360 Feedback Blog

The level of misuse, and misunderstanding around the use, of 360 Degree Feedback never fails to amaze me.  This article about the GoldmanSachs Appraisal process, describes how Goldmans has been using 360 Degree Feedback. Pretty much everything they did was totally wrong and worst possible practice…including:

•  Using 360 to rank people’s performance in appraisals
• Allowing raters to be chosen on a random basis, so people were chosen who would give only positive feedback
• Glowing self-assessments were taken into account as part of the appraisal (this is implied in the article)

And please ignore the advice of the article writer, which is…..if you want to ‘do well’ in a 360 appraisal, “cultivate lots of people who think you’re great”, and write a great self-appraisal!

To recap, 360 Degree Feedback can only be valid and useful where there is a balance of feedback givers, where the process is clear and fair, and where there is no direct (or sole) connection to pay or reward.   
 

We are often asked to brief people in our client organisations about the best way to give feedback in a 360 Degree Feedback exercise.

Here’s a link to a short video that explains the key areas and some hints and tips for giving great 360 feedback.

In this article, the writer discusses the new relationship between employees and the organisations they work for, and how this is affecting employee engagement.

Transparency is really important, and not just in particular areas like senior pay and bonuses. Senior management needs to be honest about what’s going on and what they’re doing about it - employees are not stupid and they know when they’re being PR’d!

A great example is Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, who spent a year talking to staff around the world about the company’s problems, asked them what needed to change, and went on to publish his own 360 Degree Feedback on the company intranet!

Track critical engagement factors in your organisation with Climate Check from Track Surveys.

Track Surveys Empower 360

Great article on 360 Degree Feedback.

People need to feel confident that their feedback will be anonymous, and that their feedback will be listened to by their boss.  In fact, in my experience, someone who shows that they have listened to feedback and are doing something about it are rewarded with huge admiration and loyalty from their staff.

For more 360 Degree Feedback resources, go to http://www.tracksurveys.co.uk/360DegreeFeedback.aspx

This article describes a Face to Face 360 Degree Feedback process that she experienced with her best ever boss.

Face to face feedback like this can be a very effective tool for managers and teams
to use both at appraisal time and  regularly throughout the year.

Of course, the managers that need the feedback the most are the ones that are least likely to volunteer for it!

So while it’s good to give managers a choice, if you really want to give managers an
awareness of their blind-spots (and their strengths too), and you want to build a consistent level of skills in the manager group, the feedback needs to:

1. Be based on the same questions for each manager and each person giving the feedback
2. Have an element of anonymity so that the feedback from those reluctant to give face-to-face feedback, is also recorded.
3. Be reportable in a format that is easy to read and understand

 After all, even smart people need feedback!

In this article from BNET, the writer points to the importance of developing home-grown talent and skills to the health of the organisation.

It’s certainly true that that growing your talent is critical, but you need a starting point to understand the key strengths you already have, and any potential gaps, within your workforce.

Tools for doing this include customised 360 Degree Feedback and Staff Surveys.  360 measures individual strengths, particularly in leadership skills which are essential for growth, and Staff Surveys take the pulse of the organisation at any particular time.

More on how this works at 360 Degree Feedback.

This article by Scott Berkun talks about how to manage smart people.

Go to the UK Training Zone 360 Degree Feedback Discussion group for more on this.

360 Degree Feedback

Here’s a great slide presentation on Performance Appraisal. It includes how to use 360 Degree Feedback as part of the appraisal.

This is a great article that sets out how effective Executive Coaching can be in developing better leaders. 

The writer mentions 360 Degree Feedback as an important part of the Coaching toolkit.

As well as a tool for obtaining the views of the people around the coachee, 360 Degree Feedback is a very useful way of subsequently measuring that person’s progress through their coaching journey, as hopefully, their changing behaviours will be observed by others and reflected in future 360s.  This is a particularly important part of coaching for Executives, who need to be helped to regularly reflect and focus on their own development and behaviours - their tendency is usually to focus on what other people are doing!

In this article the author makes the point that 360 Degree Feedback is a good starting point for new managers, but that workplace learning is the best way for them to acquire their new skills.

I would also add that 360 Degree Feedback is a great tool for re-measuring how managers are progressing in those areas that are, by their nature, difficult to measure; managing people, delegating, influencing and leading - all those things that most people were never taught before they became a manager!