360 Feedback Blog

A recent article in Harvard Business Review (July-August 2000/Nohria, Groysberg and Lee) on Employee Motivation identifies 4 basic emotional drives that motivate human beings. 

Here’s a summary of that article:

The key drives that motivate people are:

The drive to acquire: this includes status and reputation, as well as pay and benefits
The drive to bond: i.e. people derive satisfaction and motivation from forming relationships with other
The drive to comprehend, that is, to make sense of what’s happening around them and to learn
The drive to defend; this is about protecting ourselves and people or things we value against external threat

The authors’ research shows that that organisations which were able to meet one of the four drives showed an increase in employee motivation of 5%, but those that enhanced performance on all four drives effectively showed an increase of 21% in motivation (and by implication, engagement and therefore performance).

So what kinds of specific actions can organisations take to help employees fulfil those key emotional needs? Here are some examples from the article:

Acquire = rewards = clear differentiation between good, average and poor performance 
Bond = culture = building a culture that really promotes teamwork and openness
Comprehend = job design = designing job roles that are clear and meaningful
Defend = performance management and work allocation practices = making processes more transparent so people feel they are being treated fairly

How can we do more with our current skillsets and tools to increase motivation as described in this model?

Do you have any ideas to share about how we could increase motivation using this model?

How do you think this model will be affected by the current climate of uncertainty and change in the workplace?  

Powerful performance with Track’s Talent Management Toolkit

In this article, Why Do We Feel Better if the Wording is Changed?, the writer discusses ways of making 360 Degree Feedback more positive and acceptable to those receiving the feedback (and, I daresay, to those giving it).

I agree that small changes in wording can make a big difference to givers and receivers of 360 Feedback. Words are incredibly powerful and, as he/she has pointed out, can make us feel different on an emotional level, even if we know what the message is really saying.

At Track we’ve found that asking respondents to state

• Things you’d like your colleague to Start Doing
• Things you’d like your colleague to Stop Doing, and
• Things you’d like your colleague to Continue Doing

is a great way to help respondents to focus on specific behaviours, ensure they balance the negative with positive (Stop and Continue), and also provide signposts or suggestions for change (Start).

Watch the 360 Degree Feedback video here.

Public Sector Managers Lack Confidence

This short article says everything there is to say about how 360 Degree Feedback can help managers and leaders to understand their own behaviours better, and so get a benchmark from where they can start to measure change and improvement. Although the title and the initial tone of the article is downbeat, the story is a positive one.Without the initial self-awareness, how can we change for the better?

Good 360 Degree Feedback, whether used for appraisal or management development, asks the right questions for the individual and the organisation, gives clear descriptions of the behaviours and makes the results easy to understand.

Great 360 Degree Feedback involves putting the content and the process together so that individuals are motivated to do more, and to continuously seek improvement.

It can be difficult to work through the different suppliers of 360 Degree Feedback software, find a couple of options that you like, and then try to choose which one will work best for your needs. Here are a couple of tips that might help…

• I know it sounds obvious, but make sure that the supplier knows what they’re doing; they should be expert in both the people management side and the technical/online/software side. They should understand what it’s like to deliver people management and development and have experience of doing it at senior level. Talk to their clients and use the references they give you.
  As a potential supplier we are often shocked that prospective customers don’t follow up the client references we provide!

• Big doesn’t necessarily mean good – the tools supplied should be scalable so they work for small projects and can grow with your requirements. And so that that you don’t have to pay for features you don’t need. And remember, the bigger the supplier, the bigger overheads they will have, so you end up paying for that big sales force, fancy office and the rest! If you’re worried that a smaller supplier won’t be able to give you the support you need, ask for a free trial. And ask their clients (see above).

• Use a company that specializes in online tools and software, and who are able to customize the 360 tools for your specific needs. Generic off-the-shelf tools are cheaper, but they often don’t fit with the organisation’s needs, and can feel alien to employees using them.

• Make sure your supplier is not just acting as a middleman to sell through a product that they can’t support; you may have problems getting support when you need it.

• And, speaking of support, make sure your 360 supplier is easy to contact, responds quickly and is able to sort out any problems that arise. Test this out before you decide on which supplier you’re going to use. Ask them where their support team is located, and test out their response times and levels. Nothing is guaranteed to give your project a bad reputation like a supplier who gives your people a support number and takes three days to get back to them.

• If you are setting up new 360 Degree Feedback for appraisal, talent management or leadership development programme, make sure your supplier can help you to manage the project, and advise you on the best way to do things, including communication, reporting and follow up activities. They should work with you in partnership, not just dump the product on you and leave you to it.