At Geisel, creating a strong sense of community means developing an environment where all individuals feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. The Leading Forward Feedback survey is designed to facilitate honest feedback that will inform progress on our strategic goals and narrow areas of focus for the future. Here we'll answer some frequently asked questions about this survey delivered via the Culture Amp system. Your survey, which will be sent via email, will also have a Welcome Screen that explains the basics.
What is Culture Amp?
Culture Amp is the platform Geisel is using to support its annual Leading Forward Feedback survey. The platform enables the delivery of a confidential survey to members of the Geisel community so that we may gather honest feedback to help guide the work of our Strategic Plan. When you receive your survey the sender of the survey will be “Leading Forward Feedback via CultureAmp”.
Feeling comfortable to provide feedback
Geisel cares about getting honest feedback from its community, so we can use the data to help create a better place to work. With that said, we know some people may feel nervous providing honest feedback. While we encourage you to answer every question there may be valid reasons not to answer a question. You may feel the question is not relevant to you. Or you may simply feel uncomfortable with the question for personal reasons. If this is the case for any of the questions, you can skip them.
How will my answers be used?
Survey information is used in a variety of ways. Geisel has a genuine desire to measure progress on its strategic goals over time, to connect with our employees, and make positive changes. Surveys allow for the confidential collection of feedback. This isn't always possible in other forums. Surveys also allow for an analytical view of the data. Annual surveys will let Geisel see trends over time. A simple conversation is very powerful, but it's very difficult to turn that into a reasonably objective, organization-wide picture. This is where surveys become essential.
Can you see my individual responses?
The survey is confidential and individual responses are de-identified through the collection process.
What is a confidential survey?
A confidential (or “attributed”’) survey means that you will receive a unique link to participate in the survey. This survey link connects survey responses to various information in the employee data system that allows the organization to slice and filter data by demographics such as tenure, department, or location. However, there are parameters set up on the backend of the survey which prevent the ability to identify your response directly or indirectly.
Geisel has set a reporting group minimum of 5. This means that if your team has not provided at least 5 responses (note: this is not the number of people invited), then results will not be shared in order to protect the confidentiality of any team members who responded.
Why would my company use a confidential instead of an anonymous survey?
Confidential surveys provide the ability to slice and filter data in a way that allows us to understand the various nuances of our organization. By connecting results to data to which we have access, this helps us better track our progress towards our strategic goals.
Answering Rating Questions
Questions generally follow what is called the "Agree Format". For these questions, we put forward a statement, and you tell us how much you agree or disagree with that statement. In Culture Amp you use their "Heat Bar" to enter your answers. Simply swipe left to right to select from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. Clicking on your response will select that answer. If you're on a laptop or desktop you use your trackpad or mouse pointer to select. If you're on a tablet or smartphone you can simply swipe.
Why only five answer options? I'd like more choice.
The evidence on the effectiveness of more options is mixed at best. We are working to make surveys as simple as possible. More options tend to be an issue when people weigh questions against each other. Try not to do this. Answer each question on its own merits.
Why are the questions framed positively?
It's not trying to bias the survey, in fact quite the opposite. We frame each question as an ideal state that we'd all generally like to be true of how we feel or experience our organizations. This makes the survey consistent - this is easy to understand, leads to less confusion and is quicker to complete. However, the response scale allows you to be neutral or completely disagree with these statements - if you respond negatively the results will reflect this.
Is there a 'not applicable' option?
No. If a question does not apply to your situation, simply do not answer that question. This is the equivalent of an 'n/a' response.
Can I add comments?
There are a handful of questions at the end of the survey designed comment responses.
Will comments identify me?
Confidential surveys do not identify comments. However, it's naturally possible to identify yourself by the content of your comment. If you'd like to remain confidential, do not include identifying information such as names or departments.
Can I complete the survey on a smartphone or tablet?
Absolutely. The CultureAmp platform supports most modern desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices. If you're on a mobile device, CultureAmp supports Android version 2.3 or higher and iOS (iPhone or iPad) version 2 or higher. They support most browsers.
Can I save my survey and complete it later?
Yes. Culture Amp allows you to save your changes every time you use it. You can use the original link that was provided to return to where you left off. However, be aware that this link will not function after the survey is closed. You will be sent a reminder to complete the survey if you have not done so before the survey's closing date. You can even switch between devices while completing your survey.
Do I need to answer every question?
No. We encourage you to answer every question, however, if there is a question you do not want to answer, for any reason, you may skip that question.
Can I change my answers?
You can change your answers any time before finishing the survey. If you already submitted your survey and would like to change your answers, the survey link can be reset by following the original survey link and using the “Redo Survey” link at the bottom of the ‘Thank You’ page. You will receive a new survey invite link by email. Please be aware that resetting a survey removes all your previous answers. You will need to complete the entire survey again.
I get surveyed too much!
Getting surveyed too much is an intrusion, and we recognize that. It's important that the contribution you're making is recognized. This survey is intended to inform progress on strategic goals for Geisel that have a direct impact on each respondent. That progress will be communicated back through strategic plan updates throughout the year.
At Geisel one of our core values is community, and one of the ways we can foster community is through a survey mechanism. This survey allows you to share your valuable, and oftentimes vulnerable, feedback in a confidential setting.