CASE STUDY: Coaching and Career Development Series Through Your Looking Glass
Most managers do not get enough honest feedback. When was the last time you told your favorite boss what you really thought about his or her behavior-specifically, comprehensively, in detail? If you are that favorite boss, even with all the willingness in the world (and the thickest skin) your very success and competence can hinder your ability to hear that kind of information.
This lack of feedback can cause managers to underestimate the importance of their own personal development. The fault should not always be laid at the individual's doorstep. Many factors inherent in the manager's situation discourage self-development...
- The power of their position isolates them from criticism.
- The expectation of high performance from both the organization and the managers themselves puts them under great pressure to just keep on doing what they've done so well in the past.
- The nature of the job leaves little time and offers few immediate rewards for introspection.
- The successful manager has learned to build on strengths to such an extent that he or she may be unaware of weaknesses.
The price the organization pays for this situation can be devastatingly high. Those who are involved in creating and implementing customer service programs often talk about the cost of poor quality. We usually have in mind the cost of wasted materials, or the time lost when the operating room is poorly scheduled, or the loss of elective patients who take their business elsewhere because the staff's bedside manner is less than helpful and comforting. While all those problems are worthwhile subjects for customer service improvement projects, they may be merely symptoms of less-than-optimal management based on the success of how we "used to do things." When we think about the cost of poor customer service, we need to think about the cost of employees continuing to do the wrong thing. We need to consider the time wasted and the information sidetracked when departments do not cooperate. In short, the cost of poor customer service must include the cumulative cost of any manager's less-than-optimal abilities to plan, delegate, motivate others, coach, communicate, listen, collaborate, manage conflict, plus the many other dimensions that are key to the leadership role.
What are the most frequently cited skills managers need to develop?
- Explain (upfront) how performance will be evaluated
- Provide continuous feedback on performance
- Establish clear performance standards
- Make certain others know what is expected of them before they begin a task
- Provide feedback in a constructive manner
- See to it that people are properly trained
- Reward creative and innovative suggestions
- Identify "back up" plans
- Listen to people with an open mind
The profiling process offers something that is often lacking in many organizations-a specific vocabulary for describing leadership behaviors. Most people become leaders because of their achievements in some technical area. If asked to describe good financial management or good nursing, they can easily identify the specific competencies and behaviors required. Without a comparable vocabulary for leadership, even the best intentioned feedback can be imprecise and less than helpful. A manager who knows (s)he writes well may be puzzled to see the comment "needs to improve communication skills" appearing on performance review after performance review. The problem may be in how (s)he listens-that (s)he rarely allows other people to finish what they have to say. The profile offers that kind of specific feedback and teaches executives how to provide it as well.
How do executives react when they see the results of their profile? The dynamics are such that a person may think they are doing great in an area and then get feedback that is the opposite of that. Some people feel like the emperor who has no clothes. It takes a while to adjust to that, before you can turn it into positive growth. You have to say to yourself, "Well, whether this is what I thought or not, the perception is there, so what is my plan? What will I do differently as a result of this feedback?"
Executives are rarely put into a place of being vulnerable. There are so many buffers and filters. With the profile there are no buffers. There are no filters. The real stuff gets to you. It touches each person personally. The process is designed to leave participants feeling just uncomfortable enough so that they will want to change, but not so uncomfortable that they cannot accept their feedback. Unlike a management style survey, which tends to leave participants feeling relieved and thinking, "Oh, so that's what I am!" the 360 process tends to leave participants thinking, "Oh, so that's what I need to do to work more effectively with others." Being identified and described can be good. Having a description for change and being propelled into action is better.
After the initial individual reactions have settled in, what happens? Does the profiling process make a real difference to the running of the organization? Do the results find their way beyond private self-examination and into action? Although the report itself is confidential, many leaders will choose to show it to their bosses, particularly when the boss' assessment (or previous performance appraisals) rates the leader lower than do peers and direct reports. Leaders often share their personal action plans with their boss. Many choose to share their action plans with their direct reports as well.
The Leadership Assessment Survey is self-norming. Leaders are not measured against an external standard of "correct" leadership behavior, but against the expectations of their internal and external customers. A well designed self-norming instrument automatically adjusts for the different skills required to lead in different situations. It doesn't allow for excuses like, "Well, maybe that's how they do it at Company XY, but I've got an emergency room to run." Perhaps most important of all, the process of self-norming is in alignment with the philosophy of customer service. The customers --the boss, direct reports, peers--are setting the standards of excellence. They have an investment in its success. And it makes a difference. As one executive said, "The greatest contribution was identifying areas where we could improve the CUSTOMER SERVICE process by changing behavior and improving leadership. For example, we have revamped our director's meetings so they are oriented toward our internal customers--the department directors. The directors form the agenda and network. Management acts as a resource. That is a 180 degree change from the formal, management controlled meetings we used to have."
Use 360 whenever you want to develop the performance and productivity of your people; when you want people to work more effectively with one another; when you want to help them reach their potential. Use the process to establish individual baseline data and let leaders know how they are going to have to change in order to implement CUSTOMER SERVICE or any other corporate initiative.
A few words of caution are in order for those who use any profiling instrument. The information that results is sensitive. It must be presented in an atmosphere of trust and positive support. The facilitator cannot process people's data and then simply hand them their results. People must be given the tools to interpret the report and channel the information into future action.
The confidentiality of both the report and the source of individual respondents must be preserved. You have to have an open enough environment that people are not concerned about results being used in any way against them. It should be looked upon as just another building block in a successful career. When conducted in that kind of open environment, the benefits of executive profiling (or profiling at any level) can be enormous. As Peter Drucker said about managerial self-assessment, "You will be surprised what you learn about yourself. You will soon find out that your strengths are not where you think they are and that you have weaknesses where you never suspected them. But above all, you will see that you have needs for learning, for improving your skills so as to make your strengths fully effective, and that you have habits that inhibit the full power of your strengths. It's amazing how much you can improve and how fast."
© 2005. All rights reserved. CCI Assessment Group International and Cipolla Companies, Inc.
