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Drawbacks of Leadership Evaluations

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: Leadership assessmants are ubiquitous, but there are several issues that need to be considered or the process will be flawed. This article highlights some of the problems with leadership assessments and offers antidotes and a refreshing new perspective on the qualities of leadership that are really important.

Drawbacks of Leadership Evaluations

There are numerous leadership evaluations available on the Internet and in leadership books. Most large companies develop their own internal instruments, supporting their vision and values. These are mandated surveys that often impact pay treatment. Unfortunately, there are many drawbacks to linking leadership surveys directly to compensation.

Drawbacks to having pay link directly to leadership surveys:

• Skewed samples - Sometimes the sample is random; sometimes it is skewed to reflect some particular demographic. The sample also depends on whether the rated individual or the supervisor is selecting the raters.

• Great leader in a tough spot - This sometimes happens when a high potential leader is given a "killer" assignment. Ratings often will look bad compared to history, especially during the first year. Many leaders have been brought down or lost confidence because a short-term assignment made them look bad.

• Not accounting for risk - Sometimes situations call for leaders to do risky things, trying to turn situations around. That can have a negative impact on short-term results.

• Revenge - People sometimes intentionally trash the data due to a personal vendetta. An individual might rate a leader extremely low on all dimensions, just to lower the average score. With a small sample size typical of surveys, this can give a very distorted picture. Since good leaders are sometimes unpopular with constituents, this problem is common.

• Tampering - Since each leader knows the questions in advance, some will waste time and energy "campaigning" for good ratings. During rating periods, this artful politicking deflects energy away from more important topics. It often resembles a game to win rather than a helpful assessment.

• Competition and ill-will - Leadership surveys can pit one leader against another if pay is strictly divided according to survey results. Leaders may undermine the efforts of parallel groups, so they will look better by comparison. These political maneuvers are often so subtle that nobody, including the perpetrator, are even aware of them.

To avoid these problems, use surveys as only one indicator of a leader's performance and consider the circumstances.

As an employee, if you believe an evaluation of your leadership is not correct, it becomes a delicate issue between you and your supervisor. Avoid trying to discredit the data or it will sound like sour grapes and be heavily discounted. A better approach is to have open discussions with raters (if you know who they are) about their observations. Do this with maturity and you can glean more data, along with a specification for improving ratings next year. Attacking the survey or methods will generally backfire and label you as a complainer. It won't help your cause.

Many surveys are done "blind", such that the rated leader has no idea who provided the data. In this case, you have no choice but to review the input carefully with your superior. Try to provide ballast to skewed input with historical data of your own. DO NOT generate new data using the same survey on a different population. Even if you do this with highest integrity, it will smack of manipulation and do you more harm than good.

Often instruments are applied in a 360-degree view of the leader. The superiors, peers, and subordinates of a leader, in addition to the leader himself, measure capabilities. The juxtaposition of these data provides good insight. However, the 360-degree technique has many potential pitfalls as well and needs to be designed and administered by a competent practitioner or serious side effects like the ones above can occur. This is another example of where a good consultant or HR expert can help.

Drawbacks to doing 360-Degree Assessments Every Year

Incomplete

Whether a 360-degree leadership survey is administered by a consultant or is simply a routine procedure, it is important to keep these data in proper perspective. Evaluations are helpful tools, but they don't tell a complete story. They should not be the only factor used to measure the effectiveness of a leader. Take the long-term track record into account, as well as the nature of the current assignment. Pay attention to what people say about a leader's ability not just what the survey numbers indicate. Often they paint entirely different pictures. If you get differing views depending on the data gathering method, add more study before pigeon-holing someone into a "marginal leader" slot.

Less Useful over Time

For a while, I collected assessment tools like a philatelist would stamps. Each instrument was helpful at providing insight, but after a while they all started to sound the same. Using the same instrument for several years enables historical comparison, but provides less insight over time because eventually repetition will cause people to respond mechanically. When the validity of historical comparison becomes compromised, it is time to change to a different instrument.

Limited in Scope

Most surveys focus on how well the leader champions the values of the organization and the results this person delivers against tough goals. They ask whether the leader created a compelling vision for the organization and followed the cookbook of leadership "things to do." Although all these are critical elements of leadership, the surveys often miss the real essence of leadership.

Questions that Get to the Essence of Leadership

For about 2 years, with the help of my key leaders, I compiled a list of concepts observed in our laboratory of leadership. No concept was very profound by itself, but collectively they gave a different view of the dimensions of great leadership. Some were unique perspectives not seen elsewhere. We distilled each item into a question format. Here are a few questions from the list.

Do people tell you they admire your backbone?

Do you ever bribe your people? Is that good leadership?

Do you often make people angry? Is that good leadership?

When things go terribly wrong are you depressed or energized?

Do people do things they know you wouldn't approve of behind your back?

Are people sometimes afraid of you? Is that good or bad leadership?

Do your reinforcement efforts ever backfire?

Do people accuse you of overreacting or would they more likely call you very demanding?

Are you able to keep from getting mired down in bureaucratic mumbo jumbo without annoying the powers that be?

Are there several "folk tales" about particularly outrageous deeds you have done (good or bad?)

When you approach a small group of workers does their body language change?

Do you find out troubling things others have said about you secondhand?

Is your team pushing you to revise their goals upward?

Are you an abstract communicator or a gut level communicator?

What is the average time for you to return a phone call or e-mail?

When making group presentations, do you ever find people's eyes glazing over?

We collected a couple hundred questions and boiled them down by combination and elimination. Finally, we sorted them into piles of like subject matter and gave each pile a name. The following six areas emerged.

The essence of leadership:

Trust

Communication

Style Strength and Courage

Outlook

Passion

The insight gleaned from this exercise was particularly helpful. For example, style is something normally dealt with on a "take it or leave it" basis in most leadership training: identify your style and that of others, then modify behaviors to reduce friction and work better together. Rarely will you find insights dealing with how to modify or manage your style, yet this has great potential for creating stronger leaders.

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Article Tags: assessments, culture, Leadership, success, trust



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