The temptation to let tools, systems and incentives do the heavy lifting for us in terms of people development and management is strong. Too strong... given the long line of leaders way too willing to throw in the towel and drink the latest Kool-Aid some consultant or provider is selling.
I see this often (and I'll bet you do too) in the area of rewards, where managers will battle for the chance to throw money - whether salary increases or cash incentives - at their people issues rather than do the difficult and time-consuming work of understanding and addressing them.
Another tool that offers tons of positive potential as well as ample opportunity for misuse is the 360 degree feedback program. In this vein, Art Petty has an incisive, on-the-money rant, Time to Take Out the 360-Degree Trash, on his blog Management Excellence.
As Art says:
Vague input filled with gross generalizations provided by untrained (in delivering evaluations and providing feedback) and potentially politically motivated individuals is truly not worth the paper it’s printed on. In fact, these systems are often de-motivating, potentially destructive and often nothing more than a compliance game that distorts behaviors and keeps people from having the right discussions for fear of reprisal.
For those already stuck with a turkey of a program and wishing to make the best of it, Art offers a few suggestions, including:
1. Redouble your efforts. The existence of a 360-degree system does not allow you to abrogate your responsibility for constant evaluation and timely behavioral and business focused feedback.
2. Encourage improvement in the system, but don’t expect much. Push to encourage organizational investment in teaching and training on how to offer input with some redeeming actionable value.
3. Build an effective feedback culture on your team. Encourage and reinforce the obligation people have to engage in constructive, open discussion about group and individual performance.
Click through to Art's post to read more.
Bottom line: Developing great people, focusing their energy and efforts on the right things, and dealing with their performance problems takes time, hard work and no small amount of courage. Effective tools exist to support us in this endeavor, not to get us off the hook. Pretending (or allowing someone to convince us) otherwise will not ultimately help us grow talent or deliver great results.
Image courtesy of mftrou.com
Hi,
360 Degree Feedback is best HR Software tool.It helps HR people in Organization.Like 360 Degree Feedback some other HR Software products are available.
Posted by: kalpana | March 26, 2011 at 04:27 AM