the 11 components of a “best-of-class” 360° assessment

© 2016 Zenger Folkman

The 11 Components of a “Best-of-Class” 360° Assessment

Dr. Jack Zenger and Dr. Joe Folkman

Dr. Joe FolkmanPresidentJoe Folkman, Ph.D., is globally recognized as a top leader in the field of psychometrics, leadership, and change. He is a consultant to some of the world’s most successful organizations, a best-selling author, and a frequent keynote speaker and conference presenter. His research has been reported in numerous publications including, The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, CLO Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Business Insider, CNN, and others.For more go to: http://zengerfolkman.com/joe/


Dr. Jack ZengerChief Executive Officer

Jack Zenger, D.B.A., is a world-renowned behavioral scientist, bestselling author, consultant, and a national columnist for Forbes and Harvard Business Review. With more than five decades of experience in leadership development, he is recognized as a world expert in the field of people development and organizational behavior. His ability to connect with Executives and audiences though compelling research and inspiring stories make him an influential and highly sought-after consultant and speaker.For more go to: http://zengerfolkman.com/jack/


• 85% of Fortune 500 organizations use multi-rater feedback (360s) as a central part of their leadership development program.

• They have found that it works very effectively.

• Leaders gain information they would otherwise never obtain.

360s and Leadership Development Programs


Is There a Real Difference Between One 360 Assessment and Another?

• Most people believe that they have good taste in decorating but it’s easy to see the difference.

• Many internally developed 360 assessments utilize an organizations time and resources but fail to deliver meaningful change.


• Lots of 360s options.• Not all equal.• Lots of similarities but there are

some major differences.

Wide Variety of 360s Available


POLL

Describe Your Personal Experience With Using a 360.

• Positive: good experience• Neutral• Negative: bad experience


POLL

Describe Your Personal Experience With Using a 360.

• Positive: good experience• Neutral• Negative: bad experience

— 60%— 25 %— 15%


“Your 360 assessment really popped! What did you do to make the

survey work so well?”

From an Executive from a Fortune TOP 20 Company

Here are some reasons for that…


11 Things to Look for in a Best of Class 360 Assessment1. Empirically derive the competencies and items

2. Use a response scale that avoids a false positive

3. Compare scores to a high standard

4. Measure a leader’s current impact on direct reports

5. Identify the competencies that are most important

6. Emphasize building on strengths

7. Focus written comments on fixing fatal flaws

8. Data Security

9. Make it an efficient process

10. Make reports simple and intuitive

11. Provide insights to leaders on how to build a strength


• Brief explanation of each of these 11 features & benefits.

• Conclude with providing each participant with a way of getting a first-hand experience with the tool.

Webinar Agenda


• Organizations became interested in custom 360s.

• Data set of 200,000 evaluations on 20,000 people.

• The approach: identify those competencies that differentiated high performers from average or poor performers.

1. Empirically Derive the Competencies and Items


Intraocular Method

Identifying the Best Survey Items

Statistical Research


“Think about Quitting” percentage is the percent of employees responding neutral or negative to the item “I rarely think about quitting my job and going to anther company.”

Results based on 2,865 leaders

Differentiating Items Predict Outcomes

1st - 10th

11th - 20th

21st - 30th

31st - 40th

41st - 50th

51st - 60th

61st - 70th

71st - 80th

81st - 90th

91st - 100th

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Leadership Effectiveness Percentile

% o

f Em

ploy

ees

in W

ork

Gro

ups

that

“T

hink

abo

ut Q

uitti

ng”


Can you predict key organizational outcomes from leaders scores on their 360 assessment?


• Listens carefully and attentively.

• Respondent — “This person is an okay listener.”

• Participant — “I am doing pretty good on listening; I got a four out of five.”

Scale Created a False Positive

2. Use a Response Scale that Avoids a False Positive

5 – Strongly Agree4 – Agree3 – Neutral2 – Disagree1 – Strongly Disagree


• Listens carefully and attentively.• Respondent — “This person is an

okay listener.”• Participant — “I am okay.”

Using this scale, the average response to survey items decreased by .75

Avoid the False Positive5 – Outstanding Strength4 – Strength3 – Competent2 – Needs Some

Improvement1 – Needs Significant

Improvement


Display

s High

Integ

rity an

d Hon

esty

Techn

ical/P

rofes

siona

l Exp

ertis

e

Solves

Pro

blems a

nd A

nalyz

es Is

sues

Innov

ates

Practi

ces S

elf-D

evelo

pmen

t

Drives

for R

esult

s

Establi

shes

Stre

tch G

oals

Takes

Initia

tive

Commun

icates

Pow

erful

ly an

d Pro

lifica

lly

Inspir

es an

d Moti

vates

Othe

rs to

High P

erfor

mance

Builds

Rela

tions

hips

Develo

ps O

thers

Collab

oratio

n and

Tea

mwork

Develo

ps S

trateg

ic Per

spec

tive

Champio

ns C

hang

e

Conne

cts th

e Gro

up to

the O

utside

Wor

ld0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5 Global Norm Richard3. Compare Scores to a High Standard


Comparisons to the 90th Percentile

0

0.51

1.52

2.5

3

3.54

4.55 Best Leaders


Our Extraordinary Leader norms are generated from over one million assessments on over 80,000 leaders across the globe.

Normative Comparisons to the Overall Company, Industry, or Geography


• The direct reports are asked 5 questions that assess their level of satisfaction, commitment, and confidence in the organization.

• These 5 items correlate .80 or higher to the best validated engagement measures in the industry.

4. Measure a Leader’s Current Impact on Direct Reports

I feel confident that this company will achieve its

strategic goal.

My work environment is a place where people want to

go the extra mile.

I would recommend this company as a good place to

work.

I rarely think about quitting my job to go to a different

company.

All in all, I'm satisfied with this company as a place

to work.

Employee Commitment Index


Leadership Effectiveness versus Employee Engagement/Commitment

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 1000

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Leadership Effectiveness

Empl

oyee

Eng

agem

ent P

erce

ntile

Results from 66,869 Global Leaders


Employee Engagement and Commitment vs. Leadership Effectiveness Across the World

Bottom 10% 11th-35th 36th-65th 66th-90th Top 10%0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

United States Canada Europe Latin America Middle East Asia Africa

Overall Leadership Effectiveness

Employee En-gagement Percentile


Leaders Receive Insight into the Commitment of Their Direct Reports


5. Identify the Competencies that are Most Important


XYZ Organization—Importance Rankings

• Aggregate analysis provides insights about what is important across the organization.

Manager Peer Direct Report

Self Other Total

Solves Problems and Analyzes Issues 112 380 196 104 353 1145

Technical/Professional Expertise 103 380 158 94 332 1067

Communicates Powerfully and Prolifically 49 260 172 68 252 801

Collaboration and Teamwork 69 282 132 69 237 789

Drives for Results 83 215 101 61 186 646

Inspires and Motivates Others 43 139 191 61 186 620

Develops Strategic Perspective 35 145 97 42 162 481

Displays High Integrity and Honesty 22 136 118 25 137 438

Builds Relationships 19 151 95 34 114 413

Connects the Group to the Outside World 25 139 77 31 141 413

Innovates 49 133 53 36 129 400

Develops Others 30 73 155 36 100 394

Takes Initiative 39 114 50 15 98 316

Champions Change 36 83 79 22 96 316

Demonstrates Financial Responsibility 14 53 35 18 56 176


6. Emphasize Building Strengths

Fatal Flaws with No Strengths

No Fatal Flaws - No Strengths

Profound Strengths - No Fatal Flaws

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

18

50

81O

vera

ll Le

ader

ship

Effe

ctiv

enes

s PC

TL


48 percent of leaders without fatal flaws improved.

Results for 4,000 leaders who showed significant improvement

Leaders with No Fatal Flaws Improved 20 Percentile Points

Pre-Test Post-Test0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

55

75

Ove

rall

Lead

ersh

ip E

ffec-

tiven

ess

Per

cent

ile


Leaders at all levels were able to build strengths.

Analysis of Leaders Who Build Strengths by Level in the Organization

Top Mgnt Senior Mgnt Middle Mgnt Supervisors Individual Contributors

0102030405060708090

56 55 56 57 58

75 75 7580

74

Pre-Test Post-Test


Old Approach• What are this person’s strengths?• Is there anything this person could do

that would improve their effectiveness?

7. Focus Written Comments on Fixing Flaws

Results• List of strengths.• Long list of weaknesses.

Is there a difference between a weakness and a fatal flaw?

Message – Focus on your weaknesses


Is there anything this person does that might be considered a fatal flaw or significant weakness?

Fixing Fatal Flaws


61 percent of leaders with fatal flaws improved.

29 Percent of Leaders had One or More Fatal Flaws

Pre-Test Post-Test0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

18

46

Ove

rall

Lead

ersh

ip E

ffec-

tiven

ess

Perc

entil

e


Leaders at all levels were able to improve fatal flaws.

Analysis of Leaders with Fatal Flaws by Level in the Organization

Top Mgmt Senior Mgmt Middle Mgmt Supervisors Individual Contributor

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

21 18 18 17 17

46 44 4650

44

Pre-Test Post-Test


• A new criteria for many clients is that they are very concerned about the security of their data.

• The information is safe. We have passed the world’s toughest audits from our financial services and telecommunications clients.

8. Data Security


• The survey is short but rigorous. We measure the 16 differentiating competencies in 49 items.

• The website is simple to use and accommodates multiple languages plus company specific customizations.

9. Make It An Efficient Process


10. Make Reports Simple and Intuitive


Desired Future Performance

11. Provide Insights on How to Build a Strength

CurrentPerformance

People question ability on technical expertise

People have confidence in technical expertise

More

Better

Faster

Smarter


Linear versus Non-linear Development

If Technical Expertise is a Significant Weakness

If Technical Expertise is a Strength

Technical Expertise

Get a mentor

Read a book

Take a class

Read more books

Take more classes

Get two mentors


The Competency Companion Development Guide provides research from thousands of leaders on how to build a profound strength. The research examined what the best leaders did to build their competence on each of the 16 differentiating competencies.

The process is called non-linear development.

Competency Companions Provide Non-linear Insights

DevelopsOthers

Solves Problems

& AnalyzesIssues

Honesty & Integrity

Can Be Trusted

to Act in theTeam’s Best

Interest

RelationshipBuilding &Networking

CommunicatesPowerfully

TakesInitiative

Desires to Pursue

Excellence

Technical/Professional

Expertise


POLL

Earlier we asked you to describe your personal experience with using a 360.

What caused the negativity?

• Focus on weakness • Expectations were not clear• Poor development plans• No follow-up• No real improvement


11 Things to Look for in a Best of Class 360 Assessment1. Empirically derive the competencies and items

2. Use a response scale that avoids a false positive

3. Compare scores to a high standard

4. Measure a leader’s current impact on direct reports

5. Identify the competencies that are most important

6. Emphasize building on strengths

7. Focus written comments on fixing fatal flaws

8. Data Security

9. Make it an efficient process

10. Make reports simple and intuitive

11. Provide insights to leaders on how to build a strength


A couple of ways to try:1. Purchase an individual

assessment2. Attend a public workshop

If You are Interested, Take a Test Drive

Contact us: [email protected]


Conclusions

1. Many 360-degree instruments to choose from.2. Some similarities.3. Strong and important differences.4. Zenger Folkman’s 360s are designed specifically with all 11 elements

discussed.

We look forward to answering any questions you may have.


Thank you!

the 11 components of a “best-of-class” 360° assessment

Leadership & Management