Choose Better Alternatives to 360 Assessments, Advises Impact Achievement Group

Managers with a clear view of how they’re perceived can inspire superior performance among direct reports

SEATTLE – February 28, 2008 – Talent Management Magazine has published Impact Achievement Group’s article, "Alternative to 360s: The Manager’s Role", in its February issue, describing the importance of managers and the practices they use to inspire exceptional employee performance.

The manager-employee relationship is the most important factor for motivating engagement, loyalty and discretionary effort among employees. And management practices significantly influence the quality of that relationship, according to authors Rick Tate and Dr. Julie White, Impact Achievement Group senior managing partners and internationally recognized experts in leadership and communications training.

Generic 360 assessments – provided by peers, direct reports, the boss, the boss’ peers, even customers – are often too broad to help leaders effectively manage their employees’ performance. They provide managers no clear steps for improvement and leave them virtually alone in finding and implementing more effective management practices.

"A much better approach is to use a focused, direct report assessment – evaluations by those most affected by the manager’s abilities," said Dr. White. "The type of assessment provides the manager with more specific information on how they are perceived by their employees, and how they can improve their effectiveness in managing them."

White added that the direct report assessment should also evaluate characteristics and leadership practices that motivate extra effort, high performance and loyalty. And importantly, assessments should directly relate to management training curriculum used within the organization.

One such direct report assessment is Impact Achievement’s Leadership Impact Survey™, designed to survey two critical organizational performance areas: how direct reports view the appropriateness and effectiveness of their daily management, and their perspective of the current working environment, of course in areas that managers control.

Download "Alternatives to 360s: The Manager’s Role".

About Impact Achievement Group

Impact Achievement Group provides assessment, coaching, customer loyalty and leadership development training that focuses on employee selection, retention, employee engagement and customer engagement. By integrating and blending the world's best assessment and recruiting processes, workshops and eLearning training, coaching and measurement programs, Impact Achievement Group helps organizations improve human performance to achieve bottom line results.