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 360° Feedback in the Australian Public Sector
This is the third and final article on Leadership in the current series.
Whereas the first focused on Leadership training (Issue
4) and the second on the generic 360° instrument, the Leadership
Behaviours Profile (Issue 5), this issue examines
the value of a specific tailored 360 Leadership profile to suit particular
organisations and/or groups of managers.
TLS (and TMS in New Zealand) have from time to time been commissioned
to create a new (or adapt the existing Leadership Behaviours Profile,
LBP) 360° instrument for a defined grouping. In the private sector,
for example, GlaxoSmithKline now have available an organisation specific
equivalent to the LBP and the Star Performing Team Profile (SPT) based
upon their core competencies and values.
Another successful, long standing example is in the Australian Public
Service where TLS entered into a joint venture with Dr John Baker from
the Centre for Public Management. Initially a 360° Profile variation
on the LBP was launched in early 2000 and was further developed over time
into two more comprehensive instruments. The development story is now
outlined below by John Baker himself.
 360° Feedback and Leadership Development in the Australian Public
Service (APS)
Dr John Baker, Executive Director
Centre for Public Management (CPM)
Over the past seven years the Centre for Public Management (CPM), which
is a group of experienced Australian management consultants specialising
in the public sector, has developed three 3 & 4-day residential leadership
programs for public servants. Each of the programs is offered between
7 and 12 times a year, with 'From Management to Leadership', a 4-day program
for Executive Level 1 & 2 managers, having had its 1000th participant
in mid-2002 (for program details see www.cpm.org.au).
The three programs are offered in association with the Australian Public
Service Commission (APSC).
All three programs contain strong elements of personal reflection about
leadership styles and behaviours and several years ago this prompted CPM
to look for a suitable 360° feedback tool to use on them. This in
turn led me to gain accreditation in the TLS Leadership Behaviours Profile
(LBP), which I used on a number of occasions with groups of public servants.
While the LBP instrument itself was very well received, particularly
for its user-friendliness, I nevertheless felt that the public service
market generally needed something more specifically tailored to the realities
of the public sector. Public servants have special accountabilities to
their minister; they are expected to follow particular ethical standards;
and their work goals relate to maximising public good rather than focusing
on profits.
This led Paul Robinson, on behalf of TMS and its international
arm Team Leadership Services (TLS), and myself, on behalf of CPM, to enter
into a partnership to create and market a new 360° feedback tool that
was based on public sector competencies and capabilities, but that had
the user-friendliness and other features which characterised TMS's LBP.
Initially we developed the Executive Leadership Profile (ELP) built around
the Senior Executive Leadership Capability Framework. This framework was
developed in 1999 by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC),
and was originally intended to serve the needs of Senior Executive Service
(SES) staff. However, it has increasingly also been used for Executive
Level 1 & 2 staff.
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The ELP has been used since February 2002 on more than 40 CPM courses
covering over 900 participants. It has been universally well received
by participants, who particularly appreciate how it relates to their jobs
and to particular public sector work realities.
The success of ELP prompted CPM to look more closely at the needs of
the more junior APS 5 & 6 level participants on its three-day 'Teams
and Leadership' program. While ELP could be and was used with them, it
didn't really meet the need. Why not develop a new 360° feedback instrument
tailored to that level, we asked ourselves?
The problem we faced in developing a new 360° instrument for the
APS 5 & 6 group was that there was no APS-wide capability framework
to base it on. This led to an association with the APSC, which resulted
in CPM developing an APS 5 & 6 Capability Framework through working
in cooperation with a wide range of public service departments and agencies.
This new framework was formally launched by the APSC in May 2003.
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Using the new APS 5 & 6 Capability Framework as a base CPM and TLS
then developed the Team Leadership Profile (TLP), a 360° feedback
instrument which is a look-alike to the ELP, and which as such can be
used in conjunction with the ELP in vertical slice workshops that include
staff ranging from the APS 5 & 6 levels through to the SES levels.
The new TLP has now been used on six CPM programs and has been very well
received.
Although both the ELP and TLP, were originally developed to meet CPM's
need for 360° feedback instruments to use on its residential courses,
they are now being marketed by CPM to consultants and public sector clients
across Australia (for details see www.cpm.org.au ).
While the use of 360° feedback is now well established in the management
development field, and its importance and benefits need no justification,
it is nevertheless useful to comment on a few of the lessons learned and
specific benefits which have flowed from using ELP and TLP on CPM's courses.
The first point to emphasise is that in our experience it is essential
that ELP and TLP be contextualised and appropriately situated within the
overall program. For this reason we always introduce ELP and TLP on the
second day of our residential. This allows participants to have settled
in and be relaxed when they receive their 360° report, whilst also
giving them one or two days on the program after receiving it for reflection
and consideration. We also typically introduce ELP and TLP after an overview
session on emotional intelligence, during which we make the point that
self-awareness lies at the very heart of emotional intelligence and that
360° feedback is one of the most effective ways of gaining a greater
self-awareness of our work behaviours.
In addition to the usual comparative ratings for self and others and
importance ratings given by self and supervisor which typify most 360°
feedback reports, the ELP and TLP both include an emotional intelligence
quotient and a series of qualitative comments covering the person's work
achievements, development needs and suggestions for improvement. Significantly,
we find that the qualitative comments are often invaluable in fleshing
out and helping explain the different ratings given in the main body of
the report.
Other consultants have used ELP and TLP very successfully as the basis
for short 2-3 hour feedback workshops. Here the confidence building and
confidentiality issues are particularly important to the success of the
exercise, with an appropriate experienced consultant axiomatic to the
success of the workshops.
Whether the ELP & TLP are used as part of a residential leadership
program, or within a much shorter feedback workshop, they are supported
by a 21 page workbook which guides participants through the key issues
arising from their 360° feedback report, while also helping them to
develop a structured action plan.
As regards the actual production of ELP & TLP reports, there is a
very effective agreed division of labour between CPM and TLS. Essentially
CPM markets ELP & TLP in Australia and handles all of the accreditation
and helpline services for the completion of questionnaires. TLS for its
part runs the website through which participants complete their ELP &
TLP questionnaires and then processes and produces the reports, which
are couriered to CPM or to the relevant consultant.
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In Conclusion
The above article highlights the value of having the flexibility to align
your product or service to the particular requirements of the client.
In most cases, the standard product will meet the requirements of clients
– indeed the Leadership Behaviours Profile is used extremely successfully
by organisations and consultants throughout New Zealand and Australia.
However, in this case, by tailoring a successful methodology and technology
to meet the requirements of an established competency framework, an even
better suited instrument could be developed.
For further information on tailored 360° assessments please contact
me at paul@tls360.com.
What’s Next?
The last three In-Touch articles have focused on the concept of leadership;
the second factor of ten in the Star Performing Team model. The three
leadership articles combined have shown how leadership behaviours can
be measured using the power of 360° feedback, and the value of aligning
360° feedback with organisational competency frameworks. They have
also shown how these tools can be utilised in training programmes to develop
managers into dynamic, well-rounded leaders.
You may also remember the first Star Performing Team factor, which was
explained in earlier In-Touch articles (Issues 1-3 inclusive). Using the
first factor, Aligned, it is possible to align your team to the organisations
goals and values. Teams that are not aligned with the organisations goals
will not be contributing effectively. Teams that have misaligned values
will experience difficult working relationships and conflict.
A Star Performing Team involves more than just being properly aligned
and appropriately led. We still have eight other factors that require
attention.
The articles that follow will unlock the keys to performance of each
of these factors in turn, starting with the third Star Performing Team
factor Informed.
In-Touch Issue 7 will explain how and why your team will not function
effectively if it is experiencing communication problems. Advice on how
to minimise problems and maximise effective communication will also be
reviewed.
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Dr Paul Robinson
Managing Director
Team Leadership Services Ltd.
P.O. Box 21-194, Henderson, Waitakere 0650, New Zealand
Tel: +64-9-836-5317 Fax +64-9-836-5318
email: paul@tls360.com
Website: www.tls360.com
© 2003 Team Leadership Services
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