[Ailist] 360 degree reviews

[Benchcomm at aol.com]

Dear  AI Colleagues: 
I've  been following the thread on 360s and wanted to join in by sharing some 
new  developments in the work I'm doing with a few colleagues on new 360 
assessment  tools.  
Over  the past 20 + years, I've experimented with different assessments - for 
 individuals, teams and organizations - trying to find tools that provide 
deep  levels of insight that can catalyze growth and development. After taking 
many  assessments, the assessment taker ends us with a label - telling them 'who 
they  are' - such as the well used MBTI where you find out if you are an 
ESTJ, or  INFP... etc.  Other assessments tell you what 'color you are' - or what  
style of communicate you use most... so many give as the output, labels or  
numbers that describe where you are now. 
In my  desire to get beyond the labels and into a domain that opens up   
'dynamics of interaction' - I began bucketing behaviors into categories -  seeking 
to understand forces that support appreciative growth and  those that may be 
counter forces to appreciative growth.  
Over 5  years ago, after refining the 49 questions and 7 dimensions I put the 
assessment  onto a web-based platform and clients were using it both as a 
leadership 360 and  organizational 360.  While it gave good insights - I wasn't 
satisfied it  was a great tool and almost abandoned it.  It gave the common 
strengths and  weaknesses… and how people responded the questions… yet the depth 
of  interpretation was missing for me…    
I  wanted the tool to be a deep diagnostic, and to have predictive 
capabilities -  for example, if you change x in your culture, you will get y results. 
It's hard  to ask most tools to provide that level of predictability - yet that 
is what I  was wanting. 
About  a year ago, I found a behavioral scientist who was building a new and 
more  powerful assessment engine - and we refined my question set (Ester Ewing 
was one  of my AI colleagues who reviewed our questions) - and we started to 
use the  tool. 
In  order to get a large data base of respondents - so we could create norms 
quickly  - I offered people who attended large meetings where I was keynoting 
- to take  the assessment, and they used their data as part of my 
presentation. 
So  here's the punch line of this email..... I didn't know what I would find 
in the  norms... building assessments is a bit like pure science.... 
What I  found shook my world - and this is why I'm sharing it with all of  
you... 
In the  hundreds of people who have taken it - from all industries, all 
levels in a  company - government leaders from 400 locations around the US.... 
there are some  patterns that emerge.... that can actually help an organization 
actually see  what forces are drive towards an appreciative future, and what 
forces are at  play in their organization that they need to develop to ensure 
that they  reach their appreciative future. 
Right  now, and based on the data we have....  the two least developed skills 
 amongst our population are: 
1.     Lack  of skill in having difficult conversations 
2.     Lack  of use of "what if questions" 
These  two show up any way you cut the data.... which is a statement of the 
value of  helping organizations learn appreciative inquiry. 
The  tool is powered by an incredible engine - and it enables you to ask the 
"data  base" questions - and based on the question- the engine can resort the 
data and  give you and your client/organization an understanding of the forces 
that you  need to work on to achieve the desired goal. It's like having a 
conversation  with your data .... asking it provocative questions and having the 
tool give you  a direction to work on to get there... in other words, you can 
have an  appreciative inquiry conversation with a group of people “virtually –
 people can  take the assessment from all over the world” and you can further 
discuss the  data with groups of people again… giving it an iterative capacity
…    
My  aspiration in sending this out is to reach out to all of my AI colleagues 
and  find those who might want to participate in using this tool - as a way 
of  furthering the AI capacity for positive transformation…. And by being able 
to  use it with teams who are not located in the same room…. This is a  
breakthrough… 
One  people described it as this.... this tool helps you get outside of the 
gaming...  and gives you a way to put the real conversations on the table – 
with everyone  simultaneously ... and then work together in sync to do something 
about it in a  positive and constructive way.... 
If  anyone wants to talk about this with please let me know... 
Here  is the link to further describe what the tool can do...  please go to 
my  home page and click on the "DNA Assessment/infotool" graphic on the left 
side of  the page... it will take you to a page that describes the tool and also 
provides  a PDF to explain a bit more about what you can do with it....   
_www.creatingwe.com_ (http://www.creatingwe.com/) . 
Please  let me know of your interest... or curiosity in furthering your work 
with  clients around these types of insights...... I am looking to partner 
with anyone  who feels this might advance their capacity to shape and create 
appreciative  environments....  
Best  wishes ... 
Judith 
Judith E.  Glaser, CEO
Benchmark Communications, Inc.
www.creatingwe.com

Author: Creating We & The  DNA of Leadership
Liminal  Faculty & Board Member

116  Central Park South 9-D
New York, NY 10019
212 307 4386
212 307 0699  (fax)
917 864 8466 (cell)

5 Shorehaven Road
Norwalk, CT  06855
203 838 6982
203 838 7166 (fax)

"We  must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and 
we must  respect the past remembering that once it was all that was humanly 
possible."  
- George Santayana 




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