360 Feedback Blog

A survey just out talks about how 5000 employees described the management style of the people they work for.

“The survey found that the three most common leadership styles in the UK were authoritarian (according to 21%), bureaucratic (16%) or secretive (12.5%) - which sounds more Politburo than progressive. Only 10% described their bosses as accessible, and just 7% as empowering”.

This leaves me wanting to know more:

What management style did employees think was the most effective?  Surely the best management style is the one that’s right for the particular situation you’re trying to resolve.

And I’d love to know what how the managers and leaders of these employees see their own management style, and what scores they would get in a 360 Degree Feedback!  You can bet your life they wouldn’t say they were authoritarian, beaurocratic or secretive…they’d say they were assertive, organised and discreet!

Ruby is one of my favourite comediennes and she’s now doing management training! Here an article in the Times recently on her philosophy of how to help people behave better in the workplace.

I like the simplicity but I do think there’s more to it than that….here’s my response..

At the end of a recent episode of the Apprentice USA, Donald Trump, having pointed his pistol finger and fired the first candidate, concluded his remarks by saying ’she had to go…people don’t change’.

Is he right?  Are people just the way they are, or can they change their behaviours if they really want to?

I think DT has a point: the person he fired ignored all the feedback from the other candidates which was telling her that she didn’t listen and that she was a disruptive influence.  Her response was that people (especially women) were intimidated by her.  She would not, or could not, hear the feedback.  I have come across people like this and I don’t think they can change.  Because they don’t want to.

People who really want to change, though, will do so.  At an exreme level, you can see this in people who take on new religious beliefs in adult life can can often change their lives completely, and those of the people around them.  Maybe because their will to change is so profound and internalised…

As a people development professional I have also seen people take painful but ultimately successful journeys to change their behaviours.  I have reviewed my own behaviours at certain times in my life (after some 360 Degree Feedback) and made a decision to do some things differently.

What’s the view from people development professionals out there?  Can people really change?

In this article in Business Week, the brilliant coach Marshall Goldsmith sets out the 5 key steps that anyone can use to become a more effective leader.  The first of these is to obtain 360 Degree Feedback.

After that it’s critical to listen to the feedback, make a clear decision about what you’re going to do differently and keep getting feedback as you go.

I would add that the more visible and up front you are about the feedback you have had, and how you are actively using that feedback, the more people are going to see your commitment to your own development as a leader.

I found this great summary of questions people often ask about 360 Degree Feedback, and some of the criticisms that can be levelled against the process.

Here’s our response (we’ve repeated the comments/questions at the beginning of each paragraph):

It’s right that 360 focuses on managers and above; this is because 360 is most effective when measuring management, communication and leadership skills, and it’s at manager level that those skills become important.

There are indeed some key things that need to be in place for 360 Degree Feedback to be effective and valuable.

1) giving appraisals is a difficult task.
Yes appraisal can be difficult, but managers need to be trained in giving appraisals.  360 Degree Feedback is an additional tool to help with appraisal, because it gets feedback from multiple perspectives; it is one form of appraisal, not the only one.

2)there may be a gap between an organization’s business objectives and what 360-degree feedback programs measure.
I so agree with you - it is critical that the 360 Degree Feedback measures the behaviours that are needed for the organisation’s business objectives.  This is normally the first thing we do when designing 360 Degree Feedback.

3)time and cost associated with 360-degree feedback also are stumbling blocks
Yes, there is time and cost involved in doing any people development work.  However good communication and positioning of the 360, and careful planning, can reduce the impact of the activity. And a tool that helps employees, their managers and the organisation to understand skills gaps and strengths, is critical to the organisation’s success.

4) Reviewers and those being reviewed fail to follow up after feedback.
Follow up is essential - as with any people development tool, using it and then forgetting about it is a waste of time and money, and creates negative attitudes in the organisation.  The 360 should be integral within the people processes of the organisation, should be meaningful, and should be aligned with other activities like appraisal, training needs analysis and management and leadership development.

For a free guide on 360 Degree Feedback Best Practice, go to our website Track Surveys and download the document.

Link to my blog on UK Training Zone to read this blog.

‘What organisations increasingly need is a cost-effective way of developing the leadership skills of large numbers of managers in a way which moulds them into the type of manager best suited to the organisations’ needs – and preferably, without taking them away from their day jobs – ideally through, an approach that allows them to dip in and out when time and opportunity permits’.  View this article on localgov.co.uk

I would add that effective learning should be all about learning through the medium of the individual’s day-job. By focusing on 360 Degree Feedback and coaching, as in this great example, individuals can reflect on how they do their job, what they need to change to improve, and then do it, in the context of their workplace and their colleagues.  The regular 360 Degree Feedback and coaching is so important because it’s easy for busy managers to forget about what they are learning, and their learning targets - 360 feedback and regular coaching keeps them focused. 

On the point of ensuring that the organisation gets the skills improvement it needs (as well as individuals improving personally), it’s critical that the 360 Degree Feedback is aligned to the organisation’s learning objectives, which in turn must reflect the skills and behaviours it requires in its people in order to meet its business objectives. 

In this interview with the CEO of a high tech corporation in the states, she makes a number of interesting observations about her development as a leader.  In summary, the key messages are:

- She has learned not to try to do everything herself
- She listened to feedback and learned to modify the way she dealt with certain issues
- She realised from her 360 reviews that sometimes you don’t realise the messages you’re giving to people in the organisation and that those messages might not be what you intended.
-Sometimes strengths can be overdone and become weaknesses, so she has learned to be aware of that and act accordingly.

Follow the discussion here and on UK Training Zone.

On my Training Zone blog I talk about the reasons why 360 Degree Feedback is an ideal tool to support feedback, irrespective of individual styles or preferences.

Most Employers Are Ineffective at Supporting New Managers
A study by i4cp finds that most organizations don’t provide any measurement when transitioning employees to management for the first time. 

This has the effect of:

• Leaving new managers floundering and performing poorly

• The organisation with no data on their new managers’ current or anticipated skills

• No development or talent management plan

Scary.

But what’s even more scary is when this effect is multiplied around the organisation, with managers transitioning into new senior manager roles, and senior management moving up to board level. 

We would apply the 4 recommendations in the article to people at all critical transitions in their careers and their roles - give them clarity on what’s expected of them, evaluation and measurement before they begin their new role and regularly after that, 360s for a rounded assessment of management and leadership skills, and lots of training and support.