Clients often share with us stories about significant decisions or turning points for their organizations. These stories are common knowledge for those working in the organization and provide a bit of insight about how the company got to where it is. Interestingly, I found myself thinking about one of Calibra’s “stories” which we share with clients and potential clients in conversation but haven’t previously put into print – where did the idea to use a dual-scale 360 assessment come from?
Prior to developing the Calibra dual-scale 360, we had been using existing 360 feedback tools for use with our clients. At that time, the majority of tools were single-scale. This allowed those that received the feedback to gauge how often their raters thought they performed a certain behavior. While this was certainly useful feedback, we found in coaching sessions it was difficult to determine if an individual should be doing more or less of the behavior. In one instance, one of our coaches shared a story about trying to tell a participant that they should be doing more and received the response, “that’s all my direct reports need from me.”
This interaction and many similar, started us on the path to creating our dual-scale survey which allows each rater the power to provide feedback on how often a behavior is being performed and how often the rater feels the behavior should be performed. By having the second scale, we have allowed each rater to disclose their actual expectations for those they are rating.
If, while using a single-scale 360, we had not heard over and over “that’s all my raters need from me,” we probably wouldn’t have developed our own proprietary dual-scale 360 system. What a different company Calibra might be today if we hadn’t been listening.
Related Articles: 9 Best Practices in 360 Feedback; Two Gaps are Better Than One in 360 Feedback
Tags: 360 degree feedback, Beyond the Jargon, Calibra, dual-scale, Paul Dillenburg
