Prioritising Results

Executive · P&C · Leaders Updated October 2026

Survey results often create a long list of possible issues. They are one part of the evidence used to decide where focused action will have the greatest practical value.

Review before prioritising

Do not select final priorities from the survey report alone. First bring together:

  • employee insights;
  • current WMS commitments, organisational plans and initiatives;
  • relevant HR, workforce and operational data; and
  • leadership and SME reflection.

Use the EOF to test where the evidence reinforces, challenges or adds context to the survey story. Keep causes as hypotheses until the wider evidence supports them.

Prioritisation criteria

Criterion Question to ask
Employee impact How many employees are affected and how strongly?
Outcome connection Is this driver likely to influence X-Factors such as intent, advocacy or pride?
Benchmark gap Is the result materially below available benchmark or prior results?
Risk Does the result indicate WHS, psychosocial, governance, turnover or service risk?
Actionability Can Council do something meaningful within a realistic timeframe?
Existing commitments What does the current WMS, Delivery Program or existing initiative already commit Council to do?
Strategic alignment Does the combined evidence support maintaining, changing or adding to those commitments?
Readiness Is there leadership commitment, ownership and capacity to act?

Priority decision matrix

Priority type When to use it Example
Enterprise priority Whole-of-council pattern, high strategic importance or major risk. Role clarity, workload, systems, leadership, pay fairness.
Local priority Issue is concentrated in a directorate, work group or location. Team-level communication, hand-offs, manager support.
Deep dive Result is important but not yet understood well enough to act. Psychosocial risk, change fatigue, specific demographic variance.
Monitor Result is stable or moderate and not yet a major risk. Track through pulse or next annual survey.

Choose 3 to 5 priorities after the integrated review. Anything more will dilute ownership and make it harder to demonstrate progress.