A key component of Yomento is what we call the Habit Scan, where colleagues and direct reports give their input on how often their leaders engage in 60 high impact leadership behaviors at work (read more about the Habit Scan here, or watch a video on how it works here).
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After speaking to many managers that went through the Habit Scan process, we uncovered two interesting insights.

💡 First, while they were typically anxious and apprehensive about assessments (particularly 360s), they found the focus on concrete behaviors and frequency of action (in contrast to agree - disagree scales) both understandable and actionable.
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💡 Secondly, even though the Habit Scan outcomes were concrete - five specific behaviors the people they lead want them to do even more often - there was still a need for the leader to dig deeper and make sense of what the results really meant.
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In the Habit Scan, there is an option for each employee to list three specific behaviors they want their leader to do in relation to them, individually. This is where it got really interesting.

We learned that several managers, without any nudging from our side, reached out to their team members for 1:1s about their Habit Scan results.

These leaders started by sharing the overall feedback from the team before transitioning to the three behaviors the person had individually requested from them. During this conversation, they had a chance to let their direct reports clarify why these behaviors were most important, in what situations they were particularly powerful and get specific on how this behavior can show up.

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One manager we spoke to was very intentional about creating a feedback culture in her team. She went to great lengths to give feedback often, and also consistently asked for feedback from the people she led. When the Habit Scan results came back, four people in her team requested more feedback from her. She couldn’t believe it. She was all about feedback, all the time! And she believed she was pretty good at it, too!

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During the 1:1s, the messaging started to make sense. Simply put, her team members loved that she always provided feedback, and they wanted even more. After every customer meeting, every internal presentation, every team meeting. Whenever she noticed somebody doing something great, or something that could have been done even better, they wanted to hear about it. That is how they got better.

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It was not about good or bad, agree and disagree. It was about even more often.

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We are stealing this practice from the great leaders we talked to and are turning it into a feature called “Check-back dialogues”. We believe this nudge will help leaders make sense of what their people really need. How often do they need their leader to do specific things, and in what contexts? Why are specific behaviors important to them as individuals? What should the leaders avoid doing when engaging in the behaviors they are requesting?

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We are very excited about supporting leaders to engage in these sense-making growth conversations.

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More to come!

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