Mailbox

T+D, July, 2003

360 Score

Roger Schwarz scores a 75 on his quiz in "Becoming a Facilitative Leader" (April). But his answer on how to implement 360-degree feedback is off the mark.

First there is the difference between theory and reality. As Schwarz correctly states, some workplaces have excess fear--sometimes structural, other times situational (such as after a downsizing). The necessity to face the person being evaluated, and work with him or her, leads many (evaluators) to downplay faults and be less than truthful. [It might be best to say] the feedback is "confidential," not "anonymous," as recommended in the Standards of Ethical Conduct of the International Coach Federation.

The second problem with being able to identify evaluators by their comments is that...when one evaluator notices a specific troubling behavior, it's likely that others notice but don't consider it significant or recent enough...to mention. If someone receives feedback that behavior X was noted, he or she can go back with an eye towards improvement. Otherwise, the personal improvement radar may be only situational, which is not the desired result.

I also have a problem with Schwarz's assumption that people need to know whether the raters are using information the person being rated considers valid. Absent mal ice, someone gives feedback on what is observed. Even when the evaluator doesn't have the whole picture or misunderstands a situation, the person being evaluated can mismanage the impression the evaluator received. Impression management is important. A person committed to 360 feedback figures out what the lesson is in each comment. Being able to go to an evaluator and say, "You were wrong" or "You were uninformed" helps neither party.

Eric A. Sohn

IdeaFountain Business Coaching Stamford, Connecticut

coacheric@idea-fountain.com

The Debate Continues

[Re: "Why Women Don't Rule" (Intelligence, April)] I believe that early education must play a role.... Young children need to learn about the tremendous variety of careers. By secondary school, career education should develop career interests. Adult training techniques of discovery learning can be applied in the design of high school career ed courses [for] adolescent girls to explore and develop. If girls are looking for work satisfaction in "helping others," they need to see themselves as future CEOs and business owners. What better way to help others than by providing more jobs and security?

Judie Block

Domino Sugar

American Sugar Refining

jblock@tasrc.com

Why do women have to change to adapt to a competitive, family-hostile business environment? A few years ago, there was a lot of buzz about how women would change the business environment to make it more cooperative and family-friendly. Is that now too idealistic in an era in which greed rules? It was a woman at Enron who blew the whistle.

The "traditional" role of women is to civilize society--to model virtues such as service, fairness, respect, and compassion. Women should rightly aim for goals that benefit everyone not just themselves--goals such as guaranteed health coverage for all, two-year maternity leave, six weeks of vacation, and free higher education. Why should American women aim for working 80-hour weeks, maternity leave defined by medical necessity, inadequate vacation, and unaffordable or inferior education? Why should American women settle for less than European women, who already have those "perks"'? You can't get them by working harder and earning more. They come from social cooperation and from men adopting the values of women.

Constance Bille

Towers Perrin TPAS

constance.bille@towers.com

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