Welcome back!
The higher up the managerial ladder people go, the less people tell them what they really think about the way they do their jobs. It’s a classic “The Emperor’s New Clothes” scenario. It is HR’s responsibility to ensure that senior managers get the feedback they need. As a senior HR executive, you need to push a little and have a bit of “attitude” about your own role in working the senior management team (SMT).
Of course, the problem with taking a bite out of your SMT is that they bite back, and often harbour ill feelings for some time afterwards. This is definitely one area where HR executives would do well to partner with external consultants and coaches. This doesn’t mean that you should abdicate this responsibility, but rather that you take a more strategic role in initiating the processes that will deliver senior management the hard truths they need to make informed choices.
The Partnership Triad
There are a multitude of possibilities, including:
- 360-degree feedback designed specifically for CEOs and senior leaders such as Executive Dimensions
- Arranging for a series of confidential, one-on-one coaching sessions
- Team coaching, where managers explore how they can work better as a collective
Removing in-house staff from the nuts-and-bolts work leads senior managers to be more open to feedback and changing their own behaviours because it adds a level of confidentiality to the process. Yet, your role does not end with just getting things set up. You need to periodically check in with each manager and with the group as a whole to discuss the degree to which they are being challenged by the process, and then feed this back to your external partners so that approaches can be refined along the way.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Being open to a greater amount of opinions in regards to feedback can really be an understated benefit of having a PEO. When you are no longer dealing with in-house people you are more likely to criticize and offer opinions as to how things could be done more effectively.