Knowing what is really happening in the management ranks of your portfolio companies is critical to understanding and mitigating your actual portfolio risk profile. Who is performing, Who is not, Why there are performance gaps, Who are the flight risks, etc. are just some of the questions you need answers to on a regular basis. Strategic HR Diagnostic Services are a way for you to get the answers to these questions and bypass the usual, often incomplete HR information that investors receive from their portfolio companies.
A Key Part of this process is an independent 360 Feedback Appraisal. Now 360 Degree Feedback is a well-known performance appraisal and career development tool with numerous advantages, including sourcing inputs from a broad cross-section of individuals across the organization. This is critically important in today’s workplace because of companies’ need to reduce discrimination risk. When feedback comes from numerous individuals in various functions, discrimination because of race, age, gender preference, and so forth is mitigated. The “horns and halo” effect, in which a supervisor rates performance based on their most recent interactions with the employee, is also minimized.
The single biggest challenge to the effectiveness and validity of this tool is “Observer Bias”. Simply put, people will not give truthful information if they are afraid of retribution if the individual being assessed finds out who gave a particular opinion. This is a major problem with corporate internally conducted reviews. To get good unbiased data requires finding a truly confidential mechanism.
By conducting all the feedback interviews to create a very diverse dataset, Reynold Lewke can be the outside, confidential resource to make the 360 Degree Feedback process secure for all individuals involved. The breadth of interviews gives clear answers as to how different management members are really performing. This information gives you the insight you need on how to better manage that part of your portfolio risk and make the decisions you need to make.
Additionally, based on his 30+ years of executive search and career coaching experience, interviewing thousands of professionals based in the US, Europe and Asia, Reynold sorts through all the feedback data and provides actionable insights for all interested parties. In this way, everyone wins. Individuals can use the direct feedback to develop their careers. With employees receiving the genuine feedback they need to grow, this makes their organizations even more successful. Higher performing management teams mean better results for investors and other stakeholders.
