Help Using the Influencing Skills Survey
This page contains more detailed guidance on different aspects of using the Influencing Skills 360
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Topics
Frequent Questions
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Recommended Process
The main purpose of the Influencing Skills 360 is to stimulate your thinking about how to develop your
ability to influence. In essence, it allows you to establish a benchmark for your skills; then later it will
enable you to find out how you have improved by running the survey again. In the simplest way possible, here is the outline process to follow...
- Agree aims and objectives with your line manager.
- Complete the survey yourself (self-assessment).
- Consider whose feedback would be most helpful. Between 10 and 15 people is ideal.
- Use our systems to invite their feedback.
- Let them know separately what you are doing and why you would really value their feedback — and ask them to check
their junk email box for our email invite!
- Monitor progress by returning to the status page. Use the system to send a reminder after a week or
so and/or go knock on their door!
- When you think sufficient people have given feedback, close the survey and review your report with your line manager.
- Agree a development plan to focus on the most important skills which need to be worked on.
- When you are ready, perhaps after 3 or 4 months, repeat the survey process and compare results.
The Survey is a guide to what areas you should focus on, and the development opportunities will vary depending on your
situation, company resources and initiative.
Closing Surveys
In order for you to see feedback from others on your influencing skills, you have to "close" the survey. This is part of
our approach to encouraging more open feedback from your colleagues. Once a survey is closed, it cannot be re-opened. You can
find the link to close the survey on its status page just below the summary of how many have been invited, etc.
However, please be aware, that when you close the survey, feedback will only be shown if at least five people completed the
survey for you. So make sure and invite enough people and remind them using both our system and your own connection with them.
Developing Others
The Influencing Skills 360 is an ideal tool to help others to develop. If you are a professional trainer, coach, or simply
manage a team of people, you can purchase any number of surveys. When you are preparing to buy surveys, simply select the
number of people you want to have access (i.e. the number of surveys you want to purchase). Once you have completed the purchase
process, you will then be able to give access to your colleagues, clients or team members so they can use the survey.
The number you select must include yourself (unless you have already purchased a survey).
As an added benefit, you are in control and can choose when they get to see their feedback report. If you like, you can use this
feature to prepare for a training session and hand out their completed reports during the session.
We usually offer discounts for multiple survey purchases. If the form on the left does not allow you to select enough surveys,
contact us because that probably means we'll be able to offer you a bigger discount!
More Information.
Who has access to the final report?
As a default, the person who invited you to use this survey
will have access to the report and the data relating to the people you invited. They will not have access to the individual scores given by people, nor will
they be able to identify who left free text comments.
As part of your training, it may have been agreed with your company to provide them with aggregated data, or
even the actual reports; however, we give you our commitment that, if this is the case, we will do our best to encourage
your organisation to make the position clear.
Naturally our internal technical staff have access to all data to be able to provide you with the level of
service you would expect. We operate within all Data Protection legislation and have built our reputation on
the highest levels of integrity and security.
Apart from this, you are in control of who can view the report. You can invite people to view the report and
you can also withdraw their access.
Why do I have to close a survey before I can see the report?
This is part of our anonymity protection. While a survey is in progress, people will be scoring
different aspects of a relationship. Although long winded and unlikely, if the report was available in real time
it is possible to calculate an individual's scoring. By preventing this we hope to increase the level
of honest disclosure and thereby help people to build greater trust and credibility as they work more
collaboratively.
Who should I invite?
Try to invite people who know you well. If you want to learn more
about your influencing skills at work, concentrate on those you
work with. Don't simply invite your friends, invite others too, as
they may be able to provide you with the most valuable feedback.
You could also focus on a specific group of colleagues if you wish,
such as people you are working with on a specific project. The choice
is yours.
How many should I invite?
The choice is yours. We usually recommend 10 to 12, because this
gives you a chance to get more balanced feedback if they include
a good cross section of people you work with. Feel free to invite
more if you wish. If you invite 15 to 20 within a few weeks, you'll probably
have had at least 10 complete, at which point you can close the survey and see the results.
Make sure to keep people informed directly to maximise the amount of feedback you get.
How long should I give people to complete feedback?
That is up to you. Most people tend to be very busy and it may
be worth talking to them directly and asking them when they may
be able to complete the feedback. There are no limits, but most people
who want feedback tend to give people a couple of weeks to complete
the process. Don't forget, you can send reminders from the
system if you need to.
Will those I invite be able to see my self-assessment scores?
No.
I've invited someone, but I think I got the email address wrong. What should I do?
Go to the Status page. Here you will see a list of those
you have invited. Simply enter their name and the correct email
address and click invite. If you are sure you got the original email
address wrong, you may click on the cancel link beside the error
if you like.
Why do your emails sometimes end up in my junk email box?
Good question. Due to the sheer volume of spam floating around
the world, major email providers are working overtime to root them
out and throw them away. It is virtually impossible to guarantee
that our emails get through however, we have gone to considerable
lengths to maximise their chances. To ensure that you get your emails
from us, add our email address (gautre@gautreygroup.com) to your safe sender
list. We also recommend that you let people you are going to invite
know to expect an email for us and ask them to check their junk
email box.
Does the system send automatic reminders?
At present it does not. We do, however, review progress and sometimes
send an automated reminder about a week after the original invite
was sent out. We are, however, careful not to appear intrusive or
pestering on your behalf. You are welcome to send reminders from
the system too — a facility which was built in to help you overcome
the junk email filtering problem.
If you have any other queries, please don't hesitate to email our
support team.
