360-Degree
Feedback – A
Great Way to Ensure the Right Balance
Start of a Conflict
This was my first job in India after returning from the US. I had heard many stories about people moving from the US and returning to India. The first year was the hardest for all of us. On top of that, who wants to have disgruntled team members at work?
Some people are very charming, smiling, and always pleasing the bosses. However, they are Dr. Jekyll for bosses and Mr. Hyde for their team members. I had one group leader who fit this description.
Ashok (name changed) was a group leader in charge of about 15 engineers. We were working on one customer-critical project. I had always made it clear to all my team members that they could approach me anytime they wanted to discuss any issues.
One day, an engineer came to my office. After initial greetings, he started describing the way Ashok treated everyone. Ashok’s behavior included putting down team members, putting pressure on them by watching every movement and creating an atmosphere of fear and discomfort in the group. I just listened.
A few days later, another engineer came. She told me about the agony of having to come to work due to Ashok’s bossy behavior. She also repeated some incidents earlier told by the other engineer. I listened carefully. I kept quiet but I had a solution in mind.
Equal Rights to Supervisors as well as the Team Members
Often it is said that people do not leave the company; they leave the bosses. There is a tendency in some people to feel superior to others and snub them down. A time comes when some employees say enough is enough to the bossy behavior and quit the company. Management may not notice the underlying reasons since supervisors often report it as the ‘desired attrition’.
Some companies have an archaic view that no matter what, there is a bottom 10% in every group that is non-performing. All those 10% are put in the category of ‘desired attrition’. Often, the HR managers are adamant about fitting a Gaussian curve to even a 15-person group. Gauss would have had a fit to see his name associated with a data set of 15 points and someone claiming to fit the Gaussian curve! In recent years, I have seen a welcome trend in some companies to not use the Gaussian curve concept. Of course, the terminology ‘desired attrition’ remains in one or the other form or a name. Investigating the real reason is important including the supervisor’s behavior in many resignation cases.
In 1994, at Boeing, the first time this new method was started in my group, everyone was apprehensive. What if someone who does not like me writes some nasty remarks? What if the feedback glorifies some friends and puts others down? As a manager, how do I break the bad news to someone valuable to the group but has many negative things written about him? However, none of the fears came true. Managers learned how to break the bad news, how to decipher the right message coming out of the feedback, and how to establish harmonious relationships between supervisors and reporting employees.
Even after leaving Boeing, I decided to routinely use this process of 360-degree feedback in my group. I implemented this system in every place I worked at. The results were different in different places.
What came out of it also changed from group to group. One time we found a case of a girl getting pestered by one boy. The case was verified. We took proper action and he was no longer with the company. Other times, there were genuine difficulties people faced. These were resolved in due course of time.
Benefits of the 360-Degree Feedback
The
first benefit is that attrition due to the autocratic behavior of supervisors
can be controlled. All supervisors get indirectly pushed to interact with other
team members courteously.
Third, it also brings out other issues in the group, if there are any. This may turn out to be the one that makes the most impact from the team members' perspective. Often, cases of harassment are not brought out in the open due to the fear of shame. Some outlet has to be there, or else it can go to the other extreme and make it hard to tackle.
The Resolution of the Conflict
Going back to our starting story, I called a group meeting the next day. I said, “During the performance evaluation process, you are evaluated by your supervisor. But do you get a chance to evaluate your supervisor? If I evaluate you, should you not have the right to evaluate me? That’s what we will do. The survey is going to be anonymous. You evaluate your group leader and you also evaluate me. Further, all my evaluation forms that you fill out will be opened and read by one of you in the next meeting. We will have this survey 2 weeks from now.” I can still remember the twinkle in the eyes of the entire team except Ashok. The idea was so foreign that it had never occurred to them. They were all stunned.
The next evening, 3 to 4 people came to see me. They had no words to thank me. Ashok had completely changed his behavior and was very nice to everyone! I didn’t even have to wait to collate the results.
