This article will guide you on how to create an employee survey about trust in leadership, packed with actionable steps and key considerations. With Specific, you can easily generate this survey in seconds—AI handles the heavy lifting for you.
Steps to create a survey for employees about trust in leadership
If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific. Creating an effective, conversational survey is surprisingly simple thanks to AI-driven tools like Specific’s survey generator for employees and leadership topics. Here’s what you do:
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
Honestly, you don’t even need to read further—AI will build your employee trust in leadership survey with expert phrasing, and even ask respondents smart followup questions to extract deeper insights. There’s nothing stopping you from collecting actionable employee feedback right now.
Why trust in leadership surveys matter
Let’s not sugarcoat it: if you’re not asking your employees about trust in leadership, you’re letting big opportunities for growth and retention slip through your fingers. Here’s why these surveys are essential:
Engagement and productivity: Employees who trust their leaders are 60% more engaged and 50% more productive. [1] When trust falters, engagement tanks—and so does output.
Turnover is expensive. High-trust companies enjoy 50% lower turnover rates, meaning you retain more valuable people. [2] Every exit interview or sudden departure cuts deep.
Disengaged employees drain resources—globally, they cost organizations $8.8 trillion each year, about 9% of worldwide GDP. [3] That’s a staggering price for not listening.
When leadership teams run effective surveys, you get crystal-clear feedback on what’s working, what’s broken, and the subtle cues your team is sending. If you’re not running these, you’re missing out on a crucial pulse check for growth, culture, and risk management. You’ll find more about the benefits of employee feedback and best practices in our related guide on the best employee trust in leadership survey questions.
What makes a good survey on trust in leadership
Getting your survey right isn’t just about picking any questions. The structure, tone, and flow matter. Here’s what separates good employee trust in leadership surveys from the mediocre ones:
Clear, unbiased questions: Avoid leading or confusing language—keep it straightforward so everyone understands.
Conversational tone: You want employees to feel comfortable and honest, not like they’re being interrogated. A friendly chat-style approach works wonders here—this is where AI-powered surveys shine.
Quantity and quality of responses: Both matter. A good survey will get everyone talking, and help them feel safe enough to share what matters most.
To sum it up, you want a survey that maximizes response rate and delivers honest, in-depth feedback. See how common survey pitfalls compare with best practices:
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Vague or biased questions | Clear, neutral phrasing |
Boring or lengthy forms | Conversational tone and engaging prompts |
No followups on incomplete answers | Dynamic AI-powered followups |
Question types and examples for an employee survey about trust in leadership
Picking the right mix of questions makes all the difference in whether you get rich feedback or just surface-level responses. Below are proven question styles for trust in leadership surveys.
Open-ended questions encourage depth, nuance, and detail—perfect when you’re seeking real stories, context, or sentiment. Ideal for exploring “why” or “how.” Example open-enders include:
What does effective leadership look like to you in our organization?
Can you share an example of when you felt a high level of trust in our leadership team?
Single-select multiple-choice questions are best for structuring feedback and comparing trends at a glance. Use them when you want to quantify responses or spot patterns. For instance:
How confident are you in our leadership’s decision-making?
Very confident
Somewhat confident
Not very confident
Not at all confident
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question gives you a benchmark for overall trust and is a gold standard for measuring sentiment. If you want to try this, just use Specific's NPS survey builder for employee trust in leadership.
Example NPS question:
On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend working under our current leadership to a friend or colleague?
Followup questions to uncover "the why": The best surveys don’t end with just an answer—they dig deeper. Followups work well after any open-ended or unexpected multiple-choice response. They help uncover motivations, clarify context, or explore hidden pain points. For example:
Can you tell me more about what led you to feel that way?
What changes would most improve your trust in our leadership?
Want more example questions and strategies? Check out our in-depth guide to the best employee trust in leadership survey questions for lots of creative, actionable ideas.
What is a conversational survey (and why use AI to make one)?
A conversational survey feels like a chat—questions and answers flow naturally, and AI asks smart follow-ups in real-time, just like a skilled interviewer. This is a game changer compared to traditional surveys, which are typically rigid forms that miss crucial insights or context.
Let’s put manual vs. AI survey creation side-by-side:
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
|---|---|
Static, one-size-fits-all forms | Adaptive, adjusts tone and questions per respondent |
No followups unless reviewed and sent later | Real-time, context-based followup questions |
Slower, lots of manual setup | Survey is built in seconds using AI |
Dull experience—low engagement | Feels like a natural conversation, higher engagement |
Why use AI for employee surveys? AI survey builders like Specific save you hours of work and let you launch high-quality, engaging trust in leadership surveys instantly. They handle the conversation, probe for depth, and adapt based on employee responses—all without the fatigue of traditional form design. Plus, analyzing responses is a breeze when you can edit surveys with AI or see how AI analysis makes sense of qualitative feedback in seconds.
Specific stands out for its best-in-class conversational survey experience, making it incredibly easy and even enjoyable for both survey creators and respondents. Try building your AI survey example and realize how transformative this approach can be.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are where the magic happens in a conversational employee survey. Instead of static forms, AI-driven surveys like Specific’s can probe deeper based on the respondent's own words—collecting richer, more nuanced insights that you’d otherwise miss. This is a massive time saver over having to individually reach out for clarification over email later. With automatic AI follow-up questions, the conversation stays natural and relevant to the respondent, just like a real research interview.
Employee: “I feel that leadership could be more transparent.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share a recent example where you felt transparency was lacking?”
How many followups to ask? Most of the time, two or three follow-up questions are enough to get the depth you need. With Specific’s system, you can set the maximum, or allow respondents to move to the next topic once you’ve collected enough information. This flexibility prevents survey fatigue and keeps answers focused.
This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a static list of questions, the survey adapts in real time, following up wherever there’s ambiguity or an opportunity for deeper insight.
AI-powered analysis, actionable insights: Don’t worry about how to handle lots of unstructured text—AI survey response analysis tools make sense of all the data for you, grouping themes, highlighting trends, and even letting you ask questions interactively about what employees are saying.
These automated followup questions change the game—go ahead and generate a survey to try the experience for yourself.
See this trust in leadership survey example now
Want real insights from your team this week? Compose a conversational survey about trust in leadership and see a clear picture of your culture—no manual busywork, just smart, actionable feedback from your employees.