While I am writing this article it is January, and usually between this period managers start preparing for Performance reviews.
For this reason I would like to write down some notes on the “Peer Feedback Survey” that I read in the amazing book on Bill Campbell, the famous Google Business Coach.
The book is called “Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Handbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell”. Here Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle tell in a fluid and interesting way his coaching style.
I will start by covering the importance of working together on projects and then provide the key questions for the performance evaluation.
If you want to jump directly to the key questions you can go to the “The Peer Feedback Survey” paragraph.
Pair People
I never understood the pedagogical value of pairing people, or I never thought consciously about it.
For sure it was not something new reading the book, but the way I started looking at it changed after it.
In Italy for example the importance of pairing is something I experienced during my secondary school (from 11 to 13 years old).
Student desks were designed for seating two people and it could sometimes happen that teachers purposely paired one student with another, either because one was more disciplined or was stronger in a particular academic area and so might have a positive influence on their partner.
The goal was to lead by example and improve the behaviour of the less disciplined one.
I don’t know if it worked, I am not a pedagogist, but for sure it created a bond between the two students.
And it is on the bond that we should focus.
Bill never left to chance pairing people, for him was an opportunity to develop trust.
The bond, in Google, was achieved by assigning them a project, task or decision.
Similarly to my school, trust didn’t come from the specific project, instead it came from the process of working together, of sharing time together in a meaningful way.
There is an additional step, a critical one, that we need to consider: monitoring the process.
The way to do that is through a Peer Feedback Survey which covers 5 critical areas:
- Job Performance
- Relationship with peer groups
- Management and Leadership
- Innovation
- People’s behaviour in meetings
The Peer Feedback Survey
Core Attributes
For the past 12 months, to what extent do you agree/disagree that each person:
- Displayed extraordinary in-role performance
- Exemplified world-class leadership
- Achieved outcomes that were in the best interest of the organisation
- Expanded the boundaries of what is possible for Google through innovation and/or application of best practices
- Collaborated effectively with peers (for example worked well together, resolved barriers/issues with others) and championed the same in his/her team
- Contributed effectively during senior team meetings (for example, was prepared, participated actively, listened well, was open and respectful to others, disagree constructively)
Product Leader Attributes
For the past 12 months, to what extent do you agree/disagree that each person demonstrated exemplary leadership in the following areas:
- Product Vision
- Product Quality
- Product Execution
Open-Text Questions
- What differentiates each SVP and makes him/her effective today?
- What advice would you give each SVP to be more effective and/or have greater impact?
SVP stands for Senior Vice President is a professional who oversees internal operations, helps build strong customer relationships and maximises the company’s operating performance.
To wrap-up
I found the previous questions similar to a framework used in my past company, a valuable compass to start an open discussion and be aware of our colleagues’ perception about us.
I would suggest not only to focus on what you can say to your colleagues, but more importantly on what you can learn about your behaviour through this exercise of active listening.
