You’ve hit send. The team survey’s gone out.
Now you wait.
And as the responses roll in, you suddenly realise you’d rather scrub the staff kitchen fridge or lead a three-hour meeting about printer settings than open that report.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone. Almost every leader we work with admits to feeling a little eek! (or a full-blown help me, Sheryl) when feedback time arrives. It’s totally normal. Having your team rate how they see their culture — and you — can feel a bit like reading your own performance review written by a mystery panel of truth-tellers.
Leadership is personal. You care about your people, your mahi, and the environment you’re building together. So when those colourful bar graphs and anonymous comments arrive, it’s hard not to see them as a verdict on you.
But here’s the truth: feedback is data, not doom. It’s a moment in time - a snapshot of how people are feeling right now, not a permanent label of how things will always be.
Think of it like checking your car dashboard. It’s not saying you’re a bad driver, it’s just letting you know the oil’s low and the tyres need a bit of air before the next journey.
Here are a few Culture Movers-approved ways to move through the nerves and make the most of your insights:
When you first open that report, resist the urge to react straight away. Breathe. Have a cuppa. Read it once through without judging or defending. Just notice what’s there — what themes repeat, what surprises you, what makes sense.
Every team has its messy middle. There’s always something to celebrate and something to stretch. Focus on what’s working first. Strengths give you clues about what to build on. Then look at the trickier bits with curiosity, not criticism.
Your team already knows the results exist. Pretending otherwise makes it feel secretive. Share the big themes back with them: “Here’s what you said, here’s what I see, and here’s where I’d love your ideas.”
It’s not about having all the answers; it’s about showing up to the conversation.
You don’t need to fix everything solo. Ask, “What’s one small thing we could try as a team?” Tiny changes made together build trust faster than one big policy rewrite from the top.
Culture isn’t a project with an end date. It’s a living, breathing relationship. Keep checking in, keep asking, and keep celebrating progress, especially the invisible kind, like people feeling brave enough to disagree respectfully or put a wild idea on the table.
At Culture Movers, we see brave leadership every day, not in those who have perfect scores, but in those who lean into feedback with curiosity. The ones who say, “Okay, this stings a bit… but let’s unpack it together.”
That’s where trust grows. That’s where teams move from polite agreement to genuine collaboration.
So next time that survey lands in your inbox and your heart does a little tap dance — remember, it’s not a test. It’s a tool.
You’ve got this. (And if you don’t, we’ve got snacks and a strategy for that.)
If you’d like to be part of the team, unpacking the results, and answering the questions instead of asking them - then get in touch with us. We can facilitate your team feedback session so you can be part of building a better culture together.