Circle of Trust

I remember the first time I received results from a 360 survey. I thought I had received someone else's results. Part of me thought "this isn't true" while another part of me thought "why didn't anyone tell me." From that point forward, I made sure to be active in cultivating a few sources for regular feedback. In order for us to advance professionally, we need a few types of truth speakers around us.

We would imagine that our Boss would be loaded with truth telling for us, but this is an inconsistent source. If you have ever arrived at your annual performance review and received new perspectives that you didn't hear all year, you know what I mean. Sometimes our boss is more focused on preserving our feelings or avoiding conflict than they are focused on sharing their honest feedback. We have to make it clear that we need their perspective to assist with our continued growth.

Feedback from our direct reports is on the other side of the coin from boss feedback. For people that report to us, our whispers are yells and our suggestions are commandments. We have to build trust over time with our team. Our team is watching closely during meetings to see what happens when people disagree with us. If we consistently demonstrate that constructive conflict is okay, we're more likely to receive helpful feedback from our teams.

Peers can be an outstanding source of feedback if we properly empower them. A significant factor in the usefulness of peers in our feedback process is our organization's reward structure. Does the reward structure encourage our peers to work with us towards the same goals, or are we competing against each other for limited resources? Are there limited promotional opportunities that we have to fight with our peers for? If we can develop trusting relationships with our peers, they have a point of view that can be significant in helping us plot our actions.

Everyone should have coaches and mentors to round out their circle of trust. Coaches give us an unbiased perspective to help us work through situations. Mentors are valuable because they have been there and done that, so they can speak from experience as they deliver feedback to us.

Don't allow yourself to get blindsided. Do the work now to build your circle of trust, so that the next 360 evaluation has no surprises.