5 reasons to invest in a superior 360 feedback process

Before sharing the five reasons to invest in a superior 360 feedback process, let’s establish what the 360 feedback process needs to have to be effective.

• There needs to be complete confidentiality in the process. This goes beyond the comments not being attributable to the respondents of the 360 feedback; this is about keeping their responses confidential at all times.
• The respondents need to be truthful and keep their comments productive without having to worry that they are bruising the self-esteem of the feedback recipient.
• When the process is implemented, HR and the feedback recipient’s supervisor need to be transparent with the recipient, his coach and the respondents on the purpose of the 360 leadership review process. Be specific.
• Customise the 360 leadership survey to reflect the company’s language, vision, mission, and valued competencies. Take this into consideration when selecting your vendor and setting aside a budget.
• Have a proper follow-up process in place. Without it, the recipient may not be able to put the feedback to good use. And if the respondents notice that the recipient has not made any changes based on their feedback, future respondents may hesitate to participate in such exercises or if they do, may give only obligatory responses instead of being authentic.

What needs to be established here is that what makes the difference is investing in the 360 feedback process and not just the tool.

You may have invested in a great tool but without engaging in the 360 feedback process, the leaders of your organisation may have missed an opportunity to grow intentionally. And your organisation may have missed an opportunity to grow into becoming an extraordinary one.

Now let’s take a look at five reasons you should invest in a superior 360 feedback process.

Reason 1: Expands self-awareness – the first component of emotional intelligence

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” — Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

Emotional intelligence – your ability to recognise, understand, and manage your own emotions – is a must-have skill for leaders. The first component of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. Self-awareness is about understanding how you feel and how these feelings can impact your co-workers. When self-aware, you are able to identify your strengths, weaknesses, and emotions.

A 360 degree feedback process expands the recipient’s self-awareness as they find out more about their strengths and weaknesses through the eyes of their co-workers. When leaders engage in a multi-rater feedback like a 360 assessment, they can be pleasantly surprised by the differences between their own opinions of themselves and the observations of others.

Reason 2: Increases the importance and credibility of feedback given in the past

“Wait a minute, I’ve heard that before. My kids/spouse/siblings have said that about me too. WOW! It must be true if so many of my co-workers are saying the same!”

When administered well with a dozen or more respondents participating in it, a 360 assessment reiterates important messages to the assessment recipient as more people collectively observe the same behaviour. The feedback becomes louder and clearer to him.

Source: Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash

Reason 3: Increases the chances of the leader changing his behaviour

This is especially so if several leaders go through the process together. When they do, they become far more responsive to feedback and a different or new perspective.

With the 360 assessment, leaders can either change their behaviour or reframe how they see themselves.

Take James, for example: he found out through a 360 assessment that his staff found him to be more critical of their work than encouraging. When engaging in a work review meeting, James became more aware of this and held back his criticisms at the onset of the discussion. Instead, he took the time to understand how the staff came up with the piece of work and how it would meet the team’s goal. His discussions with his staff became more engaging. If James immediately criticised the staff’s work on the onset, people’ views of him would be accurate.

Reason 4: Establishes a solid relationship between leadership behaviour and business performance

When you invest in a top-quality 360 degree feedback assessment process, not tool, the leader is more motivated to change his behaviour as he understands how it can result in better business performance.

For example, the best 360 degree feedback assessments measure the current level of engagement and commitment of the leader’s direct reports. In the chart below, it is evident that a greater leadership effectiveness score results in more engaged direct reports. When a leader is made to understand this, he is more motivated to alter his behaviour.

Reason 5: Creates a domino effect from a single leader’s performance improvement

Once a leader showcases improvements in his leadership effectiveness score, other leaders in the organisation are motivated to do the same. This ripple effect is not just a one-off effect. It lasts a long time.

Research from Zenger Folkman shows that if the leadership effectiveness scores of the top team are just above average, then the successive layer below them will have lower scores. Conversely, if scores of the top team are at the upper percentile; the scores are higher at every successive level below them.

Reap the benefits of investing in a solid 360 feedback process

Investing in a 360 feedback process, not tool, takes time, effort, careful consideration and a serious commitment to follow through the process.

When carried out well, we have found that the individual and the company reap the benefits. And the benefits flow down not only to the various organisational levels but also in the individual’s personal life.

“360 feedback is the most valuable part which really helped me to understand better my strengths and weaknesses. Getting a 360 degree report provides a clear picture of people’s perception of you and what you think of yourself – big treasure. It lets us identify opportunities for improvement – better communication and work relationships at different levels.” Monica Ai,  Operations VP, Antolin (China) Investment Co., Ltd, participant of The Extraordinary Leader™ programme.

A 360 assessment process expands the leader’s self-awareness and increases the importance and credibility of feedback previously given to him. It would be well worth the while if the process is taken together as a team of peers as this increases the likelihood for a change in behaviour. Working with a coach to make those behavioural changes will also contribute to this likelihood as the coach holds the leaders accountable for their commitments to the changes. The coach is also part of a follow-up process to establish that he does.

You will see that over time, the business performance is affected positively when the people engage in a choice 360 leadership process.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute is the strategic partner of Zenger Folkman for Singapore and Malaysia. Our Chief Enabling Officer, Ian Tan is a Master Facilitator certified by Zenger Folkman.

Zenger Folkman is a strengths-based leadership development company helping leaders elevate their people and organisations. Co-founders Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman utilise empirical data and behavioural evidence to help leaders become extraordinary.

Source: Photo by Esperanza Doronila on Unsplash

Source: Pexels – Alexander Suhorucov

How can HR be empowered to support career development plans?

According to Mercer’s Global Talent Trends 2020-2021 report^[1] the most important factor employees said they wanted in their career growth is the opportunity to grow personally and professionally. The fourth most important point the responders indicated in the same study was for their manager to be equipped to have useful career conversations no matter where the employee is in their life (young professional, returning parent, nearing retirement etc.).

How can HR and career coaches be better equipped to assist with workers’ career development plans?

Just so we are on the same page here’s what we mean by career development. It is an on-going process of developing one’s career including periodically defining new career goals and acquiring the relevant skills to reach them. A career development plan is made with the intention to move laterally, vertically or make a career change within the same organisation, move to a different organisation or start one’s own business. It is made up of several stages:

1. an assessment stage focusing on self-assessment
2. an exploration stage which includes exploring options and making certain commitments
3. a preparation stage which can include developing a career action plan
4. an implementation stage which can include acquiring new or updated skills if necessary, or speaking with relevant personnel and
5. a decision-making stage which includes checking if the decision meets the career goals, interests, strengths, and values of the individual

Source: Pexels – Alexander Suhorucov

The role of HR in facilitating career development plans

Achievers Workforce Institute’s 2022 Engagement and Retention Report found that close to half of its 500 respondents in Singapore (45%) were considering looking for a new job in 2022 and close to a third (27%) said they were undecided. Close to half (47%) indicated they job hunted during the pandemic. The number one reason cited for leaving a job was career progression.

Nearly a quarter of Singapore workers intend to leave their current employer by June 2022 according to a survey^[2] by global jobs portal Indeed. Nearly half indicated that they would consider staying if there was career progression in their current jobs.^[3]

Mercer’s global report^[4] found that 63% of employees trust their company to invest in their skills while 55% trust their organisation to teach them the new skills required should their job change or cease to exist.

Bestselling author of eight books, Ron Carucci, wrote^[5] that ‘forced into self-reflection during extended WFH, workers have questioned the value of their work and the sense of meaning it provides’.

Based on what has been gathered by various professionals, it seems evident that HR and career coaches can play a key role in filling the need for a career development plan for working professionals.

Is there a bag of tools or a list of items they need to look at to help them deliver this output?

3 ways to be empowered to support career development plans

As illustrated earlier, the needs are real and varied. Are you prepared as an HR business partner or budding career coach to offer help in the area of career development plans for those who are employed, displaced, searching for a new direction? How can you start being empowered in this area?

1. A smart place to start is with a career report using evaluation tools like RIASEC or DISC Career Report.

This would be a good resource for the assessment stage of the career development process. The DISC Career Report will give your client an insight into himself and his inherent strengths as well as limitations. This would then help him identify possible career choices that make sense to him and would enable him to confidently face his career challenges and choices.

2. Obtaining an internationally recognised career coaching certification will provide you with the tools you’ll need to succeed as an internal or external career coach.

Such certification courses will equip you with the relevant tools that would enable you to explore your client’s career values as well as motivated, developmental, burnout and unimportant skills. By taking the skills audit, your client would be better able to make a decision on what type of roles he can pursue and which competencies he can develop. You’ll also be able to help him understand the underlying motivations behind his decision making process or actions with regards to his career and life.

3. Accreditations from international bodies lends credence to your capabilities and experience.

Accreditations from international bodies ensure that you are undergoing training in an institution that meets acceptable levels of quality at an international level. You will feel confident the institution maintains consistency in its training content and delivery standards which are pegged at an international level. It will also boost your confidence in your ability to provide career coaching services or construct a career development plan.

Creating the time but removing the dread: the quest to empowerment

Preparing the workforce for a more purposeful work life goes beyond reskilling or upskilling. It involves exploring the inner being of the individual to discover his reason for being. His self-discovery journey of his career values, motivated skills and deep passion should not be overshadowed by the demand for skills in AI and automation.

Finding the right tools and community to support you in that quest for your clients’ or workforce’s self-discovery journey may take time but need not be tedious if you take into consideration the three factors above in making your selection.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute’s Certified Career Coach programme is accredited by The Institute of Training and Occupational Learning, UK’s elite professional body for trainers and learning & development professionals. In the Year 2000 the UK government granted it the ‘Institute’ status and since then it has become recognised as the premier organisation for everyone involved in the world of training and development.

The DISC Career Report is administered by Lifeskills Institute through our partnership with The Institute for Motivational Living (IML) – a world leader in developing, publishing and delivering customised, behavioral assessments. For over 30 years, IML has been observing, analysing, and enhancing human behavior in personal and corporate relationships.

Lifeskills Institute is IML’s Master Training and Certification Centre for Asia as well as its Master Distributor for Asia.

^[1]-https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/private/global-talent-trends/2021/gl-2021-gtt-global-eng-mercer.pdf
^[2]– Global job portal Indeed carried out the survey in December 2021 amongst about 1,000 Singapore workers: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/nearly-quarter-spore-workers-intend-quit-their-jobs-first-half-2022-survey-1775126
^[3]– Other factors Singapore workers would consider to stay in their current role include higher compensation (56% said this), flexible working options (56%), appreciation from bosses (41%), access to good healthcare (33%) and mental health support initiatives (30%)
^[4]– https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/private/global-talent-trends/2021/gl-2021-gtt-global-eng-mercer.pdf
^[5]– Harvard Business Review, 11 Oct 2021: To Retain Employees, Give Them a Sense of Purpose and Community

Source: Unsplash – Pawel Czerwinski

When it rains, it sometimes storms.

‘We were going through some changes in our organisation with more people coming on board, switching systems, having more online meetings since WFH was a default mode and a revamp in our go-to-market strategy. During one of these online meetings, Albert burst out with irritation when Toby kept asking questions to clarify a new process for the workflow. Everyone was quite shocked as this was unlike Albert’s usual calm demeanor. Later that day, we received a text message from Albert on our Telegram chat group:

“I know I was not in the best of moods this morning during our meeting. It’s been hard on me as I grapple with all these changes we are making to keep us afloat and thriving. Not being able to have ‘live’ conversations in-person doesn’t make things better for me. My eyes, body and mind are just plain tired from all these online meetings we have been having. I am sorry for the outburst earlier. Toby, I am sorry for being annoyed with your clarification process. I appreciate you are doing your best to understand the new processes so we can keep this ship going. Please be assured that I’ll do my part in keeping this ship moving forward.”’ 

The scenario described above may resemble many of our own experiences. But the text message by Albert may not be a prevalent practise we have seen in our own organisations.

In another article, Shhhh… Listen! Do You Hear The Sound Of Trust In Your Workplace?, we shared what vulnerability-based trust in a team looks like and what it brings to a team. Over here, Albert admitted his interpersonal shortcomings knowing that they would not be used against him. He got naked before his team unsure if the team would respond in kind. He made himself vulnerable. And he may have felt safe to do so because there was trust in the team.

5 exercises & tools

“Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” ~ Patrick Lencioni

Perhaps with perseverance and discipline over time by each team member, trust can be built.

Vulnerability-based trust requires the team members to have shared experiences over time, multiple instances of follow-through and credibility as well as a deep understanding of the unique ‘super powers’ each team member brings to the table.

Here, we briefly share five ways to overcome distrust in teams and you can evaluate each before deciding which one you can start with. Of course we’re here to help you along too.

Source: Unsplash – Matthew Jungling

Personal histories exercise

Depending on the size of the team, this easy to administer exercise can take about an hour. It’s a low risk exercise with no props needed. Just the team members taking turns to answer a short list of questions.

Some suggested questions are to share on how many family members they have, their hometown, most favourite pastime, first job and most hated job. Don’t be surprised if team members who have worked with each other for several years are surprised at the information shared during the session and how the team finds out how little they know of each other.

Just a small amount of information begins to break down walls.

The ‘Hot Seat’  exercise

“Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.” ~ Patrick Lencioni

This exercise involves more risk than the first. Each team member identifies and notes down the most important contribution each of their team members brings to the table as well as one area they must either improve on or eliminate for the benefit of the team.

Each team member verbally shares their insights focusing on one peer at a time, starting with the team leader. This exercise works surprisingly with little tension even with relatively dysfunctional teams.

Source: Unsplash – Tengyart

Personality and behavioural preference profiles

The objective of administering such tools is to provide practical and scientifically valid behavioural descriptions of team members based on the different ways they think, speak and act.

We suggest DISC. If you do decide to use this tool, you would require a certified consultant to administer and debrief the team on the report so as not to misuse the powerful implications and applications of the tool.

360-degree feedback

360 feedback can produce powerful results though they are riskier than the first three above. Riskier as they require peers to make specific judgements and provide each other with constructive criticism.

The key to having this work effectively is by divorcing the exercise from compensation packages and formal performance reviews. It should be used as a developmental tool that allows team members to identify strengths and weaknesses without any ramifications.

Experiential team exercises

The benefit of such exercises is that it involves collective support and cooperation though they may not necessarily translate directly to our work environments. However, they can be valuable to enhance teamwork so long as they are built upon more fundamental and relevant processes.

Source: Unsplash – Xavi Cabrera

Choosing to build trust in our teams

When leading teams, we sometimes are not able to choose our team members. But we can choose to build trust in the teams we lead.

And when we do, we are building teams that feel a greater psychological safety to speak up, ask questions, or make suggestions without fear of any backlash on relationships or personal reputation. By putting in the effort to build high trust team environments we foster innovation, a faster decision making process and advancement within teams. When we build trust in teams we increase the team morale and team members have more fun working together.

We hope  you’ll choose to build trust in your teams.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute is an authorised partner of The Five Behaviors^®, a Wiley Brand, and the strategic partner of Zenger Folkman for Singapore and Malaysia. Our Chief Enabling Officer, Ian Tan is a Master Facilitator certified by Zenger Folkman.

The Five Behaviors^® solutions can help you activate your team’s ability to drive results through cohesive teamwork, whether it is with the Personal Development solution which helps individuals learn the skills they need to “team” effectively, or the Team Development solution which helps intact teams gain the know-how to work better together. Both solutions use the framework of best-selling author Patrick Lencioni’s model for teamwork which focuses on Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results. This framework is combined with personalised insights to create powerful, customized, and authentic team development solutions that empowers both teams and individuals to make lasting change.

Source: Unsplash – Hunters Race

Becoming an effective ‘D’ coach-leader

You’re working towards becoming a coach-leader. You recognise you may need to equipped with coaching skills and schedule practise sessions too. However, you are concerned that your natural disposition or behavioural leaning may pose a challenge to a coaching relationship or a coach-leader role. What can you do to become an effective coach leader?

D.I.S.C

D.I.S.C is an acronym for the four behavioural leanings that make up the DISC model of behaviour as we know them today. It’s a way to understand how people interact with others. It gives you an insight into each other’s strengths, limitations, and communication preferences. It also helps you to communicate with other DISC personality types.

The founder of DISC is William Moulton Marston (1893-1947), a Harvard PhD graduate in Psychology. DISC was a product of his lifelong interest in the study of human emotions. His colourful and successful career included being a psychologist, inventor, and author as well as a lawyer and a philosopher. He was a devoted advocate for women’s rights and dedicated the last six years of his life writing for DC Comics under the pen name, Charles Mouton, writing the text for the Wonder Woman comics from her inception in 1941 up to his death in 1947.

Back to DISC. Here’s what each letter stands for:

Source: Unsplash – Dylan Gillis, Hunters Race, & Krakenimages

The ‘D’ as a coach-leader

If you’re a ‘D’ type, your natural tendency is to be goal-oriented, think big-picture, and respond well to logic, reason, and information but not emotion. As a coach-leader, you’ll probably tend to ask ‘what’ questions, moving the conversation to actionable items since you’re driven by results. Some examples of questions you may lean towards include “what are you going to do’, “what options are you considering?”, “what are some possible obstacles?”

As a ‘D’ coach-leader, you can become more effective if you make the effort to take on a more supportive role rather than a controlling or directive role. “What support do you need?” “How can I support you?” “Who can you approach for help?”

Being results-oriented, ‘D’ types tend to speak fast, move fast and expect others to do the same. Practice slowing down your speech when communicating with your coachee or team member. Exercise more patience during your conversations. Make an effort to let your team member speak and express themselves by keeping silent, even if you have the desire to step in, interrupt and offer a solution.

Mission impossible?

Seems like mission impossible? Research has shown that it is possible to change our thinking patterns and develop new mindsets, new memories, new skills, and new abilities. Neuroplasticity – the brain’s capacity to continue growing and evolving in response to life experiences enables this mental and behavioural flexibility.

So it is possible to adapt your natural behavioural tendencies to different situations and people. It takes effort and practice and it is possible.

Take Amanda, a regional stakeholder manager at a logistics firm. Her quick, decisive and problem-solving behaviour caused a little bit of a strain in the team dynamics as team members felt dishevelled at the pace of change as well as disrespected as changes were made without their input. With some coaching, Amanda came to the realisation of her own tendencies as a ‘D’ type and adapted her management style to suit her team members.

She began to practice patience by not chasing team members for the progress on the project but left it to them to update her during their scheduled meetings with her. And instead of jumping in to offer a solution or being the solution, Amanda asked her team member who she can find support from to resolve an issue.

Amanda found that over time her efforts were paying off as team members began to trust her leadership more and would be forthcoming with updates. They were also taking more initiative and responsibility in finding solutions to issues that came up. Overall, she saw her efforts paying off in strengthening team relationships.

Adapting to other types

When coaching team members of different types or behavioural leanings, it is worth your while to understand each type and adapt your communication with each type accordingly to improve your effectiveness as a coach-leader.

Here are some tips when communicating with the four types:

Source: Unsplash – Dylan Gillis, Hunters Race, & Krakenimages

Mission possible

Like Amanda, you too can make a difference in team dynamics, relationships and performance when you get equipped with coaching skills and adapt your communication skills to reach out to the other types in your team. You might want to rehearse your coaching conversations either mentally, with a coach or a practice partner before actually executing it.

In addition to understanding your natural behavioural inclination and being able to flex it to suit your coachee’s inclination, you might also want to learn about the six dominant behavioural patterns of outstanding coaches to help you become an effective coach-leader.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

The Institute for Motivational Living (IML) is a world leader in developing, publishing and delivering customised, behavioral assessments. For over 30 years, IML has been observing, analysing, and enhancing human behavior in personal and corporate relationships.

Lifeskills Institute is IML’s Master Training and Certification Centre for Asia as well as its Master Distributor for Asia.

Source: Unsplash – Marvin Meyer

“George, what do  you want from me? You keep harassing me with emails on sending out the communique to the 500 staff selected for the programme!”

George was taken aback by this sudden outburst by Sandra when he picked up his phone to receive her call. Being the programme manager, it was his responsibility to follow-up on the action items for the roll out of the new programme to a small percentage of the workforce. He had sent out one email to Sandra to ask if the team is on track with regards to the communique.

“Hi Sandra, thanks for reaching out. Based on the project responsibilities, you are to draft a communique to the selected staff. It’s expected to go out on Thursday. So I sent you an email this morning to find out if we’re on track as we’ve yet to see the draft for review.”

“Why should I write it? Why can’t you write it? You are the programme manager! Isn’t this your job! I don’t have time for this!”

Realising that the team was three days away for the communique to go out, George, after some back and forth discussion with Sandra, agreed to prepare the draft email for the team. The email was eventually reviewed, amended and approved by the various stakeholders. All Sandra had to do was put her email signature on it and send it out from her email account. But that didn’t happen.

The division director noticed this and sent an email to the team directly questioning why the communique had not been sent out despite it being approved. Silence.

A few minutes later, the email was sent out by Sandra, with her email signature on it making her look very good amongst the 500 staff selected for the new programme. In the meantime, George felt, mentally stressed, emotionally deflated and physically drained of his energy trying to grapple with office politics, distrust and an extra piece of work on his plate on top of the other extras.

What happened here? There was accountability as the minutes of meeting did state the roles and responsibilities clearly together with deadlines. Perhaps Sandra was not committed to the plan of action. She could have voiced her concerns at the programme project meetings but George noticed that she didn’t. In fact, she seemed supportive and on board of the plans. Perhaps the underlying issue was the lack of trust in the team.

What does trust in the workplace look like?

“The only way for the leader of a team to create a safe environment for his team members to be vulnerable is by stepping up and doing something that feels unsafe and uncomfortable first. By getting naked before anyone else, by taking the risk of making himself vulnerable with no guarantee that other members of the team will respond in kind, a leader demonstrates an extraordinary level of selflessness and dedication to the team. And that gives him the right, and the confidence, to ask others to do the same.” ~ Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni states that trust in teams ‘is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group.’

It requires team members to admit their weaknesses, skill deficiencies, interpersonal shortcomings and mistakes, confident that they will not be used against them. That’s what vulnerability-based trust in a team looks like.

At the same time, they appreciate and leverage on each other’s skills and experiences. They ask for help and allow input from other team members or welcome questions regarding their area of responsibility.

They take risks in providing feedback and offering help while at the same time willingly offer and accept apologies without hesitation.

They hold back their verdicts of a person or their intention, or at least remain neutral, until all the facts are gathered. They focus their time and energy on important issues instead of workplace politics.

And they actually look forward to meetings and other opportunities to work as a group.

What’s the reality?

Well, most of us grew up learning to be competitive and protective over our reputations. So it’s not easy to just turn off our natural instincts so the team can benefit as a whole.

Nearly 4 in 5 people say that their team members are typically not willing to acknowledge their weakness to one another, indicating a pervasive lack of vulnerability-based trust in the workplace.¹

What does trust bring to the team?

It’s like a linked chain. When there is trust in a team, there is more freedom to engage in uninhibited conflict around ideas or in other words, freedom to express differing opinions. When that happens, there is a higher commitment to decisions and plans of actions. They hold each other accountable for the deliverables based on the agreed plan and they keep their eyes on the achievement of the collective results.

In the scenario described at the start of this article, perhaps if the team members have vulnerability-based trust without fear of being put down, belittled or slighted, Sandra would have expressed her concern during team meetings about writing the email, whether it be confidence in capturing the essence of the programme or a time crunch issue she was facing at that time due to pending deadlines on other work areas. Perhaps she could have proposed she discuss with George, the programme manager, on the essence of the programme and work together with him on it. However, Sandra’s silence and non-expression at the team discussions made everyone on the team assume that all was well and Sandra would be able to deliver on time.

All is not lost for this team. If they do make the effort to acknowledge their own weaknesses, ask for help, appreciate and leverage on each other’s skills and experience, the team bond would be stronger as the trust between them grows. The question is are they willing to develop this vulnerability-based trust?

“Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” ~ Patrick Lencioni

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute is an authorised partner of The Five Behaviors^®, a Wiley Brand.

The Five Behaviors^® solutions can help you activate your team’s ability to drive results through cohesive teamwork, whether it is with the Personal Development solution which helps individuals learn the skills they need to “team” effectively, or the Team Development solution which helps intact teams gain the know-how to work better together.

Both solutions use the framework of best-selling author Patrick Lencioni’s model for teamwork which focuses on Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability, and Results. This framework is combined with personalised insights to create powerful, customized, and authentic team development solutions that empowers both teams and individuals to make lasting change.

^[1]– 2020 State of Teams Report by Wiley Workplace Learning Solutions. A study based on responses from 20,000 employees across a wide array of industries and organisational positions from individual contributors to C-suite executives.

F.U.E.L : A feedback framework

“I didn’t sleep a wink last night.”
“The faster I get this over with, the better.”
“I was a nervous wreck before the meeting him.”
“Seriously, they don’t pay me enough to do this job.”

Are these familiar thoughts you’ve had or comments you’ve made when needing to give corrective feedback? You’re not alone. In a survey by Zenger Folkman of 7,631 individuals, 44% agreed that they believed giving corrective feedback was stressful or difficult.

In a previous article, we had shared some suggestions to help the process of giving redirecting or corrective feedback. Redirecting feedback is corrective feedback that enables a recipient to build know-how or competence, purpose or motivation, or adjust behaviour.^[1] It includes suggestions for doing something that hasn’t been done, ideas about improving the way something is done and recommendations to discontinue something getting in the way.

Given that most of us seem to be uncomfortable with giving redirecting feedback, we’d like to share a model that could help guide your conversation.

Brenda & Glenn

Brenda noticed Glenn was consistently making errors in the daily cumulative reports of the number of cases attended to at the centre. She wasn’t sure what had caused this. She needed to let Glenn know that the errors could not continue as it causes repercussions in staff deployment at the centre.

Framing the conversation provides an outline and focus for the conversation. It lays out the issues that will be discussed as well as the desired outcome of the conversation.

Brenda: Hi Glenn, I would like to talk to you about the daily report submission. Is this a good time?
Glenn: Sure, Brenda.
Brenda: I would like to share some observations and hear your point of view regarding the statistics in the daily reporting. At the end of the conversation, I would like us to work together on figuring out how to reduce or even eliminate the errors in the reporting.

In this step, we’re not trying to solve the issue at hand but just to understand it better. The key objective of this step is to expand the feedback receiver’s point of view of the situation.

Brenda: If I may, could I share with you what I have noticed?
Glenn: (a little apprehensive) Sure, Brenda.
Brenda: During the reporting period of the last two weeks, I have noticed that you’ve been missing out the number of cases attended to. The missing number of cases has an effect on my staff deployment scheduling process. On some days, not all, we then face a shortage of staff to attend to cases and have some clients walk away disgruntled as we were unable to attend to them. It also puts pressure on the staff on duty to close their cases quickly so they can attend to the waiting cases. We’re not sure but clients may also feel that they could have gotten more out of their time with us. If this keeps going, we may have a growing number of dissatisfied clients.
Glenn: Thanks for bringing this up, Brenda. I hadn’t realised that it affected the scheduling process.
Brenda: I didn’t think you were aware, which is why I wanted to have this conversation with you. What do you think could be causing the lapse in reporting the case numbers by two staff?

Glenn then gives an explanation.

Step 3 is where we start to look for solutions to resolve the issue that was defined in step 1. And you can jump in with how you can directly help resolve it too.

Brenda: Is this something that you would like to work on together so the whole team benefits?
Glenn: Yes, Brenda. I kinda feel lousy that I stressed the team out.
Brenda: Describe to me what a good working routine would look like for our team, Glenn.

Glenn gives a possible working routine that would work for the team, including him. Brenda encourages him on coming up with some solutions and asks what else could be explored. By doing so, Glenn is given an opportunity to explore and suggest more possible solutions. Brenda continues to encourage him and offers to support his plans.

This last step is an accountability step with specific timelines in place for specific tasks or milestones. And you naturally create a follow-up plan and check-in opportunities.

Brenda: So, what’s our next step?

Glenn is now more engaged in getting the solution/s going and lets Brenda know the next steps he needs to take to move forward. Brenda continues to be encouraging and states the action steps she can take to support Glenn’s before asking for a follow-up meeting.

Brenda: Thank you for being willing to hear the feedback and work with me on this, Glenn. When next week shall we meet again to discover if we need to finetune this machinery?
Glenn: Same time and day next week works for me.
Brenda: Okay, that works for me too.

Getting comfortable

Here’s a quick review of the 4 steps of F.U.E.L:

Step 1: Frame the conversation
Step 2: Understand the current state
Step 3: Explore the Desired State
Step 4: Lay Out a Success Plan

Most people managers would jump in with solutions at step 2, Understand the Current State, instead of allowing the person receiving the feedback to expand his viewpoint on the issue. We naturally want to put on our advisory hat and resolve the issue ASAP and get on with the work.

We hope that by drawing out what a F.U.E.L framework feedback session looks like, you’ll be able to see the value in spending the right amount of time on the first two steps of the conversation. You may be surprised that the solutions in step 3 could be more than what you had thought it could be as step 2, if carefully employed, would have opened up the mind of the feedback receiver and you to be able to come up with more creative, efficient and targeted solutions.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute is the strategic partner of Zenger Folkman for Singapore and Malaysia. Our Chief Enabling Officer, Ian Tan is a Master Facilitator certified by Zenger Folkman.

Zenger Folkman is a strengths-based leadership development company helping leaders elevate their people and organisations. Co-founders Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman utilise empirical data and behavioural evidence to help leaders become extraordinary.

^[1]-Definition by Zenger Folkman

Trust as a leadership behavioural trait does a few things. It changes the way people respond to a leader. It identifies and validates a leader’s motivation. It assures others if the leader is acting out of self-interest or the interests of the organisation. It convinces coworkers that the wool is not pulled over their eyes or that they are being taken advantage of.

When combined with virtually every other leadership behaviour there is not just a change in the leadership effectiveness index but a dramatic improvement.

If trust is a cornerstone to boost leadership effectiveness, how do you build it in your team?

Trust and employee engagement

Based on research by Zenger Folkman, the combination of high trust with communication skills significantly increased employee engagement by 24 percentile points into the top quartile, which is the goal for many organisations.

In the study, the employee engagement score was measured against a five-item index

i.  extent to which direct reports are satisfied with the organisation
ii.  direct reports would recommend it as a good place to work
iii. direct reports have confidence the organisation will achieve its strategic goal
iv. extent to which direct reports are willing to go the extra mile
v. willingness of direct reports to continue working for the organisation.

In a 2022 Leadership Skills Report by Zenger Folkman, it was found that one of the things leaders can do to restore resilience and confidence in their employees is to continually communicate the vision and direction of the organisation and connect that to the work employees do at every level. However, what happens if you’re able to do that well but the trust level with your team is lower than desired? They may question your motives and ultimately their commitment to the vision and the work involved would be reduced.

Trust and leadership competencies

Trust not only has an impact on employee engagement scores but also on other key leadership competencies. Based on research by Zenger Folkman, when trust is combined with 12 of the competencies, the employee engagement scores moved to the top quartile.

Building trust in uncertain times

The COVID19 pandemic, now moving into an endemic mode, is not the first time organisations have had to lead in uncertain times. Financial crisis, changes in customer demands, technological advances and so on have shaken up organisations and also caused the workforce to feel strung up.

According to a 2022 study by Zenger Folkman, the number one leadership behaviour that is important to a remote workforce is trust. It is evident that trust is a pertinent leadership behaviour in normal work arrangements as well as hybrid ones that include a remote workforce.

How then can you build trust?

Trust building experts and consultants, Reina Trust Building, offers seven tips to support leaders in creating effective, productive relationships during uncertain times.

Build trust into your strengths

If you’re looking to improve your leadership effectiveness, consider incorporating the trust trait into your strengths. Increasing the trust level in the equation enhances the strengths that you already possess which eventually only improves your overall leadership effectiveness.

Work on improving your trust levels and pay special attention to how you can do that during these uncertain times. It will make an impact not only on your leadership effectiveness but also on your employee engagement levels.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute is the strategic partner of Zenger Folkman for Singapore and Malaysia. Our Chief Enabling Officer, Ian Tan is a Master Facilitator certified by Zenger Folkman. Lifeskills Institute is also a Certified Trust Practitioner of the Reina Team Trust Scale by Reina, A Trust Building® Consultancy.

Zenger Folkman is a strengths-based leadership development company helping leaders elevate their people and organisations. Co-founders Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman utilise empirical data and behavioural evidence to help leaders become extraordinary.

Reina, A Trust Building^® Consultancy focuses on the comprehensive study of trust-building: defining it with measurable benchmarks and applying that knowledge to organisations so people and workplaces can thrive.

“The very nature of good coaching puts into practice all of the principles of positive psychology, and this ultimately combines to help shape an entirely new culture in the organisation.” ~ Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman

Coaching is not something that comes naturally to everyone. Nor is it typically thought of as a necessary skillset as a manager. However, organisations with a coaching culture do see a productivity improvement of three times. They also see an increase of six times in their employee engagement.

Developing a coaching culture in organisations does require the leaders to have some traits that run contrary to their traditional management practices; especially those practices that got them promoted in the first place. What are these coaching attributes that would make the most effective coaches?

Effective coach-managers tend to draw out the views of their staff rather than influence, make recommendations and provide unambiguous direction. They also take the time to help their team members discover the best solution from within themselves instead of always jumping in as an adviser and problem solver. The best coach-manager does a little of both.

The excellent coach-manager also does not come across as being the guru or one that possess far greater wisdom than the person being coached. He doesn’t treat his coachee as a greenhorn.

If you have this question: “Can managers become coaches?”, you may want to read this article to find out before moving on to the next section.

Source: Pixabay

Which leadership style supports a coaching culture?

Each of us tends to gravitate towards a leadership style when we lead. Some of us may be more on the authoritarian continuum while others may tend towards the democratic continuum. Contingency theorists Robert Tannenbaum & Warren Schmidt developed a continuum of leadership behaviour with seven leadership behaviours that describe different parts of the continuum.

Building on this continuum, Zenger Folkman developed a leadership continuum that includes descriptive elements:

Our recommendation is for organisations to adopt a collaborative leadership style in order to support a coaching culture. This is where leaders work alongside their team members and resolve work hurdles together. Leaders are willing to listen to their employees and even be influenced by them before decisions are made. Employees contribute ideas freely and feel empowered. Both leaders and employees are invested in the decision-making process and the outcomes.

5 Steps to create a coaching culture

When we decide to adopt a coaching culture for our team or organisation, what do we need to do to create it as a team or organisation culture?

Here are five steps to consider:

Source:Unsplash

Shape a new culture in your organisation

Adopting a leadership style that goes against your natural gain can be uncomfortable. Keeping in mind that coaching is the premier leadership behaviour that has a direct impact on productivity, employee retention and engagement and ROI will keep you going even as you accept the fact that your brain can indeed make the adjustments to make the change.

The question is not IF you are to change. The question is what do you stand to lose if you DON’T make the change?

Ponder over how you can be the catalyst of change in your organisation. Use the steps above to get a coaching culture started in your team or organisation. If you think you need further support in equipping your team managers with coaching skills or a framework to work with, reach out to us and we can have a discussion around that.

©Published by Lifeskills Institute Pte Ltd

Lifeskills Institute is the strategic partner of Zenger Folkman for Singapore and Malaysia. Our Chief Enabling Officer, Ian Tan is a Master Facilitator certified by Zenger Folkman.

Zenger Folkman is a strengths-based leadership development company helping leaders elevate their people and organisations. Co-founders Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman utilise empirical data and behavioural evidence to help leaders become extraordinary.