E! Entertainment

TAILORED 360°ASSESSMENTS PRODUCE BIG RESULTS FOR E!

“Retention, clearer goals, happier managers, objectives being communicated.” said David Anderson, director, human resources of E! Networks in Los Angeles. “Jobs will be easier. Less turnover. Less recruitment costs. People know what is expected of them. Our department has a positive image because we’re providing these tools. There is a request and demand for more training. We’ve solidified E!’s culture, and we’re creating role models, especially for new employees.”

Why is he so happy?

E! has just kicked off a successful 360º assessment survey program with Milestones, Inc. How did they decide to embark upon this process?

“We were very interested in helping our people develop within their current jobs, and we wanted them to understand that the company is committed to them,” added David.

360º surveys (or assessments) are used when individuals within a company need to perceive how they appear to all levels in their workplace (managers, peers and direct reports). 

“A 360º survey shows an individual how others view their performance, versus what it should be, by obtaining answers to a series of questions asked of various levels of ‘raters’,” Madelon Miles of Milestones, Inc. explains. “E! Networks was interested in conducting 360º surveys with its vice presidents and directors, but had concerns about confidentiality and expense. Based on their three year training and development relationship with Milestones, they decided to give it a try and explore the process,” Madelon went on to say.

The first step was to tailor a 360º survey to E!’s specific needs and goals. An eight-member internal design team was appointed, comprised of key individuals from many departments within E!. That they were individually and collectively very well respected was critical to getting buy-in among both the raters and the people being rated.

“I’m a firm believer that HR can’t dictate how effective a program will be,” David said. “You need the buy-in and the design input from various people that make up the organization.”

In tailoring the 360º survey for E!, the design team realized they would need to create three separate surveys – one for Corporate/Administration positions, one for Creative/Production positions and one for Sales positions.

“When we held the initial brainstorming session, we realized there are three different classifications or types of leaders that make our organization successful and each of those three are unique,” David said.

“As we got into identifying what was important, and the three very distinct groups emerged, we realized it wouldn’t be fair to assess them all on the same basis,” Madelon explained.

The next step: E!’s design team went online to complete survey questions that revealed the competencies appropriate for each of the three management areas.

Hundreds of competencies exist such as Accountability, Creativity, Customer Satisfaction, Decision Making, Follow- Through, Managerial Effectiveness, People Focus and Teamwork. This online survey allowed the design team to narrow down a huge amount of information to the top eight competencies. Once that information is obtained, the 360º survey easily takes shape.

Specific questions were then selected for E!’s 360º surveys based on this information, such as:

• This individual makes me feel appreciated by acknowledging the good things I do.

• This individual effectively deals with crisis situations.

“We firmly believe in this. We’re getting positive feedback. As soon as people are hearing the process is efficient, it’s timely and it’s designed by a number of people, they’re interested,” David explained. “Already we’re finding that the word has spread about this great program.”

Milestones, Inc. has found 360º surveys to be an essential component for a manager’s continued learning and success, and a key component of an Executive Coaching process.

“It’s truly an exercise in goal-setting,” David declared. The purpose of the 360º survey is to increase an individual’s self-awareness. The power of the process lies within identification and modification of behavior to affect how others view us, creating different results.

“Our experience in giving 360º’s over the past 12 years is that intelligent individuals will often begin a process of self-correction based on that ‘mirror’ of feedback,” Madelon said.