Post a Resolution

The reason people stop answering surveys is that nothing visibly happens afterward. A resolution is the answer to that: a short note attached to a theme saying what you did about it.

Where resolutions live

Resolutions are added to custom themes — the ones you build yourself from the leaderboard. That's deliberate: a custom theme is a concern you've named and taken on, which is the kind of thing you can actually resolve. Automatic themes shift as new responses arrive.

So the sequence is usually: read the leaderboard, notice a recurring concern, build a custom theme for it, act on it, then resolve it. See Read Your Results: Themes and Topics for how to build one.

Add one

Open the custom theme. If it has no resolution yet, you'll see No resolution yet and an Add Resolution button.

Write what happened, then choose Send Resolution. The theme is then marked Resolved, with your text underneath.

Anyone in your organization can add one.

Write it like a person

The useful ones are specific and short:

• What you did or decided. "Council approved $40,000 for sidewalk repair on Third and Maple at the June 12 meeting."

• When it happens. A date beats "soon".

• Where to follow up. A meeting, a page, a person to call.

"We hear you and are looking into it" is worse than nothing — it teaches people that answering is theatre. If the answer is no, saying no and why is a resolution too, and it lands better than silence.

Once it's sent

A resolution is a matter of record: once sent, it stays on the theme. Read it back before you send it, the way you would an email to the whole list.

Respondents who ticked the box for updates on their topics gave an email address for exactly this reason — progress on the things they raised.