For execs, full-circle job reviews on the
increase.
Think 360 reviews, and gamers think Microsoftís Xbox
360óthe popular video game and entertainment system.
(They may also be thinking Sony Playstation
3.)
But in the business world, thereís another 360
review. The 360-degree leadership assessment
survey. And in lots of organizations, itís that
time of year. This 360 is designed for people
who lead, manage, direct or influence the activities
of others.
Many multichannel organizations use it to gather
feedback from peers, managers, direct reports, and
other internal and external sources; including
self-assessment, customers, suppliers and other
interested stakeholders. Itís executive development
feedback, and it comes from all aroundóoutlining
the performance, strength and weaknesses of a leader
or manager.
Participants receive
feedback on a comprehensive list of leadership and
management competencies. Feedback on hard to
measure soft skills, setting priorities, suggested
skill building exercises, individual development
plans, and quantifying progress.
Managers
gain a new perspective on their areas of strength,
opportunities for development and blind spots. And
if some (or most) of the feedback is negative,
unexpected, or unwantedóitíll be hard to dismiss
when it comes from so many sources.
What
you get is not only information necessary to assess
those leadership and management skillsólinking
performance measures with organizational
standardsóbut also what action you may need to
take for those bosses ìbehaving
badly.î
When conducting 360-degree feedback
on any employee, itís a good idea to involve a
"neutral" third party in the process. This can
provide better objectivity and confidentiality.
Often these third parties will also have
sophisticated survey delivery and analysis tools
that can often be hard to find internally in most
organizations.
One such company is Profiles
International, Inc. of Waco, Texas ó an
employment evaluation and human resource management
assessment firm. (Wonderlic is another.) They
offer a comprehensive, three-part 360-degree
feedback program for professional development that
focuses on 8 major skill sets and 18 universal
competencies:
Communications
Listens
to others, processes information, communicates
effectively
Leadership
Instills trust, provides direction, delegates
responsibility
Relationships
Builds personal relationships, facilitates team
success
Adaptability
Adjusts to consequences, thinks creatively
Task Management
Works effectively, works competently
Production
Takes action, achieves results
Self-development
Displays commitment, seeks improvement
Development of Others
Cultivates individual talents, motivates
successfully
Putting it in context, a recent Harvard
Business School study suggested, that in one
organization they worked with, many employees
recommended that (a) "openness to input from below"
should become a key component of each leader's
360-degree performance evaluation; and (b) a cut-off
score be set for this component, and that those
below the threshold could not be promoted.
This would have been a fairly radical change
for this particular company, where technical
excellence was seen as the primary basis for
promotion. Although senior management did not act
on this suggestion, which would have been very
difficult in their well-established culture, it
points in the right direction.
The study
states: ìIt's worth remembering that this is not
about being ëniceí or creating a ëniceí workplace.î
In fact, those organizations where voice is more
natural and welcome can be pretty tough places, in
the sense that people are direct! Not all news is
good news! But people also have learned to expect
the good and the bad, and know how to process it.
You might be thinking at this point, given
how difficult it is and given that it's not
necessarily going to be fun, why bother? Their
response is that no news is not good news,
from the point of view of senior management, or even
bosses all the way down.
Managers need to hear from the people in the
organization who are closest to the work, closest to
the customersóthose who are in the best position to
recognize problems and have new ideas.
While 360s may not solve all management
shortcomings or be a productivity panacea, they do
focus attention on leadership, style, and
implementation problems. Whatís more, they may also
help you confront a certain degree of institutional
dishonesty along with unrealistic
expectations.
Iíd like to thank you for
your support and kind words during this, my rookie
year of writing this newsletter. Itís a challenge
and responsibility I continue looking forward
to.
Executive Search International