On Internet Business

Use a bit of monkey business to replace performance appraisals

Posted by Michael under Business Growth, Leadership

Recently Cameron Herold told me about an interpersonal review process he calls Monkeys Looking Sideways, which he’s described in detail on his blog.

He uses it in place of the standard 360 degree review process because he wanted to build teams that were able to enjoy and even embrace healthy conflict. He also wanted to increase trust and good communication between individuals.

Essentially it’s based on a story he heard at a seminar years before. It was about a group of monkeys sitting in a tree. The top monkey looked down and all he could see was smiling monkeys looking up. But every monkey further down the tree had a very different view!

So he used this account to create a verbal, real time, 360 degree feedback exercise from group to individual. To use it you need at least a half day, preferably a full day and a pad of sticky notes and a pen for each individual taking part.

You start with the review of the most senior person, the team or group leader, or CEO

Each person in the group writes down the top 5 things that the person being reviewed:

a) Should continue
b) Should improve on

That person says in their seat but everybody else stands up, one at a time, and reads out their sticky note. They start with the positives and then move on to the aspects that the person being reviewed should work on.

The person under review can only either say thank you or ask a clarifying question., they can’t debate, explain or excuse themselves.

Then all the notes are stuck to a flip chart and the individual being reviewed is given them to type them up and use them in their personal development meetings over the year.

The process is repeated for each person in the room and takes around 45 minutes per person.

Herold says it produces more valuable feedback than any other review process.

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