How can you improve your internal surveys and polls?

1 Know your purpose

Before you create any survey or poll, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it. What are the main questions you want to answer? How will you use the data to inform your decisions and actions? How will you communicate the results and follow up with your employees? Having a clear purpose will help you define your objectives, scope, and audience for your survey or poll.

2 Choose the right format

Depending on your purpose, you may want to use different formats for your surveys and polls. For example, if you want to collect quantitative data on a specific topic, you may want to use a structured survey with closed-ended questions and a rating scale. If you want to gather qualitative insights on a broader issue, you may want to use an open-ended survey with free-text responses. If you want to spark a conversation or gauge the mood of your employees, you may want to use a simple poll with a yes/no or multiple-choice option.

3 Design clear and engaging questions

The quality of your questions will determine the quality of your data. You want to avoid vague, ambiguous, leading, or biased questions that may confuse or influence your respondents. You also want to avoid asking too many or too few questions that may affect the response rate or the validity of your data. You want to craft clear, concise, and relevant questions that align with your purpose and objectives. You also want to make your questions engaging and appealing to your employees by using a conversational tone, personalizing the language, and adding some humor or creativity.

4 Test and optimize your survey or poll

Before you launch your survey or poll, you need to test it for any errors, glitches, or issues that may affect the user experience or the data quality. You can use online tools or platforms to create and test your survey or poll, or you can ask a colleague or a sample group of employees to try it out and give you feedback. You want to check for the clarity, accuracy, and relevance of your questions, the functionality and usability of your survey or poll, and the length and timing of your survey or poll. You can then optimize your survey or poll based on the feedback and the data you collect from the test.

5 Promote and incentivize your survey or poll

Once your survey or poll is ready, you need to promote it and encourage your employees to participate. You can use various channels and methods to communicate the purpose, benefits, and expectations of your survey or poll, such as email, intranet, social media, newsletters, webinars, or posters. You can also use incentives, rewards, or recognition to motivate your employees to complete your survey or poll, such as prizes, vouchers, badges, or shout-outs. You want to make your survey or poll visible, accessible, and attractive to your employees.

6 Analyze and share your results

After you collect your data, you need to analyze it and draw meaningful conclusions and insights from it. You can use online tools or platforms to visualize and interpret your data, or you can hire a professional or a team to help you with the analysis. You want to look for patterns, trends, gaps, or outliers in your data, and compare them with your objectives and expectations. You also want to share your results and findings with your employees and stakeholders, and explain how you will use them to improve your communication and performance. You want to thank your employees for their participation, acknowledge their feedback, and show them the impact of their input.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?