360 Degree Processes!

Over last few months, I facilitated 360 degree feedback process for a few employees.  

They have now received feedback reports and have undergone report debriefing sessions. While some of them seem to have accepted feedback & sound committed to working on them, some other seem compliant & a bit skeptical.

I´ve been thinking - ´As a 360 degree process facilitator, what are things I should/should not focus on?´.

·        Why does an employee want to undergo a 360 degree process?  In this case, the manager had suggested process to employees. I realized employees were enthusiastic, neutral, or skeptical about undergoing process.  I wondered ´Did manager commit a mistake by asking his employees to undergo process? Can these conditions lead to ownership of development process by employee?´ I don´t think manager committed a mistake by suggesting/recommending process. Necessary condition is that the employee feels need for undergoing the process.  How we get to that state is immaterial.

·        When might it be useful for an employee to undergo a 360 degree process?  I think an employee might consider undergoing the process after s/he has spent reasonable time (probably about a year) in a 'new stakeholder network'. This new stakeholder network might arise out of a role change, change in external stakeholder groups, etc.

·        What is feedback used for? If feedback will be used for performance/career decisions, then state it so. If it used for development decisions, then state it so. In either case, follow principle in letter and spirit. 360 degree process becomes dysfunctional when there is divergence between stated intent and actual practice. In previous case, an employee works on feedback because his career is at stake. In later case s/he works on feedback because s/he feels ownership for what´s expressed. Later case is preferred (there would be less ´forced performance´) but either case can bring about movement.

·        Who do we take feedback from? Do we choose only those who are like us (& hence might like us)? Are we willing to take risk to reach out to those who may be neutral about us too?

·        How do we deal with feedback? One frame of reference to look at feedback from is 'How are our actions being interpreted/perceived?´. In this frame, how our actions are interpreted matters more than our actions. Do we have control on way our actions are interpreted? I am not sure of that. But I do think we need to take responsibility for way our actions are interpreted.  When we start thinking about our actions and intentions, defenses might rise up. Under such circumstance, accepting feedback and working on same becomes difficult.

·        An employee signed up for 360 degree process, got his report, and underwent debriefing session too. What next? Where does process go from here? I think it is about whether employee is creating a development plan that has buy in of his superior (where would resources come from?)and is committing to any actions around same.  If these two things are happening, feedback process is possibly producing its outcome.

Have you experienced a 360 degree process? How was your experience like? What works and what does not?

-

Sourav

Exceptions!

´Exceptions´ are multi-headed monsters that all of us detest or love (depending on whether we benefit from it or not) but none of us can avoid in our work lives. 

We create processes and quality systems and focus on their reliability but sooner or later an exception always does come up. 

A few manifestations of exceptions I’ve come across:

• Management by Exception: I used to work at a factory at a point of time. I found some managers managing only exceptions. They used to find exceptions only through excel sheet trackers or when a workmen raised a hue and cry.  If there was no escalation, everything was running ok and the manager was doing his job.

• Setting Precedent or Going Against Established Precedents:  A boss says ´Should I make an exception for you? Well! I can but then I would be setting a precedent that I might have to follow for others or go against a precedent already in place.´

• Policies for Exceptions: A boss says ´What´s policy for making exceptions? J I can´t act without a policy.´

• Feedback by Exception: This is another manifestation of management by exception. A boss says ´If an exception gets bubbled up to me; my reportee is not doing his job. He obviously would get dinged in performance appraisal for this. ´ Reportee responds ´Well! I´ll ensure you hear of no exceptions/escalations.´

I feel dilemma around exceptions comes from our discomfort with feeling ´we are standing out´ and with anything/one that ´stands out´.

Decision to be taken always is ´what´s correct response here?´.  Response to processes should be ´how will these aid me? ´ and not ´how will these replace me?´.

Exceptions can never be eliminated because our processes/policies/excel sheet trackers would only be for a specific set of general circumstances. Whenever a unique circumstance arises, an exception might be required.

What has been your experience with exceptions?

-

Sourav

Intentions!

Some time back I was watching webcast about launch of Annual Performance Review process.

Head of HR was addressing Managers. She took a lot of time to explain the ´intention´ - single line message - behind the shape of curve and review process.

 

Like many others, I was struck by power of her words.

I have been wondering what happened. What did she do that left it´s mark?

 

I have heard many a times objective or metrics of a process but I´ve never found an objective/metric/goal so powerful.

 

First, I think word ´intention´ has more elements of a verb than words objective/metric/goal. It makes me realize that I am the executioner of the intent.

 

Second we associate a value judgment with intentions. ´If my intention isn´t in place, then either something´s wrong with me or I’m at wrong place!´ We mayn´t associate such judgments with other 3 words.

 

I´m sold on figuring out the intention behind the HR processes we manage. Let me illustrate. What´s intention behind:

·         recruitment/selection processes? Some options are – to make any participant a brand ambassador, to reinforce uniqueness of working here, to find a role/culture fit, etc.

·         compensation processes? Some options are – we´re best paymasters & we´ll do everything to retain you; you´re best judge of your money (take it in whatever way you want), etc.

·         learning processes? Some options are – you´re a ´talent´, it´s your responsibility to identity and drive learning needs; we value role based learning & personal development is your concern, etc.

·         role designs? Some options are- we value specialization/generalization; empowerment/centralization, etc.

I´m not sure if, in this post, I´ve chanced upon anything new. But I do feel I´ve found a way to see existing processes more powerfully.

 

What do you think?

-

Sourav

Feedback

What role does feedback play in Performance Management?  To answer this question, we´l l have to first answer a more fundamental question ´How does a manager arrive at a proposed rating for an employee?´

A Manager relies on his own judgment & employee´s self assessment– that´s what I have been used to seeing for a long time.

But in new context, I find that a manager additionally relies heavily on feedback received from others. There even is a feedback framework in place – employees use a feedback tool to request feedback and to give feedback.  Tool sees heavy 2 way traffic.  

So why do I see this change?

I think 2 primary reasons are:

·         Ecosystem -  I frequently hear here word ecosystem being used to describe number & variety of stakeholders one works with.  The circle of interaction and influence is not only within your team and teams/leaders you support. It is a matrix structure. Number of stakeholders potentially impacted is fairly higher than in a functional role based setup.

·         Manager´s role description– Most Managers here have a healthy mix of People Management and Individual contributor responsibilities. A Manager is accountable for his own performance and his team´s performance. Hence need for a Manager to balance his time.

Given these 2 realities, a feedback tool seems relevant to provide a manager more holistic visibility about his reportee´s performance.

Would such a tool be relevant for setups where above mentioned 2 realities are not so prevalent?

Manager´s judgment is paramount. But feedback is necessary to enable manager to take a better decision. So a feedback tool may not be necessary, but a feedback framework – on how employees request, give, & receive feedback – does make sense for all setups.

-

Sourav

Startlines!

So by when do i need to complete this work?

Deadlines is what we live by! We need to complete something and by a certain time. I find we (atleast I) usually tend to overestimate my ability to meet deadline. Invariably, i land up having to burn the midnight oil.

During childhood and college days, i used to get a kick out of meeting a deadline. I accept that i still do get a kick.

A few months back i came across a concept called 'Startlines´. By when do you plan to start a work.

I had found the concept powerful & relevant. A few weeks back, i experienced its relevance. I was, as usual, had started late for a project. I realized i was up against it. For remainder part of project i fixed 'Startlines´ - by what time would i start remaning different parts of project. 

By time i had completed the first part i had by far overshot the startline for 2nd part of project. I worked straight through - with no breaks. The approach helped because i always was cued on to 'when should i have started this part of project'.

In end, I finished project comfortably within deadline.

I am experiencing that to meet deadlines, we need to freeze our Startlines!

-

Sourav

Being Big!

A post i have written for Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group.

My attempts at intentionally transferring some of my learnings from a workshop to workplace.

http://blog.kjcg.com/?p=273

-
Sourav

So! What Exactly Is Different?

What is different? You have been here for sometime. How do you experience this place differently?

These are questions i have been frequently asked over last few months. 

At times I have wondered ´things maybe different but why is that important´.

When I had come in here I was clear that what´s I experience differently would just be classified as something that is different. 

I joined here with a mindset ´What´s different would be classified as something that´s just different. I won´t put a ´like´ or ´dislike´ tag against it´.  

Have I been successful in living up to my initial thoughts?  Well, Yes and No! It has not been a trouble free journey. But overall I do think I have been comfortable with non-judgmental hat I have chosen to worn.

But then experience has been different in parts.   What have these perceived ´differences´ been?

Initially, obvious ´visible´ differences struck me - Dress people wear to work, absence of formal work timings, preference for emails over phones, focus on punctuality (meetings starting/stopping on time- well, not always!), usage of quite succinct and sometimes unique terms (program manager, rhythm, decks, etc), prevalence of ´lunch meetings´, etc. 

Over last few months, I´ve had deeper realizations and insights. Am I done yet? I am not sure whether I can be ever done. I feel I am peeling off layers of an onion. I´ve peeled off a few layers. It has taken me sometime to do so. I´ve seen some visuals but then I realize those visuals itself might change tomorrow. There are a number of layers yet to be peeled.

Here are some visuals/realizations/insights I have had till now:

• Quarter Focus - I do perceive urgency in meetings and at work to meet metrics for current quarter.  This  quarter focus seems to be a double edged sword. It  does seem to keep everyone on their toes but most of focus of work is current quarter.  What in our work are we doing today for the long term (even the next quarter)? Balancing my daily work around areas that have immediate impact and areas that have slightly longer term impact does seem to be a ´tension´ I have to manage. Do I see everyone around me focusing on or being able to manage the same? Well! Yes and No!

• Metrics, Scorecards – I do perceive a focus on meeting scorecards (mostly quantitative). This focus is prevalent in HR areas too, including ones traditionally considered ´soft´ and not amenable to quantitative measurement. The principle ´what gets measured gets done´ certainly does hold true here. But there are times I observe a seeming neglect on what might be important but is not a part of the scorecard (probably because it is too behavioral/soft to be quantitatively scored).  I have perceived this organization as one that runs on scorecards.  I see challenge as ´Can we make these scorecards more encompassing? Can important qualitative metrics, that measure subtle and soft HR areas be included in scorecards too?´ I do sense we have distance to travel in this area.

• Listening and Expressing-  I sometimes observe an impatience to express oneself.  But when everyone wants to express, who listens?  I smile to myself when I hear the oft made statement ´I´ve heard you but…´.  I am tempted to ask in return ´What have you heard…?´ J.  I wonder whether the ´quarter focus´ leads to this phenomenon.  I like listening and I express in my own way.

• Disagreements and Feedback – Sometimes I realize that someone is disagreeing with me but is not saying so in so many words. The first few times I experienced something like this, I was left feeling confused. Over a period of time I have started sensing when someone is possibly disagreeing with me, even if s/he was not expressing so. I wonder whether our focus on being Respectful to each other gets probably misperceived by some as not expressing disagreements with each other. I also see this manifested in some groups where there is an aversion to having ´crucial conversations´, disagreeing, and providing critical feedback. Does it mean that individuals are not provided feedback? Sooner or later they are given feedback. Are they taken by surprise in such cases? Yes!  Do they like such a surprise? No! What has my response been? Well, when I have disagreed I have put my point forth. But I have tried to be respectful to the other person too. We can be respectful while disagreeing too.

• Confidence – I sense there is importance attached with projecting ´confidence´.  I find pockets where employees are mature to understand the implication of such a focus. I find other pockets where employees seem to misunderstand focus. In these pockets projecting confidence seems to be equated to not being perceived wrong and need to have immediate answers/solution to any situation. I remember something I had heard a long time back ´The 3 most difficult things to say in an organization are I don´t know, I am sorry, and I need help´.

• Channels of Communication – I initially perceived that it this was an email driven organization.  But then over a period of time I have observed subtle nuances too. I quite often hear ´I´ve heard about you …´. There are times when people come back and say ´Give me a call if you want to talk … ´So emails do work but I also perceive the need for ´high-contextual´ means of communication.  I sometimes wonder ´what is comfort of some of our employees with low contextual means of communication?´ This does seem to be an area of focus. Additionally I do perceive unsaid rules about who gets talked to and for what.  So yes, need for both ´high context´ and ´low context´ means of communication seems to co-exist here.

• Rhythm – I have talked about this before too.  I like the delineation of what´s in rhythm of business and what´s not. It provides a relevant yardstick to remind us whether we are working enough in taking the business to next level.  But are we fully understanding and utilizing this delineation? I think we could do more.

• Multiple Cultures/Group Norms – Is there a common overarching culture here? I perceive various sub-cultures across different businesses even within same geography.  Meeting norms (when do meetings get called and for what,  what gets discussed in meetings, what´s pre-work expected before meetings), email norms (what kind of emails with larger group get exchanged,  what gets responded to, speed of response), inter-personal norms (how frequently do people talk to each other and for what, what gets acknowledged/recognized, etc) seems to vary a bit across teams.  I am reminded of onions again. There are different onions. In many ways they are same but in some ways (maybe taste, smell, or looks) they are a bit different from each other.

-

Sourav