The start of a new year provides a natural opportunity to reflect and set a course for the upcoming months.

I recently administered an internal survey to my team to gauge both their wellbeing and how the team dynamics are going. Many of the questions are based on research on what helps people in service professions flourish. Team members could answer as much as they felt comfortable sharing on the open-ended questions or skip them entirely. Responses were viewable only by me, and then I provided a de-identified summary of the results in a subsequent team meeting. In essence, it was a complementary questionnaire to conversations I might have with my team during our 1:1 meetings.

Here's the survey in case you'd like to use it for yourself:

Personal Wellbeing Questions:

Indicate how strongly you agree with the following statements. (Options: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree)

• I have meaningful work that clearly contributes to our organization's mission

• I have more good days than bad days in my role

• My workload feels sustainable

• I have positive relationships within our team

• I feel respected at work

Open-ended questions: (optional)

• What comments would you like to make regarding your responses to the personal wellbeing questions?

• What is going well on our team that you would like to see continue?

• What on our team would you like to see change (do differently, stop doing, or do something new)?

• What is Andrew doing as a leader that you would like him to continue?

• What is Andrew doing as a leader that you would like him to change (do differently, stop doing, or do something new)?

• Any other comments?

Hope this helps you and your team identify opportunities to work and connect more closely!