What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Marshall Goldsmith, an executive coach who has worked with CEOs from close to 100 of the world’s largest corporations, is a big fan of the 360 degree performance evaluation. In his book, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, he explains with wit, insightful anecdotes and self-depreciating humour how an evaluation strategy that seeks input from individuals across an organization—direct reports, superiors and peers—can be of fundamental value to successful people who want to eliminate the annoying interpersonal habits that are holding them back.
Goldsmith recommends using the 360 in a way that is enlightening, empowering and innovative. Rather than wait for the formal feedback process or performance review, he advises that people seek feedback on their own to determine areas they need to change. He identifies 21 “habits” that become behavioural barriers to success, recommends strategies for seeking meaningful 360 feedback from co-workers and offers concrete tools to help with follow-through.
In the book he coins the term “feedforward”. Unlike “feedback”, which provides facts about the past, “feedforward” is a way to obtain ideas for the future. Instead of asking co-workers “What do you think of me as a listener?”, the question becomes, “What are some ways I can become a better listener?” The information that is received is concrete, action-oriented and specific to the relationship the “asker” has with the individual asked. Goldsmith recommends that, once a problem has been identified—be it not listening, negativity, passing judgment or any of the other bad habits explained in the book—colleagues, direct reports, life partners, children, and superiors are asked for their advice. “More than anything,” Goldsmith states, “feedforward creates the two-way traffic I love to see in the workplace, the spirit of two colleagues helping each other, rather than a superior providing a critique.” Feedforward provides the information and the impetus to truly change behaviour.
