Seeing Things As They Really Are: Human Resources
Andrew Thorn recognizes the need for feedback, and why taking a helicopter performance review is necessary to leadership growth
Viewpoint by Andrew Thorn, PhD., WCW Columnist
Several years ago, when I was the president of Thalman Financial, Inc., I submitted myself to a 360 evaluation. To those of you unfamiliar with this process, it is an opportunity to receive feedback from multiple layers of key stakeholders. During this particular evaluation, I received input from my direct reports, peers, boss (my wife) and of course, from myself.
The evaluation consisted of 60 statements that were designed to probe the levels of agreement between my own awareness and the perceptions of those I invited to participate. All of the questions were focused on evaluation my key leader behaviors.
Seeing Things As They Really Are
I responded as honest as I could, and I wondered if those closest to me were seeing me in the same light. I wanted to believe that they were, but I really didn’t know what to expect. I remember feeling a little nervous as I waited to receive my report.
When the results came, I was happy to see, that for the most part, my responses were consistent with the responses of my stakeholders. However, the responses on one particular statement really caught me off guard. I had marked “strongly agree” for the statement “Follows through on his promises”. The feedback from my peers and boss was consistent with my own assessment, but my direct reports ranked me a combined “slightly disagree”.
I remember feeling hurt by this feedback. I could see that five of the eight people that rated me expressed some level of agreement with the statement, but the other three were on the extreme lower end of the scale.
Making Sense Of The Data
I could not understand how this could possibly be. Keeping my promises was something that I thought I always did. I didn’t feel like I had anybody on my team that was upset with me and I could not think of any examples to substantiate the perceptions of my three low raters. I understood that there must be some truth to their comments, but I just couldn’t make sense of it.
I spoke to the assessment company and they suggested that I speak openly with one of my direct reports about my confusion and ask that person to help me identify situations in which this rating would be valid. I selected my most trusted report and asked him if he would be willing to discuss it with me. He willingly agreed. I must confess that I selected this person, because I was sure that he gave me one of the higher ratings that I received and I felt like he would tell me that the low ratings must have been some sort of a mistake.
When we went over my report, I told him that I was very happy with most of my results, and I also mentioned my pain in receiving the low ratings on the item corresponding to following through on my promises. I said that I was having trouble understanding this feedback. I asked him if he could help me understand it, even though, I said out loud, that I was sure he disagreed with it.
Learning and Accepting The Truth
What he said next surprised me. He freely admitted that he had given me one of the lower ratings. I didn’t know how to respond. I was stunned by this revelation. I felt betrayed, and I could feel myself becoming defensive, but I really wanted to understand why this person, who was so close to me, would rate me this way. He offered to explain why and I was willing to listen.
He then recited several instances when I had agreed to proceed in a certain way and either failed to follow through or moved in a different direction. To me, these were minor infractions (see how I began to defend myself), but to him, they were fairly major breaches of trust. I did my best to hear him out without debating his perceptions. When he left, I thanked him for being open with me, and I assured him that I would get better at keeping the promises that I made to him and our staff. I was grateful for this eye opening experience and I really did resolve to get better.
Getting The Feedback You Need To Improve
The 360 process is one of the easiest ways to get the feedback that each of us needs to become our best. Regularly engaging in this process, helps us to make sure that we can see the gaps between our own perception of reality and the reality that others are perceiving. It helps us to see things as they really are. I can’t imagine leading without the information it provides, even when those results prove to be painful. The perceptions of our key stakeholders are not formed by the questions on the evaluation. The questions simply provide a forum for our stakeholders to anonymously give us the information we need to get better.
I learned from my first experience with 360 feedback, that it is very important to follow-up with the people who give me the gift of feedback by evaluating my behaviors. I always thank them for their participation. Then I share with them one or two thoughts about the positive feedback that I really enjoyed receiving. Finally, I review with them a couple of lower rated items that I desire to improve. I ask them to clarify any misunderstandings that I might feel, and then I ask them to give me some positive, forward looking statements, that will help me improve. Approaching it this way, always helps me get the most out of my 360 reports.
Have you ever participated in your own 360 assessment? If so, when was the last time did it?
I believe that it is just as important to receive an annual check-up on the health of our leadership behavior, as it is to get a check-up on our physical and fiscal health. Perhaps you have a professional on your team that is already providing you with these important evaluations, or maybe you are looking for someone to help you see what you are not seeing.
If you are interested in getting this type of feedback, please contact me and I will be happy to discuss how I can guide you through this process. The Dr. is in the house.
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