360 Degree Feedback Article:
Interview with Jerry Gardner

In this 360 degree feedback article and interview you’ll learn more about the power of 360 degree feedback as a skill development tool and away to improvement motivation in the workplace.

Don't miss the offer interviewee Jerry Gardner makes to local Wake Up Eager readers, below.

This interview is focused in the Managing My Team area, one of the key areas covered in my free Wake Up Eager Quiz. After reading this 360 degree feedback article, click on this link to complete this free quiz.

The items included in the Managing My Team portion of the Wake Up Eager Quiz are important to creating a strong leadership presence and life.

This 360 degree feedback article will show you how you can use this development tool to build more expertise and energy in your life and on your team. I wanted to interview Jerry Gardner for this 360 feedback article because he's an expert. His book: Just Ask shares incredible insight around the power of 360 degree feedback.

There are many nuggets in this 360 degree feedback article. I capture some of my favorite thoughts inbold below.

Enjoy!

"A winner is someone who recognizes God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals." ---Larry Bird

360 Degree Feedback Article:
Interview with Expert Jerry Gardner

Suzie: Tell folks what you are passionate about in your work, along with what you do and why you do it. Also, tell us about a hobby or interest that you have, outside of work. (The hobby let’s people get to know something about you – besides the usual 'stuff' we all share...)

Jerry:Suzie, well I'm passionate about the multi-source feedback process (and I appreciate the opportunity to offer this 360 degree feedback article to your community). I love working with individuals and helping them improve their personal communications and create an environment in which people feel comfortable sharing information.

Besides the usual – golf, tennis, swimming, and fitness workouts – my favorite hobby is reading. I was an English major in college and now realize how much I learned about people and relationships in my studies of characters in literature. I expand on that learning now with each book I read or listen to when I am driving.

Suzie: Thank you for taking time to lend your expertise for this 360 degree feedback article. How did you become a multi0source, 360 feedback expert?

Jerry: I began my consulting career in 1978. For the first 13 years I conducted seminars for the American Management Associations and private clients on basic management skills, sales and marketing, and strategic planning.

In 1991 the Keilty Goldsmith Company asked me to assist them in providing feedback to American Express executives who had received 360 degree feedback reports. Since then I have focused all my professional attention on coaching executives on the most important part of the multi-source feedback process, addressing the issue of, “Now that I have my feedback, what do I do with it? How do I make the changes people are asking me to make?”

Suzie: Can you share in this 360 degree feedback article what you love about this type of feedback? How does it help people?

Jerry: Unlike the traditional performance appraisal process where a manager receives feedback only from his boss, the multi-source feedback process provides the manager with feedback from peers, direct reports, and even customers and vendors.

I have often said that we have been managing people for centuries. Then, in the 1990s, someone came up with the brilliant idea, “If I really want to know how I am doing at managing people, maybe I should ask the people I manage!” This process helps people because they get a much better idea of how they are doing when they ask the people they work with regularly.

Suzie: For all the leaders reading this 360 degree feedback article, tell us, what are the biggest mistakes people make when receiving feedback from others through 360’s? Why are these mistakes are such a problem and what can be done about it?

Jerry: The biggest mistake people make after receiving feedback from others is not following up on that feedback. Others spent considerable time and energy completing the questionnaire and they are looking forward to hearing directly from the person with whom they shared their information.

Also, the questionnaires provide at best, general information about any person’s issues with the manager. It’s important for the manager to speak directly, one-on-one, with each person and ask for suggestions on how she can improve. The manager can then identify specific issues for each individual and work on them throughout the year.

Suzie: Why do people (subjects) avoid following up with their raters after the initial feedback is given?

Jerry: Fear. The manager doesn’t know what questions to ask or how to ask them, how to respond when someone does provide additional feedback, when someone doesn’t provide additional feedback, or when someone gets angry. In addition, the manager may be sensitive to the possible thoughts of the person being asked and his or her reluctance to respond for fear of retribution, hurting the feelings of the manager or being a nay-sayer.

Suzie: Readers of this 360 degree feedback article may be asking themselves, "What’s in it for me – why should I make the effort to do seek additional feedback? How will the " benefit?" How would you answer?

Jerry: By following up on their feedback, managers receive more specific information on how they are doing. Also, they are making a significant step in opening up communications in their organization. If the manager demonstrates that he sincerely wants additional information and is receptive and positive when receiving it that is a huge step toward creating an environment in which people feel comfortable sharing information.

Suzie: What specific steps can feedback subjects take to follow up – how do they do this? Are there drawbacks to doing this?

Jerry: Briefly, the manager reviews her report, identifies the key issues and then meets with all those she works with regularly, saying, “Here are the areas where I am doing well, and here are the areas in which I need improvement. What suggestions do you have that will help me improve?”

I encourage my clients to continue these meetings periodically throughout the year. The book describes this process in more detail. Regarding drawbacks, some say that managers don’t have the time to have all these meetings. I say they can’t afford not to have these meetings and that the return on the investment of this time is too valuable to lose.

Suzie: Tell us about your book, Just Ask.Why you wrote it, Who should read it and why.

Jerry: Soon after I began coaching executives on their multi-source feedback reports, I developed a process for them to go back and meet, one-on-one, with the people they work with regularly. Recognizing their reluctance to do this, I wrote, Just Ask, a fictional story of a manager who gets his first round of feedback, which is terrible, and he does nothing about it.

One year later he gets his second round of feedback and, as you would expect, it’s worse than the first. He decides to follow his consultant’s advice and go back and meet regularly with the people he works with. The story follows his trials and tribulations, where he succeeds, where he fails and what he has to do to recover. It also shows over the year, what happens to the principle character, the others in his organization and the effect this all has on the entire organization.

I encourage all who are reading this 360 degree feedback article and who are going through the multi-source feedback process – managers, their bosses, peers, direct reports, and all others who participate in the process to read the book. I am giving the book away to CEOs, HR professionals and anyone who champions the multi-source feedback process in companies that are using the multi-source feedback process here in Atlanta.

Studies show that one reason why organizations may not benefit from the multi-source feedback process is that people receiving feedback do not follow up on that feedback. Hopefully this book will help all those using the process feel more comfortable following up on the process.

I'm focusing on Atlanta because I want to have more face-to-face meetings with my clients and to reduce the amount of traveling I have done in the past.

Suzie: How can readers of this 360 feedback degree article get the book and contact you?

Jerry: As I mentioned earlier, I am giving the book away. I am primarily interested in getting this process known and hopefully implemented. Have anyone send me an e-mail with their preferred mailing address and I will send a signed copy of the book to them. I appreciate the opportunity to share this information.

Suzie: Jerry can be reached at: jerrygardner@mindspring.com Thank you Jerry for taking time to share your insights in your book and in this 360 degree feedback article.

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