When managers or innovation leaders need to receive a 360 review, the organization may hire external consultants to administer the surveys. The consultants then analyze and share the data with the leader, and in some cases with the managers and staff. Ideally, the manager and staff can join together to plan improvements for both the manager and for the department.
To be fair, more than a few human resource experts think the results of 360 reviews should be taken with a big grain—perhaps a hunk—of salt. Why? Because the responses, being provided by inherently emotional and biased human beings, are purely subjective and reflect only a relative relationship. For example, let’s say John is a sensitive, timid person who nonetheless performs his job very well. When given the statement, “Ms. Smith (the CEO) is compassionate and caring,” he might strongly disagree because he expects her to be more caring than any normal person would be, and he’s disappointed that she doesn’t pay more personal attention to him.
To stay ahead as an innovation leader, Ms. Smith needs to remember that her number one job is to connect with her employees and stakeholders as individuals. In another blog post I told about my experiences going to the Apple store. When you walk in the door, the sales associate—without regard to stupid preconceptions such as whether you’re a Millennial or a Gen-Xer or a Boomer—quickly tries to understand what you want and what kind of experience you’re seeking. If you want to quickly zoom in on the device you want to buy and then get out, they let you do that. If you’re more like John the sensitive guy and you expect personal, caring attention, they’ll do that, even if the sales associate needs to spend twenty minutes with you to sell you a replacement mouse.
So when John, the sensitive employee, reports that Ms. Smith isn’t compassionate and caring enough, this does not mean that Ms. Smith isn’t compassionate and caring at all. Instead, Ms. Smith needs to recognize that John has his own set of expectations, and if she wants to help John be a top innovator, she should take his individual needs into account and perhaps give him a little extra personal attention.
But you might say, “But what if Ms. Smith has a thousand employees? Giving every employee special attention, including John, would be impossible!”
True.
But if Ms. Smith has a thousand employees, I guarantee you she’s got a team of vice presidents and managers. To these people she can give her personal attention, and she can train them to do the same for their subordinates. Remember, company culture starts at the top. If Ms. Smith is committed to staying at the front of the innovation race, and she knows that in order to do this she and her leadership team need to embrace the LeaderLogic Model, then that’s exactly what they’ll do.
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