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360⁰ FEEDBACK -- OMEGA PROFILES^sm

The Last Word in 360 Assessment

CPS Omega Profiles provide managers with feedback to guide their improvement process in specific, constructive ways.  The emphasis is on the process.  The survey and resulting feedback should not be viewed as an event, but as a key step in the dialogue among managers and their colleagues that leads to continuing improvement of management skills throughout the organization.  The Omega Profiles process is fully adaptable to the needs and circumstances of the client organization.

Key Issues to Consider

Regardless of your source of 360 feedback, we believe that you need to plan carefully for each of the following key issues.

• Survey Content:  It is important that both the content and the process of the 360 feedback be adapted to fit the organization's unique situation and needs.  Our strongest advice:  Don't use any "off-the-shelf" feedback process without modifying it to fit your unique situation.  The CPS approach emphasizes the linkages between organizational development and individual development.  CPS has customized the Omega Profiles process for clients in many different industries.  The listing below indicates some of the dimensions used in a variety of these organizations.

• Respondents:  A full 360 survey process solicits feedback from the focal manager's line senior, direct reports, peers, and the manager himself/herself.  The client may choose any or all of these categories of respondents and may also want to add perspectives such as external customers, suppliers, etc.  Respondents should be selected based on their knowledge of the manager and their willingness to be candid and constructive.

• Introducing the Process:  "How" the feedback process is introduced can be as important to the benefits to be realized as the actual content of the survey.  Each manager must feel that the survey results will be used for his/her benefit and not for evaluation by his/her manager.  If everyone remembers that the purpose of the survey is to improve management skills, the process will be beneficial.  Confidentiality can also be a critical issue.  If "shared feedback," such as a 360 process, is new to the organization, special care should be taken to encourage open, constructive feedback.

• Providing Feedback:  The feedback reports should provide a "zoom lens" from a macro overview of the survey results through detailed information on individual items within dimensions.  In this way, the focal manager can quickly identify areas needing improvement and begin to develop strategies for improvement.  The results of the survey should allow each manager to target specific behaviors for improvement.

• Follow Through:  Provide for continuing support of managers' efforts to improve based on the feedback received.  If there is no follow-through, not only has the organization wasted its resources, but future efforts to solicit feedback will become much more difficult.  One method CPS uses to accomplish this goal is the creation of "Coaching Profiles" by each participant (see the following section).

Additional Features from CPS

The Omega Process also provides for the following developmental aides.

• Developing Coaching Profiles:  The CPS process for guiding participants through the development of individual coaching profiles includes selecting specific behaviors from the survey items, identifying coaches available on-the-job, preparing strategies for enlisting on-going support of coaches, and a preliminary identification of specific coaching opportunities.  Upon completion, the "Coaching Profiles" are placed in each manager's performance review folder for discussion and follow-up at appropriate times.  This provides an on-going structure for continued improvement based on the feedback.

• Determining Job Competency Requirements:  An additional step in targeted staff development is identifying skill levels required for each position.  The Omega Process offers the option of developing specific "Job Competency Requirements" in which each position is considered independent of the current incumbents.  CPS utilizes a process for objectively identifying critical skill levels for each position.

• Planning for Continued Development:  Summary information on all participants helps determine patterns of managerial strengths as well as developmental needs while maintaining anonymity.  This information is helpful in planning training programs and other developmental activities.  In addition, a thorough analysis of competencies and existing skill levels can provide an invaluable resource for career pathing and succession planning.

Dimensions of Management Skills

This listing of skills may be modified (or other dimensions added) to focus on the specific needs of the client organization.   

Each dimension, of course, contains several items, each focusing on a specific behavior.  Each of the items can also be modified as needed.

Sample Reports for Omega Process

CPS reports provide a "zoom lens" for viewing the data at multiple levels in graphical and/or quantitative formats to provide easy interpretation.  

• Comparisons of Ratings by Others to Self Ratings.  This macro view is a "Johari Window" format with "self ratings" on one axis and the average ratings of another perspective (direct reports, peers, manager, etc.) on the other axis.  This allows the individual to identify dimensions on which to focus when reviewing the more detailed information.

• Distribution of Feedback by Categories.  This mid-level graph summarizes the feedback for each dimension so the recipient of the feedback can determine the level of agreement among respondents.  This shows individual data points, without identifying the respondents.

• Detailed Feedback.  The most detailed feedback provides numerical information for each dimension and each item within each dimension.  This feedback allows the individual to see the extent of agreement (or disagreement) among the various perspectives and to focus on specific behaviors needing improvement.

• Open-Ended Feedback.  Each dimension ends with an open-ended item of the form "Joe would be a more effective leader if he would".  The responses are provided to the focal manager verbatim and often provide significant insights into the interpretation of the quantitative data.

Every effort is made to provide participants with information at several different levels—a "zoom lens" to the feedback—from a "bird's eye view" of the overall categories of skills, to a detailed analysis of categories and specific items within categories.  The goal is for the participating manager to be able to understand the feedback and develop strategies for improvement of specific skills and behaviors.