How can I create an initiative based on my surveys and use AI-powered recommendations?

How can I record the follow-up process of my surveys in Honestly and create and edit my own initiatives, but also receive AI-supported recommendations for action based on my individual questions and results?

To take concrete action based on your survey results, Honestly offers the Initiatives feature. This allows you to define, track, and evaluate measures across survey cycles to see their impact over time.

You can create an initiative directly from a chart on your dashboard by clicking +Initiative next to the relevant data visualization.

Initiatives can be created from all chart types, except heatmaps. This is possible for both single questions and combinations of multiple questions.

When you click +Initiative, a window opens where you can define your own initiative or choose from AI-generated recommendations based on the selected question and results. These suggestions come with detailed implementation guidance.

🤖 How do AI recommendations work?Our AI analyzes your specific question and your scores. Based on that, it suggests targeted actions, using:

General knowledge from proven HR and organizational development practices
Your data: The questions asked and the corresponding results

✅ Each recommendation includes:

A proposed initiative title
A SMART-formulated goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
Step-by-step implementation guide
Purpose and benefit
Transferable implementation notes

🔐 What happens to my data?

No data leaves the platform
No data is shared with third parties or AI providers
Your data is only used for the current request. No training or storage of your data

Creating an initiative – step-by-step

Once you’ve clicked Define your own initiative or selected an AI suggestion, click Start. Then fill in the following:

Set a title (Pre-filled if you use an AI suggestion, editable if needed)
Assign a responsible person (Can be yourself or another account user)
Select the survey and question (Pre-filled if initiated from the dashboard)
Set a due date
Enable/disable reminders (Email reminders are sent to creator and responsible person 3 days before and on the due date)
Enable/disable notifications (Emails for changes to initiative or status)
Set the status: Draft or Defined
Add internal notes for context (AI suggestions include default notes you can edit)
Mark as private (Optional): Only creator and responsible person can view.
Let’s go: Click Start to create the initiative.

Managing initiatives

Your new initiative now appears under the Initiatives section and can be tracked to ensure transparency and accountability in your survey follow-up. You can view and manage:

Here you can edit the status of your initiatives (Draft, Defined, In progress or Completed), see for yourself which and how many initiatives are in which status and also when they are due. Overdue initiatives are highlighted in red.

For a better overview, you can also apply filters here by:

Responsible
Survey
Attribute

If the survey or question linked to an initiative is deleted, the value in the initiative is removed. The initiative is retained.

If the person assigned as responsible or the creator of the poll is deleted from the account, the initiative is also retained. If the initiative was set to private, it will remain private even after it has been removed.