MY REVIEW OF MY MANAGER WILL JUST SIT IN HIS (OR HER) DESK DRAWER

“And I Should Give You My Feedback Why, Exactly?”

OK, OK. We know you get it. You’ve heard it from speakers on the talent management circuit long enough. You’ve read it in enough academic blog posts and best-practice-type white papers.

You know by now that the most effective performance review systems include assessments of managers from their direct reports.

Yeah. Right. Like everyone in your organization believes that’s going to happen. Never mind it will occur with any sort of frank, open and productive communication.

Why are they so skeptical? Why might your organization be among those that won’t benefit optimally from authentic and effective 360 degree reviews for managers?

If your company is like most, one big reason is that too many employees think their managers will simply ignore their feedback, that it will sit in the manager’s metaphorical desk drawer, never to see the light of day again. Other reasons are that direct reports:

·        Don’t believe that their assessments of their managers will ever receive serious consideration from the manager’s supervisor.

·        Doubt their feedback will result in concrete suggestions for performance improvement that will help their manager grow and, in turn, improve things for the direct report.

In short, too many employees simply can’t wrap their heads around what an integrated talent development and performance management system is all about.

And why can’t they get past thinking that their feedback simply ain’t goin’ nowhere, as the folk tune says? Because for them to get a handle on the true potential of manager assessments, direct reports need to understand:

·        How those assessments relate to talent mobility throughout the organization

·        Why managers need to send performance management up the ladder for everyone on their team, including themselves

Call them tricks, call them hints, or call them key features of a best-practice integrated talent-development system, but here are four components to achieving buy-in and engagement for manager assessments:

1.      Encouraging open conversations up and down the ladder regarding each person’s skills and potential, and about what the organization needs

2.      Engaging in frank discussions between managers and employees about the manager’s performance

3.      Moving managers and their direct reports seamlessly from one job to the next, vertically and horizontally, and across business, function and geographic lines

4.      Making talent decisions based on an alignment of each person’s capabilities and aspirations

On the other hand, ignoring the fundamentals raises the risk that employees will continue to believe their feedback will be ignored, forgotten and left sitting in a virtual desk drawer collecting dust.