People working in organizations have multiple roles which they have to perform well to be effective. Most are leaders (formally or informally), most are a teammate or peer, and virtually everyone is a follower - even the CEO is a follower to the Board of Directors! Sometimes we have to play all the roles at the same time. For example, we could be in a meeting with our boss, our staff, and some of our peers, and have to FliP between roles adeptly. The fact is that these are three separate, distinct, yet interrelated roles. The failure to do one of them well – even if the other two areas are solid – can hurt careers and affect the bottom line of companies. The failure to have a language that includes all three impedes our progress as we miss valuable discussions and development opportunities while discounting or overlooking important skills.

It is crucial to understand the composition of the three roles – their shared characteristics, distinct characteristics, and their interrelationships. Furthermore the value and distinctiveness of one of the roles, followership, has often been discounted. So, not only are the interrelationships poorly understood, one of the roles has gone missing! To highlight the absurdity of this, imagine what would happen if we took a pair of dancers and only trained them to lead. No matter how proficient they became at leading, the partnership would not work.

Many organizations have begun to appreciate this gap with the prevalence of 360° assessment tools. These tools are used to elicit key perceptions about a person’s on-the-job skills and behaviours, using feedback from their staff, peers, and leaders. While these evaluation tools have gained popularity, big gaps remain in the corresponding action plans and performance evaluation systems.

FliPskills’ leading edge 360° Employee™ model integrates all three roles, and is the only such model we know about that truly enables 360° action plans. The model comprises five core skill categories, each consisting of a leader and a follower companion skill.