
We’re invested in helping you roll Know Your Company out successfully. When you add team members to Know Your Company they get a friendly welcome email. This helps set expectations about positive change, explain how the product works, and get people excited about participating.
Some CEOs will also choose to make an announcement in person, or at an all-company meeting. The important thing is that employees feel it’s a genuine effort coming from the leadership team.
Here's a preview of the email Welcome email your team members get.
Don't use emails? We have a Slack bot
All questions and summaries can also be delivered by our Slack Bot via direct messages – ensuring employees who don't use email don't miss out on giving feedback and helping create an honest culture.
