360 Feedback Blog

In this article from US Website Above the Law, the writer makes the case for using 360 Degree Feedback in legal firms.

He lists the common concerns in law firms and the reasons why they might be reluctant to use 360 Degree Feedback, such as concerns about anonymity, and how a partner might react negatively to less than glowing feedback.

We have designed and delivered 360 Degree Feedback in a number of leading law firms here in the UK, and our clients can testify to the benefits of 360 Degree Feedback - even for partners!

The keys to success in using 360 in legal firms are:

• Buy-in from the partners: this means gaining real commitment to the 360 by demonstrating that it is a useful tool for them, not just another HR tick-box exercise
• Incoporate their 360 feedback into their development plans, which in turn feed into the partner’s performance appraisal.  This makes a clear connection with something that is critical for them
• Managing Partner sponsorship: we have found that unless the MP is i) willing to provide some feedback to the partners and ii) visibly interested in the outcomes, partners will tend to be lukewarm about the whole thing
• Providing partners or associates with some specific coaching that relates to their 360 Degree Feedback.  Initially the coaching discussion covers the feedback and the interpretation of the key messages that it’s delivering.
  A further coaching discussion two or three weeks down the line helps the partner or associate to be able to have assimilated the messages and then incorporated these into their action and/or development plan.

In our experience, careful design and planning can make 360 Degree Feedbackjust as valuable in a legal environment as in a corporate one.

For more information, visit Empower Legal 360.

I agree completely with this article- no-one can be great at everything, and a great leader brings out the best in other people. A really great people leader also asks for
feedback and listens to that feedback when it’s given.  This is a link to an article about the CEO of HCL Technologies, who publishes his 360 Degree Feedback
on the company intranet for everyone to see.

In this article from Personnel Today, a recent survey shows that confidence in senior management has hit an all time low, as well as job satisfaction and, by default, engagement.

Senior managers need now, more than ever, to be able to engage with their teams and their organisations in a meaningful and effective way.

How effectively are your senior managers engaging with people?  As individuals and as teams, how good are they at keeping people informed, engaged and motivated? Or is it possible they are demotivating people through being unaware of some of their daily behaviours in the workplace?

A customised 360 Degree Feedback will provide you with the information you need to understand what’s happening with your senior teams, and how you can help them improve specific skills and behaviours.

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

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!

Continuing on the theme of what makes a Boss great or really bad, this is a post by Robert Sutton at HBR, talking about how self-delusion, heedlessness to subordinates and being insulated from reality can make a Boss really terrible.  He calls it ‘Living in a Fool’s Paradise’. 

I remember working for someone many years ago who would aske us for our opinions and then either dismissed those opinions instantly (’no, we’re not going to do that’), or nodded and then did nothing. 

He ignored feedback on key areas such as customer responses, the changing market and how employees were feeling.   I used to dread talking to him and eventually I dreaded going into work. 

Consequently good employees didn’t hang around long and the business closed down, having lagged behind its competitors both commercially and operationally. 

My best boss, on the other hand, made me feel that my contributions were valuable, listened to me, allowed me to make some mistakes, and most importantly, backed me up when I did make a mistake.  I always knew I was supported.  She wasn’t perfect, but she made a huge difference to my professional confidence.

If you’ve got examples of great and terrible bosses, we’d love to hear about them.

360 Degree Feedback

In this short video clip from BBC Radio 4’s The Bottom Line, Helen Alexander, President of the CBI, explains that getting great people working in your organisation is critical to your success as a leader or senior partner.

To make sure that you do have those great people, and that they are continually improving and growing, it’s important to regularly assess and measure their skills through 360 Degree Feedback - especially in those skills that are important at senior levels: Leadership, Strategy, Communication and People Development.