How to: Interpret a "Have your say" Report

What does this look like?

Managers who do this effectively:

• manage their responses to any undesirable feedback
• calmly and constructively communicate survey results
• focus the team on concrete strategies for moving forward
• use the survey results to improve their own performance and the effectiveness of the team.

How do I do this?

Manage your reaction

It can be confronting to receive feedback about your management style, how you lead your team, levels of trust in your team and unreasonable behaviours.

It’s not uncommon to have a ‘SARAH’ reaction.

• Shock—‘I can’t believe anyone would say these things!’
• Anger—‘I feel outraged by this feedback!’
• Revenge—’I’ll knee-cap them, slash their car tyres, and…’
• Acceptance—‘Well, employees were asked to ‘have their say’. I guess this feedback is all part of being a leader.’
• Help—‘I need coaching on how to best use this information.’

It’s important that you’re ready to move forward constructively before discussing results with your team.

Prepare to communicate results

• Before launching into conversations about the Have Your Say results, assess whether you’re ready. Ask yourself:
• Can I effectively run a meeting about the survey results without getting defensive?
• Can I respond calmly to criticism?
• Do I have the resilience to respond well to feedback?
• Make sure you fully understand the data before you talk about results.

Discuss results carefully

• Don’t tell staff their survey responses were wrong or that their perceptions are wrong. Perceptions are real and it’s your role as manager to positively influence them.
• Don’t try to guess who wrote what! This can be disastrous. Just accept what’s been written and focus on taking constructive action, not on where feedback came from.
• Don’t cast blame on individuals, on leaders above you or on the organisation.
• Allocate about 20% of your communication to the survey results, acknowledging that staff have had their say and been heard. Allocate 80% of your communication to solutions and the way forward.
• Focus on the ‘At A Glance’ findings—highlighting strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Don’t pass on specific comments from the survey unless you’ve sought permission and they could help trigger change. Be very selective about which narrative comments you use as examples.

Focus on moving forward and making improvements

• Work with your team to select a few day-to-day frustrations you can quickly remedy.
• Develop some action strategies which clearly spell out what you’re going to do as a manager and what you expect of your team members in order to improve your performance.
• Be ready with some ideas for moving forward before you communicate results. Ask the team for input and work together to develop an action plan.

You may find this challenging if you…

• interpret Have Your Say results as a personal attack
• don’t value feedback
• want to solve everything yourself
• find it hard to accept when things aren’t perfect.

You may not be interpreting Have Your Say results effectively if you are…

• not synthesising and contextualising the report
• not actively engaging others.