The Internet has changed the way businesses buy supplies, sell products and hire staff. Now it is changing the way they assess employees.

Two popular diagnostic techniques -- 360-degree evaluations and large-scale employee climate surveys -- can be administered online quickly, economically and with rich analytical detail.

While one-on-one interviews are still the medium of choice for evaluations of senior executives and high-potential candidates, online 360s -- which solicit feedback from supervisors, peers and subordinates via a secure Web site -- are growing in popularity. Smaller companies with limited resources like them for their cost-efficiency, and larger organizations with far-flung staffs find them useful for the speed with which they can gather information from around the world.

In addition, all companies appreciate the ability to analyze results in greater detail. For example, individual evaluations can be aggregated to create a "composite 360" for an entire management team. "So if you're looking at succession planning, and the team as a whole is short on vision, you can supplement it by making sure the next member has more in terms of strategic thinking," says Terry Overholser, a member of the WJM Associates coaching faculty.

Employee climate surveys also benefit from the Internet's abilities to compress time, increase economies of scale and aggregate responses.

"We not only ask employees to rate the effectiveness of culture, structure and leadership, but we also ask them to rate the importance of various competencies within those domains," says Overholser, who has been conducting online assessments for four years. "That way, organizations can identify the 'dissatisfiers' as well as the 'satisfiers,' because you really want to invest in factors that are going to create enthusiasm.

"It's like a full-body scan. You can see where there are problems and where things are working well."

But that is just the beginning. The power of online instruments is the ability to objectively measure improvement over time -- whether, in the case of 360-degree evaluations, leadership behaviors or business acumen are improving, or, in the case of climate surveys, key processes and overall organizational leadership are improving.

Without such technology, estimates of improvement in behavior remain non-quantifiable, which severely weakens accountability for, and therefore the probability of, successfully implementing important change initiatives.

With so many businesses "working leaner" today, it is more important than ever for employees to work collaboratively -- to share knowledge, learn from one another and, ultimately, serve their internal and external customers better.

But waves of downsizings and hiring freezes have meant that today's workers have more to do -- and less time to spend collaborating with one another. To foster greater cooperation, businesses have invested in one- or two-day "team building" workshops.

"Single efforts can have some impact, but they don't tend to have the lasting effect that we look for," says Marcia Meislin, a member of the WJM Associates coaching faculty. "Many times off-site meetings are dramatic enough to shake people up out of their complacency and they do make some behavior change. But the big issue is how do you sustain that over time?"

For some companies, the answer is to conduct a team-building process over a period of time, usually six months to a year, and to provide both the leader and the team with multiple opportunities to reinforce the desired behaviors.

A sample program to develop team effectiveness might look like this:

• Step 1: The consultant and team leader meet to identify objectives and create a customized "Team Scorecard" based on business objectives, company culture, and specific team issues. This tool is used before and after the team-building process to measure progress.
• Step 2: The consultant meets individually with all participants to gather data and have them complete their Team Scorecard.
• Step 3: The team meets off-site in a dynamic, interactive team-building event that directly addresses its specific needs. Each participant leaves with a commitment to do something differently.
• Step 4: The team leader meets with the consultant to review his or her own development as a leader and to review the group's commitments and progress.
• Step 5: Team members meet individually with the consultant to review what they have learned, assess progress, and receive additional coaching for making the change they committed to the group.
• Step 6: The team leader and members retake their Team Scorecards and send the results to the consultant for compiling. The team reconvenes for a second team-building initiative and to review results on the follow-up Team Scorecard.
• Step 7: The consultant facilitates a group lunch with the team members without the team leader present for an open and honest discussion of how things are going. After that, the team leader meets with the consultant to discuss feedback and finalize a Development Action Plan to enhance team and leader effectiveness.

By the end of the process, team members will have had at least six meetings with the consultant and the leader will have at least eight meetings -- providing many more opportunities to reinforce desired behaviors than a single off-site meeting could have yielded.

Does anyone like giving feedback?

No one enjoys telling other people they are not meeting expectations, yet that is something managers must learn to do if they want to advance and become corporate leaders. There is a right way and a wrong way to give feedback. The key is to give constant feedback -- both affirmative and corrective -- and to give it close to the time of the event.

Among executives I have coached, most lament that not only is the feedback they receive negative, lacking in objectivity and absent of any specifics, it also is rarely given on a timely basis. One executive I know said he once got feedback about something he had done two years after the fact!

When people receive surprises of this nature, it destroys trust. They feel they have been blindsided, especially if they receive feedback for the first time during an annual performance review.

There is no rule that says you have to give feedback a specific number of times, but it should be more than just once or twice a year. It's a good idea, too, to get in the habit of giving people affirmative feedback. Someone I know once worked for a boss who always returned memos with a handwritten "Nice work" or "Good job" at the top. That individual says he never felt more appreciated, even though his supervisor didn't often speak to him about his performance.

Here are five questions to help you determine if you are giving your people enough feedback:

1. Have I withheld any important information from the person, which is causing me to interact with him or her in a negative fashion?
2. Does each person appear to be comfortable and at ease with me, or is there an apparent strain in the relationship? Does it feel as though the person is withholding something from me?
3. Do I periodically take time to sit down with each person and talk only about his or her performance and development? Or are all of our conversations directly related to the task at hand?
4. When I give performance reviews, are people surprised by what they see on the form? Are they hearing it for the first time?
5. Do I have a track record of developing and promoting people? Are my people moving on to bigger and better things?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you are probably not giving or receiving enough feedback. To get that feedback, simply ask the members of your staff. They will be happy to tell you.

One of the skills that successful leaders develop early in their careers is the ability to win at corporate politics.

Corporate politics seem to come naturally to men. Women, on the other hand, instinctively shun this contest for power, but need to realize that it exists and learn to use it to their advantage.

Corporate America is a lumbering giant that moves slowly and operates with flawed management systems. Power is the way things get done in corporations. It's how individuals further their agendas, develop their products, implement their plans, and, ultimately, advance their careers.

Power comes from establishing relationships with people in key positions around the organization -- peers, subordinates, superiors, board members, and even outsiders with clout - who can help individuals advance their agendas and ensure their upward progress.

How can women in management become more adept at this aspect of their careers?

• Map the Power. Most corporations have formal organization charts, but none have "political" organization charts, which show how holders of power are interrelated. You have to create that particular chart yourself by "mapping the power." Identify the players in your organization and develop a plan to get to know them. And don't overlook "gatekeepers" like administrative assistants. Oftentimes, they can open doors to the powerbrokers.
• Do Unto Others. Within your corporate organization, you will win people's support by persuading them that your self-interest and theirs are strategically allied. Answering people's needs and wants is a good way to create a strong following. Best of all is when you can persuade others that you can help them advance both their personal and professional agendas. Give people credit. Compliment them publicly. Let others know how you value their work. And in return? It is understood that some day, they will do the same for you.
• Run Your Campaign. No matter what your job description, you are always running for your next office - and looking for votes. Your internal power base is a starting point, but you need to extend your campaign outside your corporation. Join an appropriate professional organization, become part of your community's business circle, volunteer to work on a charitable event (and offer to run it next year). You never know who is observing you demonstrate your professional capabilities and leadership - and who will offer you your next job.

Follow these steps, and you will become a better player at the game of corporate politics.