360 degrees of success: How assessment helps to develop managers at Pizza Day
Top management is the heart of any company. They are responsible for the strategic vision, make key decisions, and motivate their team to achieve better results. Their development has a direct impact on the success of the business. Therefore, assessing their performance and leadership skills is an integral part of the HR strategy.
My favorite of the methods is the familiar 360-degree assessment.
This method gives an objective view of strengths and weaknesses and stimulates the process of personal and professional development. LMS helps to simplify and automate this process.
Pizza Day has combined clear principles, LMS, and a little bit of its own magic. Kateryna Martirosova, HRD at Pizza Day, CEO & Co-founder of 2people, talked about the details and results.
Pizza Day is a pizzeria chain in Ukraine. The company has been operating in the market since 2017. Today, the chain has 198 locations in 19 cities of Ukraine. The company currently employs over 1000 people.
Pizza Day implemented e-learning in 2021. The main task at that time was to quickly and clearly inform the team about changes, innovations, share experiences and learn. This was solved with the help of the LMS Collaborator distance learning system and the use of learning paths. So far, the company has implemented more than one successful case of learning based on LMS Collaborator, one of which is a 360-degree assessment of top management.
Organizing and conducting a 360-degree assessment
Organizing any type of assessment begins with defining its goals. The 360 assessment is no exception. Setting goals contributes to the quality of the evaluation process and helps to achieve more objective and effective results. In addition:
– Avoid misunderstandings;
– Focus attention on important aspects;
– Improve the quality of results;
– Increase the efficiency of development.
Pizza Day’s learning department also adheres to these principles.
Kateryna Martirosova – HRD at Pizza Day, CEO & Co-founder of 2people
«The most important question for us is: “Why conduct an assessment?” We have now completed our third 360 assessment for the top executives. The main goal is to understand how our top management compares to the requirements of the company and business. When we first started the assessment, of course, we laid down competencies and values for managers, but the goal turned out to be much more global. The assessment helps us to understand what the top management lacks to implement those projects and activities that affect the achievement of our strategic goals. And this is very important».
The company evaluates top management every six months. The evaluation involves colleagues, the CEO, subordinates, and cross-functional employees.
The competencies to be assessed are in some way related to the company’s core values:
1. team approach;
2. ability to change;
3. attention to detail;
4. scale;
5. honesty and openness.
Managers are assessed on 10 competencies that are currently key. The training department is also actively working on such competencies as: “striving for development”, “conflict management”, “flexibility (ability to change)” and “team approach”. In addition to these, there is an additional group of competencies developed for subordinates – “human resources management”. It helps to assess how a manager trains his or her employees, whether he or she is able to lead and motivate a team.
Assessment of top management using the 360-degree method
Pizza Day is developing very dynamically, which leads to the emergence of new managers. Each of them goes through a probationary period, which also includes a 360 assessment. The 360 assessment helps to evaluate the skills and competencies of a new employee and determine whether their behavior and values are in line with Pizza Day’s values. Therefore, everyone in the company understands the importance of the assessment and does not treat it as a formality.
Using the commenting function allows you to get qualitative feedback that complements quantitative assessments.
This allows you to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of a new employee, as well as their potential. The commenting function is not mandatory, but anyone who wants to can use it. This helps to maintain an atmosphere of trust and openness in the company.
In addition to regular assessments of top managers and evaluations of newcomers, the training department also conducts 360 assessments for the talent pool. Through peer feedback, employees receive valuable feedback on their leadership skills, strengths, and weaknesses.
«Recently, we conducted a 360 assessment of a colleague who is applying for a career promotion. The employees who participated in the assessment were very responsible and left a lot of comments. They described what needs to be changed and strengthened. It was a very useful and cool feedback for a colleague».
Maintaining confidentiality
Maintaining confidentiality is an extremely important aspect of the 360 assessment at Pizza Day. Anonymity allows participants to feel free to share their feedback, which reduces the risk of bias and subjectivity. In addition, anonymity builds trust in the process and employee openness.
«Perhaps the biggest challenge is employees’ disbelief that the assessment is anonymous. It is important to communicate with employees about reputation. If you make a mistake once in maintaining confidentiality, it will spoil the impression and attitude towards the survey. If this does happen, it is important to convey to employees that all mistakes have already been resolved and this will not happen again. This is very important. You need to talk to employees and prove through experience that it is anonymous and no one will punish them for their opinions. After all, the assessment is conducted to help a person strengthen their strengths and correct their weaknesses.
We have already conducted the third major assessment cycle, and I can say with confidence that such actions help. Now no one has a question that this is not confidential. You have to work with this and say that you are responsible for it and the main goal is to help you become better».
Working with results
Analyzing the results is a necessary process that makes the 360 assessment a valuable tool for employee development and improvement.
Based on the data obtained from the assessment, Pizza Day’s training department creates an individual development plan for each top manager. It includes external and internal training, in-person and online events, as well as the company’s corporate library.
Also, after conducting a 360 assessment and collecting feedback, the training department provides the CEO of Pizza Day with individual feedback. It focuses on how the CEO can influence the improvement of the manager’s performance: increasing motivation, delegating new projects or tasks, etc.
«While conducting any assessment (not just 360), you need to remember that assessment for the sake of assessment is even worse than no assessment. If HR is not going to do anything with the results, then you shouldn’t even start the survey. The employee is immersed in this process. He spends his time to share his experience with his colleague, to provide detailed and objective feedback. And then when nothing happens, it’s like “my time was stolen.” As a result, it demotivates the team to participate in such surveys. In the future, it will turn into an evaluation for the sake of evaluation, which will have no value».
Recipe for effective assessment from Pizza Day
Pizza Day’s learning department adheres to the following principles in organizing 360 assessments:
- Setting a clear goal. The main goal of the assessment in a company is to understand how well the top management complies with the requirements of the company and business.
- Alignment of competencies with corporate values. The competencies for which managers are assessed resonate with the company’s core values.
- Ensuring confidentiality. Maintaining anonymity gives Pizza Day employees freedom of expression. This increases trust in the assessment process, promotes openness and honesty.
- Involvement of participants in feedback. Using the commenting function, the training department receives qualitative feedback from participants, which complements the quantitative assessments.
- Mandatory work with the results. Based on the results, the Pizza Day training department creates an individual development plan for each top manager.
- Involvement of the CEO. The CEO receives individual feedback on the evaluated top manager. This allows him, as a director of the company, to influence the improvement of the results and development of the manager.
These principles have helped Pizza Day turn the 360 assessment into a valuable tool for improving the performance of managers, their motivation and engagement. And the use of LMS tools allowed us to automate the assessment process, data collection, and analysis. Thus, reducing routine tasks and focusing on strategic goals.
