Feedback Dossier

On an extended management development programme we will get to see your managers in action for 6-12 days over a period of 3 to 18 months. It is inevitable that we will start to build up a picture of each person’s qualities, skills, traits and characteristics. We will see how they interact, build relationships, solve problems and deal with conflict.

In our opinion it would therefore be a missed opportunity if this feedback was not shared with both the delegates and the course sponsors. Thankfully most clients and delegates are only too pleased at the beginning of a programme to sign up to this very approach.

Below is a depersonalised example of the sort of feedback that we have shared:

“Jacob loves learning and so thrived on the MDP. There is no doubt that he is very ambitious and it will become a problem to Jacob and ABC Limited if the future holds a mismatch between his expectations and what ABC Limited can/will offer him. He sees himself as someone who gets things quickly, is commercially minded and passionate – the latter sometimes being overdone and turning into being “arsy” when things are not going how he thinks they should.

We see Jacob as someone who is extremely bright, capable and engaging. His appetite for personal and career growth is huge. He likes to portray himself to others as sure footed and confident, whatever he may be truly feeling inside and maybe sometimes he would be wiser to drop that mask and admit when he is unsure – we think that might gain him further supporters and stronger relationships. We think he has highly attuned all body listening skills and a strong creative streak.

Our view is that he has undoubted potential to be a future business director but possibly needs 1-2 more years being exposed to more strategic level thinking and decision making before he would be “ready”. We think that Jacob needs to know that ABC Limited value him or they could lose him in the medium future. There is no doubt that he is highly marketable.”

The impact of sharing this feedback was 2-fold:

a)     The manager’s confidence and self-esteem was increased. He had enjoyed the programme and taken lots from it but to also understand how we had perceived his character and abilities was really valuable to him.

b)     The sponsor (CEO) had previously overlooked this person’s potential for more senior roles in the organisation in the future. They were now very pleased to include them in their succession planning pipeline. Note – 18 months later Jacob was promoted to a director role.