2025 Episode Replay: How Port Moody Turns Employee Feedback Into Real Culture Change - with Marta Taylor
December 31, 2025
For our end-of-year special episode of Voice Activated: Tuning Employee Insights At Work, we’re bringing back a fantastic conversation with Marta Taylor, Manager of Strategic Initiatives at the City of Port Moody, where she explores successful employee feedback programs in municipal organizations and how to turn survey results into actionable improvements. Marta shares how a small city launched a ground-up cultural transformation using employee voice as the catalyst. From candid focus groups to executive-level engagement, Marta walks us through a practical, replicable model that puts staff feedback at the center of organizational change.
For our end-of-year special episode of Voice Activated: Tuning Employee Insights At Work, we’re bringing back a fantastic conversation with Marta Taylor, Manager of Strategic Initiatives at the City of Port Moody, where she explores successful employee feedback programs in municipal organizations and how to turn survey results into actionable improvements.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to structure employee focus groups for maximum impact
- The "Champion Strategy" for gaining leadership buy-in
- How to use benchmarking data to prioritize actions and contextualize survey results
- Why simple communication initiatives can dramatically improve employee engagement
- The "Two-to-Three Action Rule" for helping department managers implement targeted improvements
- How to balance comprehensive organizational development plans with department-specific initiatives
Marta Taylor is the Manager of Strategic Initiatives at the City of Port Moody, where she leads corporate planning, diversity and equity initiatives, indigenous relations, and accessibility programs. With vast experience in employee engagement and organizational development, she has successfully transformed employee feedback into meaningful operational changes. Her innovative approach to employee surveys and focus groups has helped create a more responsive and inclusive workplace culture within the municipality.
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Highlights and YouTube Chapters:
- [00:00] Introduction
- [01:46] Marta’s Role and Journey
- [03:31] Why Employee Voice Matters
- [06:24] Survey Planning Essentials
- [07:45] COVID and the Cost of Delay
- [09:34] Alternative Feedback Channels
- [12:05] Securing Leadership Support
- [14:32] Customizing Survey Questions
- [17:32] Using Benchmark Strategically
- [22:40] Closing the Feedback Loop
- [24:34] Focus Group Designs That Works
- [32:33] A Simple Email, A Big Impact
- [35:18] Practical Tips for Municipal Leaders
Quotes:
- “I think planning out the timing is important, and obviously the survey structure, the questions, thinking through the why of why you're asking those questions, what you hope to get out of it, and being really clear on what your action plan is.”
- “I act as a connector between big picture goals and on-the-ground realities.”
- “Having good conversations with your leadership team from the outset is really important to ensure that for those who are leaned in, they understand why the survey is happening.”
- “I really want to hear people's true thoughts and opinions. I don't like to sugarcoat things myself, and I think that sometimes we get caught in the perception of how things are going, and unless we really hear from staff at all levels of the organization, we don't really know.”
Episode Resources:
- Marta Taylor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylormarta/
- City of Port Moody: https://www.portmoody.ca/en/city-hall/careers.aspx
- Sean Fitzpatrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-j-fitzpatrick/?originalSubdomain=ca
- TalentMap Website: https://talentmap.com/
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