Temperature Check
A short questionnaire or survey designed to be administered at regular intervals or at moments of inflection that tracks changes over time. Temperature checks are used to track how the team feels about how the organization is making progress on issues of culture, racial justice, and equity.
FAQ
What are the best questions to ask in Temperature Checks?
Qualitative data is the best type of data to gather in Temperature Checks. We want to understand the thought processes, feelings, and reflections of organization members. These behavioral signs dictate how members will approach and take on the organizational culture work ahead of them. It’s critical for us to understand the nuances of individual opinions. Temperature checks can include multiple choice, ranking, or open text questions. Each type of question can elicit unique responses.
When are temperature checks best administered?
Temperature checks are best administered either at the beginning or end of a stage of human-centered design work, which are: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. This is to provide “breathing space” and room for reflection on previous experiences, as well as to prepare our best selves in conducting the next stage. Typically, we administer three temperature checks: before the Empathize stage, between the Define and Ideate stage, and between the Prototype and Test stage.
How long are temperature checks and why?
Temperature checks are a maximum of 4 questions because they are intended to gauge a quick understanding of how people are feeling. They are not in-depth surveys and should not take more than 5 minutes to fill out.
What do you do with the results of temperature checks?
Staff temperature checks are interesting to get a sense of where staff stand. The results of temperature checks can be distributed to leadership staff in real time to understand their organization more deeply, be used to evaluate the success of processes or policies over a period of time from individual perspectives, or be analyzed collectively to understand the shifting behavior of a group.
How do results fit in with other pieces of the work?
We utilize temperature checks by asking the same questions over time throughout the design process, and evaluating how responses may change and why. This is one metric that evaluates how well human-centered design work may be resonating with the team and the overall buy-in of the organization.