The 360° Approach.

First we need to make sure we understand the Goal!

The goal of any assessment (should be) to better understand what is happening and why. While personality assessments might offer some value in the realm of understanding why people do what what they do, they are only as helpful as the individual is honest in their answers. Unfortunately, there are many times when the same (or slightly different versions of the same) assessment is administered only to offer different results. Not only are people notoriously biased when it comes to evaluating themselves, but we are also often inconsistent. If all of this were not bad enough, the other reality is that personality assessments are more often used as crutches for poor behavior than as tools for improvement. The 360° Assessment seeks to solve these challenges and provide actionable data that will empower leaders to hone strengths, address weaknesses and better support their people.

Let’s take a look at the 360° approach and see the difference.

Step 1
The leaders completes a personal assessment of how they feel they are operating.
This self-assessment is designed to provide a baseline of how the individual sees themselves compared to how they are actually performing. This is often a great metric to determine the ability to engage in introspection.

Step 2
Team Members give anonymous feedback on the effectiveness of their direct leaders.
This aspect of the assessment provides the first contrast with how the leader sees themselves, and offers a reflection of the leaders that is most likely to be seen/experienced by clients.

Step 3
Colleagues (other leaders in the org.) provide their impressions and feedback regarding the leader.
This offers a lateral understanding of how the leader collaborates and what sort of cultural impact they are having on other teams.

Step 4
The leader’s supervisor (usually executive/C-suite) provides their assessment of the leader’s performance*. This offers the perspective of organizational alignment, performance efficacy, and trusted delegation.

Step 5
An SML Consultive leadership expert interviews the leader. This often includes shadowing the leader in their regular responsibilities gaining a complete perspective of the leader’s habits, tendencies, and patterns. *.
This allows a more thorough assessment of self-reflection and contextual understanding.

Step 6
Lastly, all of the data from steps 1-5 is amalgamated and used to provide a comprehensive coaching plan that is strategically useful to empowering the leader to serve in the most impactful way. This report is the foundation for the SML Personalized Coaching Program. This is our most impactful program, having consistently yielded the most dynamic results.

Why go through all of the trouble of developing such a comprehensive report?
It’s simple: If front-line leaders are creating the culture of your business, it’s vital that we actually know what they are doing and what needs to change! After all, To make your organization all that it can be, it starts with the people who are dictating culture, motivating production, and nurturing your staff.

Note: It’s not that personality profiles are “bad” per se. But, in our view, they tend to do more to give leaders excuses for their behavior than to empower them to improve. Therefore, we focus on a comprehensive skills and impact-based assessment that allows us to target the areas that are most likely to make the biggest impact and provide the largest ROI. We firmly believe that any personality type can become an amazing, Servant-Minded Leader.

*We prefer this feedback to be done in person in an interview format with SML Consultive, but can do it virtually upon request.