Featured Article...

This summary was written by Diane Byington, Ph.D. and is based on a paper by Frank Shipper, Investigating the Sustainability of a Sustained 360 Process, published in The Best Papers Proceedings of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, August 7-11, 2009, Chicago, Illinois.

What can an organization do to help managers to improve their management skills through 360 feedback? Are two cycles, or more, of 360 feedback more effective than one?

This research study followed 13,661 middle-level managers of a large multi-national technology-driven firm over approximately 15 years. The managers were divided into four cohorts that participated in 360 feedback between two and four times during the time of the study. The research design used action research, meaning that the research was not an experimental design, but, rather, took place in an ongoing business setting. No attempt was made to randomize participants into various groups, and interventions (with the exception of the 360 feedback tool) changed over time.

The study found that organizations can do four things to improve management performance through 360 feedback: (1) choose a standardized, reliable survey and stick with it over time, (2) maintain active executive participation and support for the process, (3) ask managers to take the survey approximately every 18 months, and (4) provide organizational support for management improvement in the skills measured by the 360 feedback tool. These will be discussed in the following paragraphs...

Featured Products/Updates...

TruTrack™ Interactive Development Planning

TruTrack™ is an interactive development planning tool that is seamlessly integrated with TBC's .NET survey hosting platform, TruScore®. TruTrack™ allows survey participants to create a stored online development plan and email it to a manager, coach, or other stakeholder.  Reminders can also be scheduled in the participant's business calendar (i.e. Microsoft Outlook) to prompt goal completion.

The end of the year is fast approaching and remaining budget dollars will soon disappear. What better way to spend it than on employee career development with a 360 survey!

If you have not yet had an opportunity to utilize one of the following assessments, we'd like to offer you a complimentary test drive between now and the end of the year.

- Aspiring To Leadership
- Advanced Management Practices
- Leadership EQ
- Executive Leadership Survey

Contact Hank Curtis for more information. Offer only good until December 31, 2009.

Comments or feedback? Click here.