SituationFit and Weekly Check

Purpose

SituationFit shows how well your current work situation fits your motivation profile. It is based on the weekly check: a short questionnaire you fill in once a week. It captures what you did over the last few days and how you felt doing it.

Afterwards you see your own results: the deviation from your motivation profile, your eustress and strain history and hints on what can help you. Your team benefits because the answers flow into the Team Barometer in aggregated form. There the team leader sees where strain arises and can take countermeasures.

The weekly check comes in three forms:

• Weekly check – every week, takes a few minutes.
• Deep-Check – at regular intervals (default: every four weeks) with additional questions on the experience of flow.
• Team-Check – once a quarter as part of a Deep-Check, with statements about your team.

Who can see this?

All users of MatchLytics-Management, if the product is enabled for your account. The Situation Fit button is in the sidebar for everyone. You see the Situation tab with your results as soon as you have a motivation profile.

Team leaders and administrators additionally see the eustress and strain values of the members of their team (see Notes) and can Send SituationFit Reminder.

Layout

1. Your weekly check – The dialog you open with the Situation Fit button in the sidebar carries this title in all steps.
2. Progress bar and step indicator, e.g. “Step 1 of 4” – The bar fills with each step. The system decides how many steps there are in a given week; in weeks with a Deep-Check, further steps are added.
3. Question “What fits what I have been doing over the last few days?” with 24 terms – Here you describe your last few days. The system decides the input form for the week, see Input forms for the terms.
4. Counter “Please pick five matching terms · … to go” – In the button matrix it shows how many terms are still missing. Once five terms are selected, the app locks the remaining buttons.
5. Privacy note – It appears in the first step only. It says that your answers are stored for your own results and only enter the team view in aggregated form.
6. Next – Moves to the next step. The button becomes active as soon as the step is fully answered, in the button matrix that means after five terms. In the last step, Submit takes its place.

1. Situation – This tab of your profile shows the result of your latest weekly check. It appears as soon as you have a motivation profile and opens automatically after every submission.
2. SituationFit result – The title names the date of the latest result and the need with the highest priority. Below it are the last selected terms, i.e. the terms of your latest answer with the greatest weight.
3. Situation Fit History – The chart compares the last four SituationFit results with your motivation profile and, if a position is assigned to you, with the work task. This shows how your experienced work situation has developed over recent weeks.
4. TwentyFive Difference – The chart shows for each dimension the deviation between motivation profile and experienced work situation in the latest result, limited to −40 to +40. The axis is labelled “Avoid negative stress” and “Taking care of basic needs”.
5. From your last barometer – The box shows measures that your team leader released to the team in the Team Barometer, without names and without team values. It is missing as long as there is no released measure from the last four weeks.
6. Your eustress and strain values – The card shows your eustress index and your strain index from the latest evaluated weekly check, their history and hints on your situation. You, your team leader and administrators can see these values.

Functions

Fill in the weekly check

The weekly check records once per calendar week how you experience your work situation. The system decides which questions and which input form the app shows for the week. When you submit, the system calculates your SituationFit, i.e. the deviation from your motivation profile. You see the result in the Situation tab, and in aggregated form it flows into your team leader’s Team Barometer.

1. Click Situation Fit in the sidebar. If the sidebar is collapsed, click the smiley icon in the same place. The Your weekly check dialog opens.
2. In the first step, answer the question “What fits what I have been doing over the last few days?” in the input form the app shows (see Input forms for the terms below).
3. Click Next. The button becomes active as soon as the first step is fully answered.
4. Answer the following questions with the slider. Each slider has seven steps and starts in the middle. Back takes you one step back without losing any answers.
5. In the last step, click Submit. After the evaluation the app opens your Situation tab; if it takes longer than one minute, the dialog closes and your answer is saved anyway.

Every week, the weekly check asks three questions after the terms: the first two always, the third changes in a four-week rhythm of the calendar weeks.

Question	Left pole	Right pole	When
How did you mostly feel at work this week?	unpleasant · strained	pleasant · at ease	every week
How activated were you at work this week?	calm · low energy	wired · full of energy	every week
Right now I experience my work situation rather as …	a threatening overload	a stimulating challenge	CW 1, 5, 9 …
How much did you feel on top of your work this week?	not at all	completely	CW 2, 6, 10 … alternating with the next question
How stressed did you feel at work this week?	not at all	very much	CW 2, 6, 10 … alternating with the previous question
How well could you switch off from work in your free time?	not at all	very well	CW 3, 7, 11 …
How often did you feel enthusiasm or drive this week?	never	very often	CW 4, 8, 12 …

For the first three questions, the app shows feedback in words above the slider, e.g. “rather at ease” or “mixed”. For the other questions it shows the value, e.g. “4 / 6”.

If you close the dialog before submitting, nothing is saved. After submitting, the answer is stored and the system sends no email. While the evaluation runs, the app shows “Thanks for your answer. It is being processed now.” Within the same calendar week you can only change it with Replace answer.

Next: View results in the Situation tab

Input forms for the terms

In the first step, you describe your last few days with terms; the system calculates your SituationFit from your selection. There are 24 terms in random order: win, participate, rest, check, to feel, to think about, to see, listen, to touch, to improve, to empathize, to move, to be in front, to be there, to be secure, to be proud, to be near, to be curious, to fight, to laugh, to observe, to compare, to enjoy, to discover.

The app decides which input form you see each week. In normal weeks, Button matrix and Swipe cards alternate; the same form never comes twice in a row. In Deep-Check weeks, “Most / least” appears.

Button matrix: All 24 terms are shown side by side as buttons.

1. Click five terms that fit your last few days.
2. The order of your clicks counts: the first term has the strongest color, the following ones get lighter.
3. Click the most recently selected term again to take it back.

Swipe cards: The terms appear one at a time as a card, with the next term faintly behind it.

1. Swipe the card right for “fits” or left for “does not fit”. Alternatively, click the fits or does not fit buttons. The indicator “Term … of 24 · “fits”: …” shows your progress.
2. After the last card, under “Your top 3: which three terms shaped this week the most?” you select three of the matching terms (“Please pick three terms · … to go”). Clicking again removes the selection. If three terms or fewer fitted, the app takes them over without asking.
3. At least one term has to fit, otherwise Next stays locked.

Most / least: The app shows four sets of four terms each (“Set … of 4”).

1. In each set, under “Which fits most – which fits least?”, click fits most for one term and fits least for another. A term cannot be both.
2. Click Next, and after the fourth set To the anchor question. Back returns to the previous set.
3. Answer the anchor question “And overall?” (“This question turns your comparisons into an absolute picture.”) with one of four answers: “They describe my week very well overall”, “They describe my week mostly well”, “They describe my week only partly” or “They hardly describe my week”.

I’d rather use the button matrix: If the app shows Swipe cards or “Most / least”, the link I’d rather use the button matrix appears below the first step. It switches to the button matrix; answers already given in the first step are discarded. The app also switches to the button matrix automatically if an input form does not work.

Replace answer

The system saves one weekly check per user and calendar week. If you have already answered this week, the app asks after submitting: “You have already answered this week’s check. Do you want to replace your earlier answer with this one?”

• Replace answer – the new answer applies to this week.
• Keep earlier answer – the dialog closes, the earlier answer remains.

With Replace answer, the system deletes the earlier answer and evaluates the new one; this cannot be undone, and no email is sent. A Team Barometer that was already calculated for this week takes over the new answer only after Recalculate, see Team Barometer.

Deep-Check

The Deep-Check extends the weekly check at regular intervals with questions on the experience of flow. Its answers appear in aggregated form in the flow analysis of the Team Barometer and as your own flow diagnosis in the Situation tab. By default it takes place in every fourth calendar week (CW 4, 8, 12 …); an administrator can set an interval of two to eight weeks in the Controlboard under Settings. You open it like any weekly check via Situation Fit, and the app decides whether a Deep-Check is due this week. In the Deep-Check, you select the terms in the “Most / least” input form.

After the questions of the weekly check, the following questions come:

Question	Left pole	Right pole
I was so absorbed that I forgot everything around me.	does not apply	fully applies
My work ran by itself – effortless and fluid.	does not apply	fully applies
How high were the demands of your tasks?	very low	very high
How well could you meet those demands?	not at all	effortlessly

The questions on demand and skill appear together on the step “Demand and skill this week”. Above them, the app shows which area your two answers fall into: balanced, control, flow, arousal, anxiety, worry, apathy, boredom or relaxation.

Then two questions on the conditions of your work follow. They alternate from one Deep-Check to the next:

Question	Left pole	Right pole
How freely could you decide how to do your work?	not free at all	entirely free
How clear was it to you at all times what exactly to do?	not clear at all	clear at all times

or

Question	Left pole	Right pole
How immediately did you notice whether your work was succeeding?	not at all	instantly and clearly
How undisturbed could you work in one stretch?	interrupted constantly	entirely undisturbed

Once a quarter, the first Deep-Check additionally contains the block “How work feels for you right now”. For the sentence opening “In relation to my work right now, I feel …” you rate nine statements from “totally disagree” to “totally agree”: stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted, under strain, an inner restlessness, full of joy, challenged in a positive sense, overflowing with energy, enthusiastic.

After submitting, your Your eustress and strain values card shows Your flow diagnosis after the Deep-Check. The diagnosis is one of six: Problem with the conditions, “Can do it, doesn’t want to”, Underload, Overload, Flow zone or Mixed picture. Below it, an explanation and measures appear, if available.

Next: Flow analysis in the Team Barometer

Team-Check

The Team-Check asks you once a quarter about your team and runs in the second Deep-Check. The block “Your team over the last few weeks” is about the team, not about you alone. The team leader sees the result only in aggregated form as the team flow radar in the Team Barometer, and only once enough members have answered. You rate seven statements from “does not apply” to “fully applies”:

1. Our team pursues a shared cause that really matters to us.
2. We have clear common goals.
3. My personal goals fit the team’s goals.
4. Our skills complement each other well in the team.
5. We talk openly and directly with each other.
6. I can raise mistakes in the team without having to fear anything.
7. Everyone in the team takes responsibility for the result.

The seven statements are the preconditions for team flow. If a long Deep-Check interval leaves only one Deep-Check in a quarter, the Team-Check and the block “How work feels for you right now” alternate.

Next: Team flow preconditions in the Team Barometer

View results in the Situation tab

The Situation tab summarises how far your experienced work situation deviates from your motivation profile. It reads your latest SituationFit results, which arise from your weekly checks, and your motivation profile. Team leaders and administrators open the same tab in a member’s profile. After each weekly check, the app opens your Situation tab automatically. Later you reach it like this:

1. Open Team › Employee.
2. Click Result in your own row.
3. Select the Situation tab.

At the top is your SituationFit result, e.g. “SituationFit 30.09.26: Current need with highest priority is …”, followed by “The last selected terms:”; the list names only terms that were actually stored, empty slots are left out. The Situation Fit History and TwentyFive Difference charts compare your experienced work situation with your motivation profile. The TwentyFive Difference is split into “Avoid negative stress” and “Taking care of basic needs”. Matching texts appear below in the sections of the same name.

If there is no result yet, the tab shows “The user has not yet created a SituationFit.” and the Send reminder email button. The button immediately sends the member the standard reminder email, without a template selection. The other tabs of the profile are described in Employees and motivation profiles.

View your own eustress and strain values

Below the charts of the Situation tab is the Your eustress and strain values card. It turns your weekly check answers into two key figures that the system calculates after every weekly check from well-being, activation, the extra questions of the week and your SituationFit. Eustress and strain are measured separately – both can be high at the same time. Your team leader and administrators see the values in your profile; in the Team Barometer they appear only as a team mean, and individually only with a priority note.

• Eustress index and Strain index – values from 0 to 100 from the latest evaluated weekly check (“Latest evaluated weekly check: CW …”). An arrow with a number shows the change “vs. previous week”. Green means an improvement: a rise for the eustress index, a drop for the strain index.
• Last 8 weeks – both indices as lines. Weeks without a weekly check are left as a gap.
• A hint box with your impulse for this week – title and text match your situation, e.g. “Keep your room to act”.
• Classification as a chip: Good fit, Under-supplied or Over-strained, plus the quadrant Eustress / flow, Distress (tense), Exhaustion, Relaxation / underload or Balanced with a short explanation.
• What can help you – measures for your classification.
• Your flow diagnosis after the Deep-Check – only after a Deep-Check.

The classification is a guide, not a diagnosis. It follows the circumplex model (Russell) and the Yerkes-Dodson assumption. While your latest weekly check is being evaluated, the card shows the values of the week before. If you have not taken a weekly check yet, start it directly on the card with Start weekly check.

From your last barometer

The box shows you what your team leader made of the team’s weekly check answers. It appears when the team leader records a measure in the Team Barometer and ticks Visible to the team. Every member of the team sees the message on their situation page, in the Situation tab above the eustress card.

• Each message shows the text of the measure and the date, newest first.
• The message names neither the team leader nor the team: “This is what your team lead did with your answers. The message is anonymous.”
• A message stays visible for four weeks. If the team leader deletes the measure, the message disappears as well.
• If there is no released measure, the box is not shown.

Next: Record measure in the Team Barometer

Send SituationFit Reminder

With the reminder, team leaders and administrators ask a member by email to fill in the weekly check. It makes sense when the Team Barometer lacks results for the week, because it needs one from at least 60% of the members. The text of the email comes from the template you choose in the dialog; administrators maintain the templates in the Controlboard under Emails and templates. Independently of this, the workflow Erinnerung an den Wochen-Check (Arbeitssituation) (reminder about the weekly check) regularly reminds all users with the User role, see Workflows.

1. Open Team › Employee.
2. Click the envelope icon Send SituationFit Reminder in the member’s row.
3. In the SituationFit Creation Reminder dialog, select the email template under Template.
4. Click Send Reminder.

The email is sent immediately and cannot be called back. On success, the app reports “The SituationFit reminder was sent successfully.” The member then fills in the weekly check themselves, see Fill in the weekly check.

Details on the dialog are in Employees and motivation profiles.

Notes

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