Using the Colleague Survey to drive positive change

How has the Colleague Survey helped to drive change within your service?

We used the feedback from the last survey to help develop a service strategy. Within that, we created three pillar groups around recruitment, experience, and employability, and then engaged with colleagues across the service to see how well we understood their needs across those areas. We’ve been ambitious in our aims, but we’ve wanted to make colleagues feel like they’re a key part of everything we’re doing.

How did you approach discussing the Colleague Survey results with colleagues?

We had an in-depth discussion about the most recent set of results at an away day. What was most positive was that people felt that they had a clear understanding and had been an integral part of the development of our strategy and therefore knew what they were working towards and why they were doing their job.

Having that discussion helped colleagues feel like their voice is being heard, which was reflected in the most recent Colleague Survey results. Getting that feedback then helps us to know we’re on the right track.

What have been some of the key areas of focus when considering and responding to the Colleague Survey results?

What’s most important for us is that everybody feels part of the team.  We have colleagues who work on campus full time due to the nature of their role, and also those who have a hybrid way of working.  It’s really important that we generate a real sense of trust and understanding between those colleagues when they’re working quite differently and the insights from the Colleague Survey help us to do that.

We’ve increased our away days because we want everybody to feel like they are actually part of a broader team, whether they work remotely or not. We've also got designated Teams channels where people can have what you would call a ‘kitchen chat’. 
When it comes to belonging, what we attempt to do when we do come together is to empower our colleagues to take leadership and ownership of their areas.  For example, if we want to talk about progress relating to one of our strategy pillar areas, it’s colleagues who present that information. Having colleagues take ownership helps them to feel like they belong and feel like they’re an important part of the team. 

It’s about everyone being aware that they are all important within our team.  That’s been the focus of our efforts and being able to use the Colleague Survey as a key indicator of how well we’re doing is vital. 

What advice would you give to teams looking to use the Colleague Survey to drive change?

I’d probably say that demonstrating to colleagues that you’re listening to their feedback is most important.

Our aim is to be really clear about how our strategy links to and supports the university strategy.  It’s all about how we feed into that and again, it comes back to colleagues feeling like their voice is being heard. If that’s shared across the team and action is taken based on those discussions, you’ll get the engagement you’re looking for.  

The survey has helped us to really understand how staff feel because they’ve been able to emphasise their involvement in our strategy development and our service-wide priorities.