Conversely, an evaluation or diagnostic strategy should not be left standing alone in a management development program. If a manager receives feedback regarding her supervisory performance in working with subordinates yet is provided with no resources to bring about change in this performance, then the manager quite justifiably cannot be expected to improve. Her resistance to this feedback is quite understandable, since nothing is being done to assist her in bringing about the desired improvement. Ideally, every piece of information that is generated from a performance assessment instrument or procedure should be coupled with an available training strategy; otherwise, diagnosis is likely to be more punitive than beneficial.
The problem of sequencing is particularly important when considering the first steps in a comprehensive HRD program. In some instances, these will already have been decided. A CEO or professional development advisory committee, for example, may decide that all of the employees in the organization should receive training in the use of a particular Management Information System. Alternatively, all supervisors are to be evaluated by their subordinates, or incentive payments are to be made to each employee who makes use of a new job documentation system. An appreciative leader will at this point usually not try to change such decisions, unless they violate ethical standards or principles of professional practice.
Rather, the appreciative leader should work from the problem definition and desired outcomes already formulated by the CEO or committee. Taking an appreciative approach, the leader may wish to expand the plan and possibly even refine its definition. At the same time, he will provide services that directly meet the initially defined problem and that respect the wishes and expectations of those who proposed this plan. This approach is appreciative in that it builds on energy and direction that already exists in the organization. This is likely to be much more productive than if the leader tries to move in a new direction (“starting from scratch”) or tries to move in an opposite direction (“swimming up stream”).
