What Comes After the 360 Assessment is What’s Important
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To many of us in the industry, the 360 multi-rater assessment seems like it’s been around since the Dark Ages. In reality it first emerged in the 1950s, but really became an integral part of human resource and organizational development circles in the 1990s. Today, most large organizations utilize multi-rater assessments as part of their leadership development program. At Work Effects, we subscribe to the benefits of this type of assessment. Being rated by those we lead and work with on a regular basis often provides greater insight into our actions and behaviors versus the more traditional top-down manager performance appraisal.

As the leadership development industry has become more accustomed to using this type of assessment,  the aim of creating better leaders is often lost in the process of simply delivering the results and little or no effort or resources are given to what comes after the leader receives these results.  Sure we send them to a training program and give them some camaraderie and a new vocabulary, and for a privileged few we might even give them a coach for a few months, but little is done to insure that behaviors are actually targeted and developed.  A 360 assessment is not meant to be the only solution to growing leadership skills, but rather one of the tools to be used to identify the areas a leader needs to improve to become more effective.  Without follow through and thus accountability for following through, leadership skills won’t improve.

Finding successful leaders is not as easy as stamping them out at Harvard or Wharton. Annually, sports teams search for that special player that can transform their teams.  A superstar can make the difference between winning a championship or just qualifying for the playoffs. The same applies to organizations. A great leader will leave a lasting impression on an organization. A mediocre one will be buried in its historic annals. An effective leader doesn’t come out of a business school with all the skills necessary to propel their team or organization, they don’t gain their skill by merely sitting in a certain role, they have to continually practice the craft of leadership.

Faced with such longs odds of finding gifted leaders might seem as difficult as finding a stick pin in the Grand Canyon.  Provided that an organization can find these leaders, they still have to continuously keep them happy and challenged so competitors don’t steal them away.  The cost of finding gifted leaders continues to rise exponentially, thus it is imperative organizations become world class in growing their own.  By designing leadership development initiatives that go beyond a program or event approach, an organization will not only reduce its risk but create a magnet that attracts the raw talent needed to grow a plethora of gifted leaders.  

The task of molding managers into leaders is a task that requires continuous nurturing. It doesn’t simply happen.  Billions are spent annually on leadership development resources through training, coaching and assessments with little if any accountability for the prospective leader to actually practice the craft of leadership.  The difficulty isn’t a lack of resources, but creating a nurturing culture that also holds individuals accountable for implementing their identified actions.   

One of our large clients follows this practice of using a holistic approach to leadership and holds the 2,500 plus individuals that attend an annual training program accountable for not just developing their actions but actually putting them into practice.  These leaders receive their feedback in the program, are assigned an internal coach, and encouraged to follow up with their raters - all fairly typical.  

The difference with this particular organization’s approach is that leaders are also required to share their action plan, not their results, with their manager, and are automatically enrolled in a Work Effects Check-Up 360 process.  The Check-Up 360 targets the individual’s areas for action and provides an ongoing measurement of progress every six months, which is then shared with the individual and the manager.  Furthermore, by using this approach, the organization has now gained the insight to identify where the development process is breaking down early in the process, not just annually, and can address the issues to get the practice of leadership back on track.  

The company’s multi-year systematic approach requires management to make a long-term commitment both in time and in dollars to growing its leaders, but the upside is that they are now in the enviable position of filling virtually all senior leadership roles from within, and have had to rely very little on the highly-competitive free agent market.   

Like a chrysalis, this company’s leaders emerge from the process and grow to become the shining lights that an organization seeks. Other organizations that have followed a similar process experience higher retention, more employee motivation and higher levels of commitment. Managers participate in the development of their employees through two-way dialogue not through top-down performance reviews.  Business objectives are met because the organization has created better leaders.

A key takeaway is not that a 360 multi-rater assessment should be conducted, but that senior management and the entire organization must be committed to follow-through over an extended period of time.  In addition, an organization cannot rely solely on the individual’s motivation to become a better leader, but must build accountability into the process to assure the continuous development of that leader’s leadership skills.   

To many of us in the industry, the 360 multi-rater assessment seems like it’s been around since the Dark Ages. In reality it first emerged in the 1950s, but really became an integral part of human resource and organizational development circles in the 1990s. Today, most large organizations utilize multi-rater assessments as part of their leadership development program.
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