Self-improvement can sometimes seem to be a mysterious thing. To develop yourself, you need to know what to develop. And no matter how well you know yourself, how we conduct ourselves in our communities and interpersonal interactions defines our relationships with others. As such, receiving feedback is a vital element along the journey of personal and professional growth. This last month, the Leadership and Development Group went through a 360 Assessment, a process that can illuminate one's strengths as well as the qualities one can further develop within themselves.
The 360 Assessment involves receiving anonymous feedback from the individuals with whom they work. This is broken down into three orbits: one's managers, peer group, and direct reports. Feedback is provided through an online form that contains questions involving a wide range of professional attributes and skillsets. In the LDG's case, these questions were grouped into communication, delivering results, dependability, developing oneself and others, emotional control and stability, information management, innovation and openness, management functions, people skills, and task orientation. In addition, we were asked to evaluate ourselves using the same template.
Each member of the LDG met with one of their mentors (members of the executive team) to review the results of their 360 Assessment. To maintain the privacy of the respondents involved, individual feedback is combined with feedback from other individuals within the same group, such as one's peers or supervisors. This presentation has the added benefit of allowing one to see how their relationships function at different levels of their department or organization.
We each relate to feedback in our own way. Personally speaking, I tend to zero in on areas where I can improve. I can become deeply reflective to the detriment of my capacity to see the bigger picture, such as how my strengths and their shadows fit within the context of my team, and how I can use this self-awareness to move our common goals in a positive direction. In short, I sometimes miss the splendor of the forest for the trees. In order to integrate the feedback we have received into the way we understand ourselves, our mentors have given us homework: development planning. After going through our reports, we will be responding to the ratings we have received. For example, how did I react to the report? Do I agree with others' views? Why have I been rated the way that I have? How can I build on the strengths others see in me, and how can I improve in the areas that I haven't developed? What is progress, what do I need to get there, and how can I measure it?
While we are certainly so much more than the sum of our relationships, it is our relationships that define us to those around us. And the health of Imagine!, like any community, is defined by the strengths of those interpersonal connections. Ultimately, the 360 Assessment best serves as a development tool to help us gain an understanding into how others view our strengths and weaknesses. This presents an opportunity to develop skillfulness in how to adjust our work patterns and behaviors, and shines a light on the skillsets in which we should invest in order to continue to grow, not just at Imagine!, but in the course of our lives.
When evaluated further, leadership development at its core is about opportunities and limits; inflating “balloons” and eliminating “ceilings”. When we fail to identify the uniqueness of people, fail to empower them to rise and lack the know-how or refuse to eliminate ceilings, as leaders, we’ve truly failed.
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