When senior management asks to review your boss in a 360 process, how much truth should you dole out?
My boss’s boss is inquiring about what’s working, what’s not working in the organization. How candid should/could I be?
Re: You can't handle the Truth
are they giving you an instrument / tool for this exercise and are you the only person picked for this activity ?
Re: You can’t handle the Truth
This is the most interesting thing… if its like…generic sorts of…and the feedback would be anonymous then you could say all you want…
but then again…depends on the people involved…with pakistani peopke,for example, i would never dare do that
Re: You can’t handle the Truth
njgal this is actually tricky. Rate him fairly but dont be a candid critic, rest assured it’s never gonna be ‘confidential’ or ‘anonymous’. He/She is your boss and HR/Top mgt would share all this with him/her for the sake of his/her ‘improvement’.
Apart from that you better know the culture of your organization so go with your instincts.
Good luck! :k:
Re: You can't handle the Truth
Trickyy
Re: You can't handle the Truth
Well if your boss is not someone you are satisfied with, give a good report about her but do not over do. like dont say things like... SHE IS ONE OF THE MOST........OR....words like Amazing, wonderful, best or any word ending with "est . Just say she is good.
Re: You can’t handle the Truth
It is very tricky and you need to be educated enough to come out of it successfully.
Here are a couple of links to help you do that professionally.
From Harvard Business Review:
http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2010/03/how-to-give-your-boss-feedback.html
Another good one from small improvements site
How to Write 360 degree feedback about your boss
Re: You can't handle the Truth
how is the 360 feedback being administered? In two of my previous workplaces, it was anonymous feedback through either a manual process (drop a completed form in a comment box / no names required), or an online form that doesn't need names to be disclosed.
Also is this an open-ended feedback, or responses to pre-defined likert scale questions? The latter seems to be the norm in a lot of places because its easier to aggregate the responses and present to the recipient of the feedback. It's also easier/more comfortable for employees to evaluate their seniors.
Also, there's no harm in asking your HR dept. how the feedback will be compiled. If they mix the responses from different respondents, then it becomes harder for the recipient to identify who said what... whereas if all of your responses are compiled together, then there might be some give-aways about your identity.
Lastly, in terms of suggestions for writing the actual feedback for your boss, the rule of thumb is to not be confrontational, but spin the feedback in such a way that the boss perceives it to be useful and you highlight benefits of improvement rather than the detriments of his/her current style. Also use aggregate first person plural tense (we, us, team etc.) instead of first and second person singulars (you, I, me etc.) to keep things at a high level.