SurveyReport review

This is my third post in "Jane's 10 tools challenge" . This month : surveyreport.com.

What is it?

SurveyReport.com has evolved a lot since I first tested it out some six month ago. According to their current tagline, this site lets you ask your linkedin or facebook network how they really think about you. I don't know if you are familiar with 360 feedback tools or psychometric assessments. (Just so you know: I work for the company that pioneered them as leadership development tools.) Here's a definition:

360-degree feedback is a method of systematically collecting opinions about an individual's performance from a wide range of coworkers. This could include peers, direct reports, the boss, the boss's peers — along with people outside the organization, such as customers. The benefit of collecting data of this kind is that the person gets to see a panorama of perceptions rather than just self-perception, which affords a more complete picture.

Well, you can see this site as an attempt to bring that popular development tool into the network age. It does a 360 approach within your social network. They also added 3 other tests such as a face recognition test, a job compatibility test and an IQ test. Those are nice, but it is the 360 feature within LinkedIn that really makes this an interesting learning tool.

Here's how it works: you sign in via either your LinkedIn or Facebook ID, and you invite some or all of your contacts to take the survey. I found that a lot of people I selected actually were so kind to give me feedback. The site says on average people receive 7 responses, whereas I got 36. A few days later you get an online report which will be useless in the free version. Here's how they make their money (and they are very clever about it): it is supposedly free, but with the free version you only get a report on 5 responses. For any more you need to upgrade to the professional plan that costs you 95$. I was intrigued, so I did. What you get is an online report you can also export to PDF. It has the following sections:

• What can you most improve upon?
• Your dominant work personality type (based on Holland Occupational Themes)
• Personality matches (based on the same)
• Your net promoter score (NPS) : how likely are people to recommend you
• Your most well known traits - the strenghts people see in you
• How your network feels about your company's prospects - now this is something missing in conventional 360 instruments :-)
• How your network feels about your career prospects

The report is of a good lenght, with clear and to the point explanations on how to interpret the data. Of course, as with all of these instruments it is up to you to actually do something with this info. (And that is where this site might offer some extra help or tools.)

Where's the learning?

I stumbled upon this site through Simon, who said: "The real idea is that you subscribe and use it for continual monitoring by your peers and network of how you are doing. I'm trying this out. As you know we do not really have any review process at , so this is the next best thing for me. In fact, it is probably much more effective as it is a regular 'temperature check' of how I'm doing with all my network. " And that's where the learning is: we learn through often, candid and timely feedback. That's what makes this a learning tool in my eyes.

The second reason why it is a learning tool is because it lets you know yourself.
From all the things to know, knowing yourself is likely the single most important one. It's about you so by definition that makes it interesting, right? But that's hardly the point. The point is that other people are not in all aspects like you and what makes you tick might do just the opposite for others (or even be a blind spot), and vice versa. The simple solution to that is to only surround yourself really and virtually with like-minded folks. Alas, in this hyperconnected world you don't achieve anything just by yourself anymore - so knowing how you see or intend things and how others perceive them is very important. Double alas, because it turns out what the world needs now to solve its complex challenges is diverse and self-driven teams who innovate and work together.
The point is that by knowing yourself better, you can work with others (who are by definition not you) better too. In the jargon it means you can 'flex' your behaviour outside of your own traits and comfort zones, and into your blind spots and effective relationships with others.
That's why in the field of leadership development, self-awareness is considered one of the 'fundamental four'.
But in any other field it is similar. In an ever changing world it is also important to realise how you embrace or shy away from changes, and also how you learn best.

In conclusion

This site is probably how 360 surveys would look like if they had been invented in the network age. On the plus sides: it is integrated with your social networks, for a reasonable fee you can repeat it regularly over a year (95$ is still quite some money, but compared to the 360 prices charged in the market it is more than fair), it is all online, and it is an instrument people can use to own and self-direct their development independently of current employer. I'd like the site to have a bit more tips or tools on what to do with the data so people can really use it as a development tool. We can also argue on the selected models that go into their 360, but it is a good start. I give it a 7.