How to evaluate the management of a company?

Evaluating how a company is managed is a practice that, although uncommon, can bring many benefits. See our tips for how to measure managerial performance.  

The 360° approach: a managerial peer assessment tool

One of the most popular managerial assessment tools is the 360° evaluation method. Born in the United States in the 1990s, this approach consists of obtaining collective feedback on management quality. The assessors are subordinates, hierarchical superiors and peers, but also customers, suppliers, service providers, business partners, etc. The objective of this approach is to gain an overall vision, as exhaustive and objective as possible, using assessors with different profiles and backgrounds. The assessment criteria are freely determined by the company, and depend, among other things, on the sector of activity, the company culture or the type of position. Here are some examples:

• Managerial skills: conflict, crisis or change management; sense of leadership and management style; ability to unite, animate, motivate, value and empower teams; capacity to develop employees' skills and ensure employees' well-being; faculty to appropriate and convey company values; capacity to encourage collective intelligence, innovation, creativity and initiative-taking, etc.
• The ability to manage projects: capacity to delegate tasks, organise and achieve objectives within the given deadlines and with the planned resource; ability to transmit strategic orientations, set SMART objectives, anticipate changes, risks and crises and make quick and effective decisions; facility to boost employee operational performance, etc.
• Soft skills: relational ease, pedagogical skills, communication skills, assertiveness, listening skills, benevolence, dynamism, boldness, initiative, etc.

It should be noted, however, that such an approach can be delicate: it must be rigorously prepared to be relevant and effective. The managerial evaluation must be carried out using anonymous questionnaires, containing around 50 very targeted questions. It is also essential to transparently communicate the stakes of the process to the stakeholders and individuals being evaluated. Respect for confidentiality is also crucial. In addition, it is a good idea to provide managers with a self-assessment grid to compare their points of view with those of stakeholders. This exercise can be repeated on a regular basis and conducted with different managers. You must take the time to carefully analyse the results and to draw lessons from them, with the aim of drafting an appropriate action plan.  

The appraisal interview between the manager and the line manager 

Evaluating a company’s management also involves a more individual approach, such as an exchange between the manager and the line manager. This appraisal interview, which takes place annually or semi-annually, is a privileged opportunity to measure managerial quality. The line manager must draw up a detailed evaluation grid beforehand. They may also give the floor to employees to gather their feedback on management quality, the social climate, well-being at work, etc. For the interview to be effective, clear objectives and managerial performance indicators must be defined beforehand.  

Call on a management expert

To accurately audit your company’s management, calling on the services of an interim manager could be beneficial. Indeed, it can often be difficult internally to gain sufficient distance to objectively evaluate management. The interim manager is a seasoned expert benefiting from years of experience in a wide variety of environments over the course of their career. Their know-how, distance and neutral and well-informed viewpoint enables them to detect weaknesses, strengths and areas for improvement, and to highlight the levers to be activated to improve managerial quality. At WAYDEN, we provide companies with highly qualified interim managers with sector expertise and 15 to 25 years of experience in leading positions.  

Why should you evaluate your company's management?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, few companies take the time to evaluate their management. However, this initiative can reveal the causes of a potential drop in operational performance or a lack of commitment and motivation among employees. It is also an excellent way to anticipate risks and activate the right collective performance levers. In the long run, this approach can help boost performance, improve job satisfaction, accelerate processes and strengthen a company's competitiveness.