Getting the best performance from people and helping them maximise their potential should always be priorities for leadership, especially for professional service firms. When we emerge from the recession, achieving higher performance is likely to matter as never before if such firms are to be able rapidly to exploit market opportunities and build their competitive advantage.
Partners and other leaders in a firm responsible for managing staff need to be highly skilled at getting the best performance from people. But many such professionals will admit that this is not a natural strength. Therefore, good people management and leadership skills appropriate for a modern and successful firm need to be developed.
Obtaining honest and effective feedback from others is an essential stage in learning skills. It is estimated that up to 80% of under-performance in the workplace arises from lack of effective feedback. To develop their people management and leadership skills, those responsible for managing staff need to be made aware of what they are already doing well – so that they can build on those strengths – and also what they could do better.
Perhaps only the truly bold would grasp the nettle in this way, but the good news is that partners and others responsible for managing staff do not have to leave it to their juniors to take the initiative. Many forward-looking firms and other professional organisations are increasingly starting to implement appraisal processes that involve obtaining 360-degree feedback. The ‘360’ means getting feedback not only from partners and others on their juniors, as in traditional appraisal systems, but also from someone’s peers and staff who report to them, giving an all-round, or 360-degree, perspective of performance. Client feedback can also be included, sometimes known as 450-degree feedback, because it includes an extra dimension.
Feedback provided in this way tends to be much more constructive, better received and effective for enhancing performance or behaviour than downward feedback alone. After all, who better to give feedback on a person’s people management skills than the people being managed?
For those on the receiving end, 360-degree feedback can help to reinforce what is already being done well. Receiving this feedback, provided the process is well managed, is usually a very positive experience and helps to build confidence. In our experience, the great majority of 360-degree feedback is constructive and has a positive effect.
Building 360-degree feedback into an appraisal system will also highlight changes that could easily be made that are likely to have a positive impact on the performance of others. Partners and others performing leadership roles are often blissfully unaware of the negative impact some of their behaviours are having on others.
It is natural for some leaders to feel apprehensive about seeking feedback from their staff. But, once involved in the process, most will soon come to appreciate that this is a positive process that can be immensely beneficial, both for them as individuals and for their firm.
One of the most important issues on which leaders need to be consulted is to help clarify the criteria by which they themeselves are to be assessed, by defining what is meant by ‘high performance’, thereby recognising that partners in a professional service firm will contribute to the overall well-being of the firm in different ways. Clearly defining what is expected of partners will also help to provide greater transparency for those seeking to become partners in future.
Partners should also be closely involved in tailoring the feedback and performance management process. There is no single best way to do this – the best way is one that suits your firm and to which partners willingly commit.
By having an independent external facilitator administer the 360-degree feedback process, respondents can be assured of anonymity, which is essential in getting full and frank feedback. An experienced third-party can also assist the process by reviewing all feedback to help ensure that it is constructive. While edits should be kept to a minimum, comments that might damage confidence or be otherwise destructive should be avoided (or at least amended).
Feedback is provided by face-to-face meetings, confidential questionnaires specially tailored for the firm, telephone interviews, or a combination of all of these. We often recommend obtaining ‘upward feedback’ through use of confidential questionnaires, whereas feedback from fellow partners and, if required, clients, is often best achieved by telephone or face-to-face meetings.
The feedback is best when it combines comments as well as quantitative and qualitative feedback. Indeed, the comments are often the most illuminating.
The success of a 360-degree appraisal process hinges in particular on having a positive and motivational debrief meeting with each of the partners and others being appraised. We find that many recipients of 360-degree feedback will naturally focus on the negative aspects of the feedback. However, they need to be actively encouraged to see less-positive comments in their proper context if they are to get a balanced view – not as criticisms but as constructive comments designed to help to improve performance, or to change behaviour. Even where 360-degree feedback has highlighted significant points for improvement, partners should leave the meeting having found the process constructive and feeling motivated.
Some firms will prefer to carry out debrief meetings internally, by one or more partners (perhaps a managing partner, plus one other). Where this is the case, we recommend providing training to those who will be carrying out the debrief to help them appreciate how best to conduct these meetings. Like any powerful tool, if used wrongly 360-degree feedback can be damaging. It needs to be handled with care – as a tool and not as a weapon with which to beat people.
Providing leaders with feedback is, of course, only part of the process of improving performance. As well as making them aware of what they are doing well and how they could improve, they should be provided with training and support to help them. Often, we find that clients value objective input in debriefing and coaching partners to respond positively to the feedback they receive, and helping to ensure that an actionable development plan emerges for each partner.
When used correctly, 360-degree feedback can be immensely beneficial for a firm, for the individuals receiving the feedback, and for the people who work with them.
Feedback and Debriefing Can Deliver Higher Performance in Professional Service Firms
