A 360 Degree View

April 19, 2011 by Joyce Richman
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The trend toward 360 degree performance appraisals can be more of a jolt  than the faint of heart can handle.

Back in the old days, which can be as recent as a few minutes ago, high ranking employees could stay in their jobs,  earn substantial bucks, and be as good or as bad as they always had been. That was when an annual review came around as often as a bicentennial event.It’s not that employees haven’t wanted to know where they stand, and how long they were going to stand there. The problem was no one wanted to be the messenger, particularly  if the news was bad.   Few employers were providing any feedback that was timely, substantive, and constructive.

Enter the advent of 360 degree performance appraisals. Employers learned that they could deliver feedback from the perspective of many, instead of a few, and that leavened the dread of giving it. Because of that, increasing numbers of companies signed on to the concept. Employees, many for the first time, were finding out what their colleagues thought of them. The  results were certainly revealing, sometimes surprising,  and depending upon your perspective, pleasing, awful or something in between.

Helen, not from here but could be, was a physician who chose to leave private practice to join a large pharmaceutical company. She said she wanted to make a difference in more people’s lives than the relative few that she could minister to in her daily work. She believed that her choice had been a good one. She enjoyed her work, her company, and her colleagues. She just found out that they didn’t enjoy her.  Her 360 degree feedback told her so. Helen’s feedback report came from her boss, several peers, and direct reports.  The largely anonymous (she knew who her boss was) and aggregated information described her as an explosive bully. Her abrasive and arrogant behaviors caused her employees to feel inadequate and devalued.

Helen saw herself as a standard bearer in her field, a take charge person; gutsy and tenacious. She knew she was arrogant even if others hadn’t reminded her of that fact. She knew that she was impatient with those who didn’t get it (and very few did). But she cared about her work and the impact that it had. She thought that was enough. Helen’s career was running off the rails. Should she try to hang on or leave before they fired her? If she stayed, she would  have to convince everyone that she was worth salvaging. She would have to make the changes that she needed, and make them stick. If she hesitated too long, the choice wouldn’t be hers to make. She knew she had to take quick action but couldn’t get past her anger and humiliation. She felt blind sided, primarily by her boss. “I had asked him, more than a few times, what he thought of my performance. He  gave no indication that he was displeased.  In fact, the only negative he mentioned was that I should consider working harder on my people skills.”

John P. Kotter, author of Leading Change, (Harvard Business School Press) describes his view of the “Organization of the Future.”  He envisions “a day when big egos and snakes are eliminated from promotion lists, no matter how smart, clever, hard working, or well educated they are. Such people kill teamwork. They create problems today, but in a more rapidly changing future world, the consequences of their actions might well become completely unacceptable.” Sometimes you have to confront  snakes and big egos. Sometimes it’s incompetence or disorderly conduct. Whatever that nasty thing is,  confront it. Do it quickly, specifically, directly,accurately, and fairly. Confront it  while there’s still time to turn it around. If 360 degree performance appraisals can make that a more palatable process, climb aboard. If you combine ongoing personal feedback with collaborative and aggregated feedback, you can touch all the bases. Delivering the message is only the beginning. The true challenge comes in reasoning through what it means, and what the impact of  “doing it differently” can be.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

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Yes! You may use this article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce has appeared regularly on WFMY-TV and is the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.