360 Feedback Blog

We’ve just set up Ask Track - a great online site that allows you to ask and share questions about 360 Degree Feedback, Appraisal and Performance management. Our expert team will email you the answer to your question, and publish the question and answer online (without publishing your name or organisation details).  You’ll also be able to view questions that other people have asked, together with our answers.

You can even give us your answers if you think they’re better than ours!  Just go to: Ask Track and type in your question.

In this article the reader wonders how he can coax his manager to give him feedback.

Ah the reluctant feedback giver - we all know a few of these!

Our suggestion is: don’t ask for ‘feedback’! 

Some people have an aversion to what they think are management fads, or ‘management speak’, and ‘feedback’ may be one of these.  Other may even feel threatened by the whole idea as they may not be sure how to do it right.  It can be just as frightening to be asked for feedback as to get it!”

So what about just saying:

‘How am I doing’? ‘Is there anything I can do better, or differently?’ What would you like me to do more of?’ .  Even better, refer the question to the work you’re doing at the moment, so the feedback can be really specific: ‘What can I do better on the XYZ project?’

Another good approach is Start, Stop, Continue…..’What would you like me Start doing, Stop doing, Continue doing?’ . This lets the manager off the hook if they are a bit reluctant or nervous, and allows them to focus on real actions, behaviours and examples from work, projects, clients etc ….making the whole experience a better one for the individual and their manager.

Go to www.tracksurveys.co.uk and download more tips for How to Give Great Feedback, and What not to when Giving Great Feedback.

In this interview, the former CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Medtronic, gives his views on leadership and the mistakes that leaders make.

These include:

• Not listening to what other people are telling you: “I think the idea of 360 degree feedback, where you get feedback from your subordinates and your peers, is the most valuable thing you can do”.
• Thinking and reflecting on the feedback you get: “You need to ask, “What did I do well? What didn’t I do? What turned me on? What didn’t I like?” These are important questions”.
• Spot ‘imposters’ - people who make a great impression but who weren’t pulling their weight behind the scenes, in which case go “back to the 360 degree feedback…I made it policy when I was at Medtronic never to promote anyone unless I had feedback on how that person acted as a leader and how they treated other people”.