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Exploring Emotional Intelligence: Helping Managers Succeed – Part 2

A Client Case Study – Part 2 of 3 – The 360 Assessment Results

Read Part 1 of the case study.

Findings from the 360 Assessment

498 of 500 surveys were received. While a 100% return would have been outstanding; we were certainly excited about the return we did get given this was the first time a 360 was launched in the organization. (Of course the extra week of “nagging” people helped!)

In this case study, I’ll report on the findings at a high level – across all departments/functions. For the report to the client, however, we reported across all departments/functions, by function and by experience level of manager, longevity of manager in the role within the company, and by number of individuals manager led. We also shared a comparison across all managers (peer-to-peer.)

Key Findings

We learned the following from the 360 assessment conducted of all mid-level managers:

  • Of the 100 managers assessed, 2/3 of them were promoted from internal non-leader roles (they had no experience managing people previously)
  • The lack of experience caused frustration in managers
    • they spent more time trying to accomplish goals and therefore fell further behind in work (trying to learn as they go)
    • they took that frustration out on staff – lashing out regularly
  • Communications were inconsistent – managers shared more with some employees in their group than others; at times it appeared that information was shared about one employee to another (thereby creating a lack of trust between employees and management)
  • There were perceptions of favoritism – this appears in better performance feedback for favored employees, regular lunches out with favored employees and different treatment when it came to disciplinary actions
  • Mid-managers did not collaborate well cross functionally; they did not share best practices or collaborate on joint initiatives and were protective of resources

While certainly a lack of some key leadership skills was an issue; more of an issue was the emotional intelligence (EI) level of mid-managers. A lack of strong EI was impacting their ability to interact with each other and to engage with and lead their employees effectively.

Interviews with Managers

We interviewed each manager assessed, one-on-one and in person. Our goal was to dive a bit deeper into their individual results and to understand their specific challenges in more detail. It was also to set the stage for how we would work with each manager to strengthen their skills. And, we used these interviews to gauge a bit more around their EI level.

Presenting the Results

We presented the results to each individual’s manager, senior leadership and the investment firm. We also shared – at a high level and in a consolidated way – the results of the interviews with the managers who were assessed.

We outlined the key findings overall from the assessments, focusing on strengths  of individuals, key leadership competencies that were lacking and explaining the necessity of strengthening EI skills across all managers.

Part 3 will focus on the creation of the strategic plan for learning & development and coaching

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