Cultural Dialogue for HR: why talent stays and why it leaves

Annual surveys measure what you ask. Not what is on your people's minds right now.

The engagement score has dropped, the report is on the table, and the executive board asks: why? The employee survey has no answer. In the Cultural Dialogue, your employees write anonymously what keeps them and what wears them down, and weigh their colleagues' contributions against each other. A one-to-one with every employee at once. Only without the hierarchy that shapes what gets said.

After 21 days you know the reasons behind your turnover. And the order in which to tackle them.

Proven with more than 60 clients across business, administration and politics. Typical participation: 70–90% of employees. On average, our clients did not know 8 of the 10 strongest contributions.

What you get

1. The why behind the numbers: Engagement scores tell you that something is wrong. Here you read the reasons, in your people's own words.

2. Priorities, not a catalogue of measures: At the top is what many share, at the bottom what bothers only a few. So you know where your budget has the most effect.

3. Differences made visible: The segment analysis shows where a position holds across the organisation and where it falls apart between units, sites or age groups.

4. An argument for the executive board: You don't walk into the meeting with a gut feeling, but with a ranking backed by hundreds.

How it works

• Strategy workshop: Three hours. We arrive with a finished concept and sharpen the questions with you, for example on retention, collaboration or leadership.

• Launch: Within 48 hours the dialogue space is ready, with your logo. We write the invitation, you send it.

• Dialogue: Three weeks, moderated daily. We check every contribution. Your people need about ten minutes on average.

• Result: A report per question, a one-pager for the executive board and a ready-to-send response to the workforce.

Why BrainE4 is different

• Their words, not tick boxes: In an employee survey your people tick what you predefine. Here they write what you would never have asked about.

• Weight, not scattered voices: Free-text fields give you a hundred comments without weight. In the Idea Duel every contribution has to hold its own in many comparisons.

• At the right time: You learn the reason while you can still act. Not in the exit interview.

• Insight Guarantee: In the strategy workshop we record six assumptions per question: what you expect. We mix them covertly into the contributions. If on average at least five of the top 10 are new to you, your knowledge has doubled. Otherwise we refund the dialogue.

For whom

• Head of HR and CHRO: when turnover rises and nobody can say why.

• People & Culture: when you want to know which values shape everyday work and which exist only on paper.

• Executive board: when you want to check whether your measures make a difference or were merely communicated.

In practice

NAGRA: In the middle of change, and on a sensitive topic like the deep geological repository, NAGRA brought its entire workforce into the dialogue. 80% took part. The contributions didn't end up in a drawer but word for word in the new mission statement. Read the interview

«Verbatim passages from employee input are now in the new mission statement: a strong signal to the workforce.» Philipp Senn, Head of Communications and Public Affairs

SOCAR: Administration and the filling station network: two worlds that rarely sit at the same table. 63% of employees raised their concerns, and management gained a shared basis for improvements. Read the interview

«The online dialogue gave us a far more nuanced picture than classic surveys.» Claudia Kilchherr, Director Business Services, and Tanja Hegglin, Head of HR

Ideal for:

Turnover and retention · Pulse survey · Collaboration across units · Values in practice · Impact of HR measures · Employer attractiveness

Frequently asked questions

Does this replace our annual employee survey?
It complements or replaces it, as you prefer. If you need a time series, we include individual metrics such as a Likert scale or NPS. The metric shows where you stand. The Idea Duel shows the why behind it.

Are we raising expectations we can't meet?
Expectations exist anyway. The dialogue shows which ones many share and which only a few. You receive a ranking, not an assignment. What you implement is your decision.

Is participation really anonymous?
Yes. You see arguments, rankings and analyses by unit, never individual people. Dialogues comply with the Swiss FADP and the GDPR.

What about angry contributions?
Insults stay out, criticism stays in. An angry contribution has to hold its own in many comparisons like any other. If it still ranks high, many see it that way, and then it's better that you know.

All questions and answers

See more

Video: The Cultural Dialogue in brief. Watch the video

Cultural Dialogue: Use cases from retention to the impact of measures. Learn more

Try it yourself: An Idea Duel from your employees' point of view. Experience the Idea Duel

Your best people will tell you.
If you ask before they leave.

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