Command Climate Survey; why is it so difficult to get Soldiers to complete it?

I think that nobody really believes that they are anonymous. You get a number sent to you, so the belief is that they can be tracked.

Additionally they are sent to units, and then typically ask questions like race/sex, rank, time in service...you can quickly deduce who some of the participants are...

Then, there is the belief that nothing will come of the results, or, that they do not want to air laundry good or bad.

They need to be completely anonymous if they are to have any real effectiveness.

I've heard people say that they don't think their input will change anything, that command climate surveys are done just so the command can say that they did one. And that's very similar to one of the excuses people give for not voting ... my vote won't make much, or any, difference.

In my experience, Soldiers are told that thses surveys are about how the command team is doing. Soldiers may not have any experience with the command team only with their first line leader. If they have issues with their first line leader and maybe platoon Sgt, and they've attempted to get the issue corrected and nothings happened, they don't want to put it in writing just for it to be ignored again. I've also seen a command team who was more interested in the numbers of completed surveys than what was actually put in to the survey. It's a tough barrier to get through, but having good EOL's can make a big difference.

The feeling that nothing will come of the results.

Because nothing every happens afterwards

I believe the biggest concern with this is issue is simple. Soldiers don't believe in command climate surveys. I never once had a commander address or correct an issue as a result of my responses or the responses of others. In order for soldiers to have the motivation to complete this survey, soldiers need to see the product of their responses. Otherwise, they will simply check the box.

Sorry but my experience has told me that nothing ever changes and all attempts to say retribution is prohibited...you're going to get some.

I recall standing in a formation before a PT test in the snow and it was freezing getting an earful from the 1SG for about a hour because of things that were said on the survey. We were given about 5min to warm up in our cars and then took the test...almost half company failed.

Just one example of what that survey can cause.

I was one of the first member of the new (at the time) Navy's Command Assessment Team. One of the biggest issue we discovered was a total lack of trust in the command itself. No one within the command feels that (a) their needs and wants are heard, understood and taken care of (b) No one outside the immediate chain of command believes a single thing that is issued from command offices. (c) no one believes the command will do anything to assist or take care of their personnel if it means they have to get up out from behind their desk or pick up a pen or make a phone call. (d) real issues that might negatively impact the chain of command will result in retribution.

I have participated in multiple command climate surveys and was even part of the action group that compiled a list of findings and recommendations to improve command climate. The way we organized the action group was so everyone in the command would be speaking with their peers on these issues. We also made sure to go to the individuals and not require them or ask them to come to us to discuss command issues. Despite what leaders tell the command, our servicemembers are not always given time out of the day to complete these surveys. If you work in an office environment where your supervisor can look over your soldier and see what you're writing, do you really think they are going to be honest on the survey? After interviewing a number of individuals (who gave us much more information than what was in the survey), we put together an action plan with a list of recommendations. When we presented this to the command, we were told to put a positive note on it and take out anything overly negative. I refused to do so, and briefed the unfiltered results during an all-call. Regardless, our command choose to downplay the findings and only looked at modifying things that had no effect on the real issues. They choose to implement things such as a digital records management system over resolving leadership issues such as servicemembers not getting counseling statements and enlisted being treated as the janitor and still being expected to be a SME on a subject they were given no time to study. So when our troops see how much the command chooses not to care, we cannot expect them to care enough to complete a survey that the command has shown holds no value.

I can't say it better than this:
"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership." -- Colin Powell