A Practical Application of Johari’s Window.
Many people are reluctant to express their true ideas, thoughts and suggestions with manager/leaders. A manager or leader without feedback will continue doing what they have always done, and of course they will always get what they’ve always gotten. Many organizations employ a “suggestion program” but find it is ineffective and seldom used. A much more effective way is for a manager or leader to periodically undergo a professional third party intervention (a peer review). A peer review allows you to expand your Johari’s ‘open’ window into your blind area, In other words, you will learn a lot more about yourself. (See the chapter Understanding Yourself and Others for the discussion on Johari’s Window.)
A professional peer review focuses on processes, leadership skills, and harmony in the work force, by conducting confidential interviews with all employees or team members. The review group asks a series of questions which basically answer the three questions necessary for making continual improvement.
- What am I doing that you would like to see me continue?
- What am I doing that you would like to see me stop doing?
- What would you like to see me start doing?
The final most telling question asked by the reviewers is “do you have anything else you would like to tell us”? The review team categories all responses by the frequency of like answers to each question, thus quantifying areas needing improvement. The results of the review are reveled only to the person being reviewed.
I can say from experience, my first peer review was devastating to the ego. My thoughts going into the review were that things I were going along very nicely, and that folks working in the organization were happy. Wrong on both counts! It was time for a personal round of Dr. Deming’s “plan, do, check, act”. The check on my leadership abilities (the peer review) showed I must undergo many changes before any improvement in quality would be realized. My ‘blind window’ decreased, as the ‘open window’ enlarged. The effort of having a review was definitely worth it for me and our employees.
The firm of LVS Management consulting, LLC offers the service of conducting third party interventions (peer review.) A synopsis of their service is shown below.
Their web site is www.mtaonline.net/~scheben/.
Third Party Interventions (“Peer Reviews”)
By Leo von Scheben, PE, LS MBA.
I believe in the Peer Review process 100%. The Peer Review process has one major point that stands out. It assumes that the staff of an organization has a pretty good working knowledge about how the company or organization is doing and that their feedback is invaluable.
An organizational peer review (OPR) is an opportunity to see the firm through professionals. The goal is have the firm examine its own procedures and policies and get important feedback from the staff. The process consists of feedback to the OPR team from management, employees through a questionnaire, and one on one interviews with the staff. The results are quality feedback to management and a “shopping list” of things to do to improve the organization. Areas covered are the following:
- GeneralManagement
- Professional Development
- Project Management
- Human Resource Management
- Financial Management
- Information Technology
- Business Development and Marketing
OPR’s are usually a performed by a team of professionals put if the company is smaller in size one individual can perform the review. Feedback of the OPR starts with the team passing on the results to the CEO and a decision to take the feedback to others is determined by the CEO. Keep in mind the OPR is strictly confidential. It is my strong opinion that companies that have OPR’s performed are going to better off for the review. It especially helps in the strategic planning area as staff feedback is very useful in planning the future of the company