360 degree

The case discussed in the class today was about the star producer of Capital market division of Morgan Stanley not being promoted to the higher level because of being rated poorly on team skills by his peers in the 360 degree feedback. Although the protagonist had  shown a steller performance and single handedly increased the market share from 2% to 12%, the decision to not promote him was taken.The case learnings are as given

• Being  a star performer is not enough. With growing seniority, team building skills are more important.
• 360 degree feedback is a tool that can help in taking better decisions and thus save the organisation from future troubles.
• The superior who was responsible to give continuos feedback to the protagonist was held equally guilty and was punished by no longer being in charge of the protagonist.Poor performance by juniors is as much a fault on the part of the seniors as on the part of the juniors.
• Many a time, we hesitate in giving a negative feedback to our subordinates fearing retaliation in the form of future disinterest in the work or we are just intent on being goody-goody.Remember that performance management system is different from performance appraisal system. While the latter appraises at the end of the year and is out  of vogue with good organisations, performance management system is a continuous process and aims at improving the performance of the subordinate during the year.
• In hindsight I feel that many a times I too have been guilty of this flaw.The quarterly feedback form that I used to submit for my subordinates usually was a hurried affair.