Microsoft Viva Pulse is a new app that empowers leaders and managers to seek and act on feedback when it matters. Using research-backed templates, teams can quickly share their experience and suggestions, and reporting helps managers pinpoint what’s working well and which areas to focus on over time.
Microsoft Viva Pulse is part of Microsoft Viva, the first integrated employee experience platform for the hybrid work era. It brings connection, purpose, insight, and growth into the flow of work to empower people and teams to be their best.
In this article, we will show you how to set up Microsoft Viva Pulse and use it to improve your team’s performance and well-being.
What are the benefits of Microsoft Viva Pulse?
Microsoft Viva Pulse helps you create clarity around what work is most important and listen to what your employees need to make the biggest impact. It also helps you:
- Reduce productivity paranoia: our data shows 87 percent of employees report they are productive, yet only 12 percent of leaders say they’re confident their employees are productive in hybrid work. Microsoft Viva Pulse helps you bridge this gap by collecting regular and confidential feedback from your team.
- Align goals and outcomes: Microsoft Viva Pulse integrates with Viva Goals, a goal-setting and objectives and key results (OKR) management solution that helps organizations align everyday work to business outcomes. You can check-in and collaborate on OKRs within the Teams activity feed, connect to Power BI datasets to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and key results, and integrate with Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project for automatic project management updates.
- Foster a culture of feedback: Microsoft Viva Pulse enables teams to use their voice to help managers identify areas of improvement and celebrate successes. You can use smart templates, research-backed questions, and analytics to create personalized Pulse requests for your team. You can also view the feedback results of your Pulse request once it closes and meets the minimum number of responses required. You can also share the report to facilitate team conversations.
How to set up Microsoft Viva Pulse?
To set up Microsoft Viva Pulse, you need to follow these steps:
- Assign a Viva Pulse admin role: Users with the Viva Pulse admin role can configure the Viva Pulse experience for their end users from within the Viva Pulse admin experience. This role is assigned to users by a Microsoft 365 Global admin. For more information, see Assign a Viva Pulse Admin in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Enable the in-app Viva Pulse experience: The in-app Viva Pulse experience allows users to send and respond to Pulse requests within Teams. To enable this experience, you need to turn on the following features in the Viva Pulse admin experience: Enable sending Pulses in Teams, Enable responding to Pulses in Teams, Enable adding new questions (optional), Enable editing stock questions (optional). For more information, see Set up the in-app Viva Pulse experience.
- Assign licenses to feedback authors: To send a Pulse request, a user must be assigned a Viva Pulse or a Viva Suite license by their Microsoft 365 administrator. Note that feedback authors must also be assigned a Microsoft Forms license. For more information, see Assign licenses for sending Pulses.
- Enable Teams Activity feed notifications (optional): To enable users to receive notifications about new or closing Pulses in their Teams Activity feed, you need to turn on this feature in the Viva Pulse admin experience. For more information, see Enable Teams Activity feed notifications.
How to use Microsoft Viva Pulse?
To use Microsoft Viva Pulse, you need to follow these steps:
- Send a Pulse request: To send a Pulse request, you need to open the Viva app in Teams and select Send a pulse. You can choose from one of the available templates or create your own by adding or editing questions. You can also customize the name, description, duration, and recipients of your Pulse request. Once you are ready, you can preview and send your Pulse request. For more information, see Send a Pulse request.
- Respond to a Pulse request: To respond to a Pulse request, you need to open the Viva app in Teams and select Respond to a pulse. You can see the list of Pulses that are available for you to respond to. You can select a Pulse and answer the questions anonymously. Once you submit your response, you can see a confirmation message. For more information, see Respond to a Pulse request.
- View and share feedback results: To view the feedback results of your Pulse request, you need to open the Viva app in Teams and select View feedback results. You can see the list of Pulses that you have sent and their status. You can select a closed Pulse and view the aggregate report of the feedback responses. You can also share the report with your team or others by selecting Share report. For more information, see View and share feedback results.
Microsoft Viva Pulse is a powerful tool that helps you create a culture of feedback and alignment in your organization. By using it, you can empower and energize your employees to do meaningful work in an uncertain economic environment.
If you want to learn more about Microsoft Viva Pulse, you can visit the Microsoft Viva website or the Microsoft Learn module.
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