Using feedback as a catalyst for improvement
By Mark Tosczak

ore and more companies are using 360-degree feedback to evaluate employees, said management professor Ben Rosen. With the confidential, anonymous feedback, managers can identify not only their strengths and weaknesses but also their hidden strengths - strengths they didn't know they had.

Oftentimes, Rosen said, people find that characteristics they thought were strengths are hidden weaknesses. Sometimes the 360-degree evaluation reveals that managers lack management skills critical to their career goals. With that feedback in hand, Rosen said, managers can do several things to improve their skills:

Compare the evaluation to previous performance evaluations and past life histories to identify any patterns.

Develop a "personal improvement plan" with specific goals, such as improving time management or delegation skills.

Undertake a specific course of action to achieve those goals:

1. Take a course.
2. Identify a colleague who has a strength in the area in which you are trying to improve, and ask that colleague for advice and coaching.
3. Join a group such as Toastmasters to improve speaking skills, or practice the new skill with friends and family.