Exploratory Development

As a human being it’s hard to understand how other people perceive us and our behavior. But having such understanding is a way to get additional information about us, possibility to get a view from “outside”. People can approve or disapprove our behavior and thus give us possibility to react and improve ourselves. Sometimes negative feedback is even more important then positive, but people rarely give negative appraisals being afraid of conflict. 360 degree review is a method to get as positive so negative feedback from different angles.

360 degree review is developed to be used inside a company. It is based on getting opinions about a person from his subordinates, his colleagues and his boss. Results of this review can be used in several ways:

• Evaluate performance of a person
• Evaluate strengths and weakness of a person
• Provide him with feedback

Evaluation of performance or strengths and weaknesses is not the topic of this article. I’ll concentrate on using 360 degree review for providing people with feedback about themselves. Results of such review are a good base for self-development. In addition correctly organized 360 degree review can make corporate culture more open.

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Talent management is a new buzzword (actually, not even really new). This term is used to describe very wide range of activities – from gathering people with appropriate skills as a project team to designing complex corporate retaining programs. Nowadays terms talent management, human resources management and human capital management are used interchangeably.

Let’s take a look at talent management from perspectives of an employee and an employer. It seems that their goals of talent management are different.

What does a person expect from talent management? S/he needs to improve her/his skills, increase salary, get higher position, increase self-esteem and job satisfaction, etc. What does a company expect from talent management? It needs to be able to fulfill its operations in the most effective way – right people in the right place for the minimal amount of resources (resources include wide range of things – money, time, reputation, attention, etc). So, it seems logical to hire minimally qualified people who can perform a job and pay them as little as possible. Yes, requirements of a person are completely different from company’s needs.

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