A 360 Assessment Review Improves Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Culture

We believe it would be helpful to interrupt our series on Common Sense Leadership, specifically the key qualities of highly effective leadership, to discuss a current experience with a client.

The client we will discuss is an industry leader, having grown steadily not via acquisitions, rather by investing in the development of their people and a genuine focus on the quality of their service to clients.

We were asked to conduct a 360 assessment of the 16-member leadership team, including the CEO, executive committee members, and other key officers in human resources (HR), marketing, sales, and finance, as well as key regional leaders.

To begin the process, we explained to everyone that the 360 assessment is a personal development tool only. The participant being assessed and the coach (me) are the only people who view the results. They are not shared with HR, senior management, or the CEO.

We ask each participant to select approximately 10 people with whom they work on a regular basis, and who thus have a good sense of the participant’s work and work style. Among those selected should be the participant’s boss, the boss’s boss, peers, and direct reports. These people complete an assessment on-line, addressing 130 questions with ratings from 1 to 5. It takes 20 to 30 minutes.

When asking people to assess her performance, the participant explains that the on-line form goes straight to the 360-host organization and is anonymous. No one will ever see how any person rated the participant. The participant further explains that the results are owned by the participant and used solely as a learning opportunity to identify strengths, areas for personal development, which we all have, and possibly a “blind spot(s)”. As the assessment is solely a personal development vehicle, it has no effect on compensation, promotion, or any other decisions.

The leadership of this company was enthused and welcomed the opportunity offered. Their enthusiasm was justified, as they were then eager to learn about their team, and are now committed to using what they learned to become even better in their everyday work as leaders.

Here is a sample of the individual results:

Strengths: Willingness to learn Care for their people Delegation to the appropriate level Provides and is receptive to constructive feedback Defines expectations clearly Offers ideas and opinions with solid evidence Recognizes the contributions of others in successes Calmness under pressure Ultimate team player Strategic thinking Negotiating skills Amazing ability to multi-task Ability to earn trust Builds relationships at all levels of the company Is a “giver"

Areas of Development Opportunity: Could be a better listener (common feedback) Tendency to rush to judgment Too political Self-awareness could be improved Could be more decisive Domineering personality Takes people down, which can be demotivating At times, too rigid, not open to change Sometimes does not give sufficient credit to others for their contributions Tendency to avoid conflict Reluctance to demonstrably support decisions he does not agree with A glass “half empty” outlook Use more “soft skills” Be on time

 

There are several other strengths and a few opportunities to improve. These are a representative sample.

Reflection

If your reaction is that there are a lot of areas for improvement, I want to point out that in numerous cases simply one of the ten raters for each participant suggested an area for improvement. What I greatly admire is that in these cases, the critiqued participant effectively said to me, “I see one of my team members thinks I could do a better job delegating, or communicating, or offering feedback, or whatever the skill, and I want to do better, and I want to develop my own plan to improve.”

Another take-a-way for me is that these areas for improvement are pretty simple fixes. With self-awareness, desire, and commitment, it should be relatively easy to better explain expectations, celebrate small successes, give credit where it’s due, and listen to learn.

That said, many of the behaviors which could be improved could likely be 20 to
30-year habits. Thus, it is important to have a development plan and be accountable to one’s boss, a peer or coach. A plan with accountability will very significantly increase the likelihood of successful change.

Results

The participants have been eager to meet with me and discuss what they learned. In some cases there are no surprises, in others there are, and several of the participants expressed what they now realized have been blind spots.

The great thing that this leadership team did, through their own initiative, was get together this past Wednesday and share what they had learned, both positive and negative. Each leader said she or he was going to work to be even better and wanted continued feedback from the others on the senior leadership team. In fact, they even began at the meeting on Wednesday, asking questions such as, “Can you give me a specific example of when I made someone feel inferior, or hurt someone’s esteem, or did not seem supportive of the group’s decision, etc.” Everyone on the team contributed feedback, positive and constructive, and they did it with sincerity and grace.

A definite key to success is striving for continuous improvement, individually, as a team and as an organization. That is exactly what this company is doing: allowing themselves to say, “I am good, and I can be even better!” This is a strong group of leaders, who now will be even stronger and I love the enthusiasm of these leaders and their desire to be their best selves.

Commissioning this 360 initiative and then sharing with one another is a wonderful example of striving for continuous improvement. It’s why this company is, and will continue to be, best in its field.

Will the senior leadership of this company be even better? Yes, definitely!

Will the organizational culture of this company become even more energized, collaborative, supportive, and loyal? Yes, absolutely!