Instructions for Respondents

The UQ Leadership Survey is a 360-degree feedback tool that supports leaders' development. It gathers perspectives from colleagues on all sides of a designated person. This includes their manager, direct reports, peers and colleagues, and sometimes other collaborators or clients.

If a leader nominates you as a respondent for their survey, you will receive an automated email invitation from the survey system (Xref Engage, formerly the Voice Project). This email will include:

Your unique survey link (it's specific to you, so do not forward this to anyone else).
Instructions for completing the survey.
The closing date for the survey.

The leader who is being rated may contact you personally.

You will also receive reminder emails from the survey system until you complete the survey, or until it closes.

Why you've been invited

The leader who nominated you has identified you as a person whose perspective and feedback they value. It's important for leaders to understand:

The impact of their behaviour on other people.
How others perceive their behaviour, strengths and development needs.

Participation is voluntary. You do not have to participate in the survey, even if you are invited.

If you receive an invitation to complete a survey and you do not feel comfortable participating, you can choose to:

Let the person know you would prefer not to participate.
Simply not respond to the survey.
Contact the Organisational Capability and Culture team within HR at uqleadership@uq.edu.au to disuss your situation.

Completing the survey

Access the survey by clicking the unique survey link in your invitation email and following the instructions.

It generally takes about 15 minutes to complete the survey. You can complete it over multiple sessions if you like. You will generally have two weeks before the survey closes. You must answer all questions and reach the finish page to have your responses included in the overall results.

If you don't feel able to answer a particular question, select 'Not Applicable/Cannot Say'

Anonymity

Your feedback will be anonymous unless you are the manager or supervisor of the person being rated. Read about the UQ Leadership Survey for more information about anonymity, reporting, and how your responses are used.

Providing constructive feedback

The most important thing you can do is to be as honest and constructive as possible in your responses. The person undertaking this survey is looking for an opportunity to improve, and good feedback is cruial so they can determine how best to do that.

Here are some tips to help ensure that your feedback offers value to the person who is receiving it:

Try to be objective: focus on behaviour, not personality. We don't always get along with everybody. Try to set aside your personal like or dislike of the person and consider what they actually do when they're demonstrating leadership.
Think of examples: If you're not sure how to answer a question (or even if you are), try to think of a few examples that demonstrate the capability (or lack of), or back up the rating you think they deserve.
Look at each item individually: Consider it separately from other items - each question is designed to measure a separate aspect of a capability.
Use the whole scale: Nobody is perfect - everybody will have some strengths and some areas for development, so help them to discover what they are by being honest.
Select 'not applicable/cannot say' when it's appropriate: If you feel that you are unable to answer a question, use the 'Not Applicable/Cannot Say' option. This response also provides useful information to the leader, as it may mean they need to make some aspects of their behaviour more visible.
Be constructive in your written feedback: Ensure your comments are respectful and constructive. Offer people something that they can work on and build from, or a suggestion for behaviour that would be more effective.

Overcoming biases

Often we display subtle biases in our responses to surveys. The most effective way to overcome these tendencies is to be aware of them. Here are the most common biases in feedback and suggestions to overcome them.

Halo effect: occurs when a good characteristic (like being friendly) leads to rating high on other behaviours, or when a negative characteristic (such as being overly abrupt) leads to lower ratings on other behaviours. This limits the recipient's opportunity to learn from the feedback or understand their impact on others. Instead, try and think about each question specifically, including some examples that support your intended rating.
Recency effect: occurs because the most recent instances of behaviour come more easily to mind, so we weight them more heavily in our responses. Try to think about your overall experience of the person (say, over the last 12 months) rather than just the most recent instances.
Central tendency bias: occurs when people tend to rate all behaviours as 'average' or close to. This makes it difficult for the feedback receiver to distinguish between strengths and areas in need of development. To overcome this tendency, look at the descriptions on each point of the scale - do you slightly disagree, or do you strongly disagree?

Unconscious bias occurs when we unconsciously rate some people more positively than others because of their personal characteristics (e.g., gender, culture, attractiveness, height, or sexuality). Everybody has some unconscious bias, but it's important to try to overcome these when you provide feedback. To do so, try to understand:

Where your unconscious bias might come from.
How unconscious bias might affect your assumptions and day-to-day interactions with others.

How your responses are used

The leader undertaking the survey will receive a report summarising the responses. Responses within each category are combined, and the report doesn't identify who gave which responses (although managers and supervsiors may be identifiable). The report is used to help the leader develop an action plan to improve their leadership skills.

Read about the UQ Leadership Survey for more information about anonymity, reporting, and how your responses are used.