360 Feedback Blog

This article describes the effect of bad appraiser skills combined with poor 360 Degree Feedback design.

One of the key messages for using 360 correctly is that statements such as
“You’re not liked in this organisation”are not useful or practical kinds  of feedback! 

Also, although the article talks about 360 Feedback, it appears that the pain described is coming from the appraising manager’s lack of skills in giving feedback,
not the 360 feedback itself, which should be a reflection of key consistent messages
coming from all the raters, not the opinion of just one person.

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.

This article talks about the negative effect that feedback, including 360 Degree Feedback, can have on the recipient when insensitively given.

In addition, we always advise people who are going to give face to face or anonymous feedback to:

- Say out loud what you think you’re going to say to the person; you will know pretty quickly whether it’s going to come across as negative and critical
- Ask yourself how you would feel if someone gave you the feedback you are going to give the recipient - put your own name in the sentences….
- Keep practicising until you find the right words, then use these in the feedback
- Be careful that you are not putting a halo around everything the person does, just because you like them, or because you think they’re a bit like you
- On the other hand, don’t have a downer on them because of one thing they did a long time ago, or because they disagreed with you

In this article, the brilliant Marshall Goldsmith talks about an exercise he conducts in providing Feedforward, as well as feedback, to people who are looking to change their behaviours and improve their leadership skills.

For me the critical points are that:

1. This is an important supplement to feedback, including 360 Degree Feedback - we always recommend that colleagues provide Feedforward in some way….How Mary can manage team meetings more effectively, Things I would like to see Mary start doing,  or What I would like to see Mary continue doing…

2. There is a more positive response because the Feedforward can feel less judgemental than feedback

3. It’s critical that people receiving feedback are able to listen and take it on board - more on this in another blog - but Marshall Goldsmith is big on saying ‘Thanks for your feedback’ and then keeping quiet!