360 Feedback Blog

Ruby is one of my favourite comediennes and she’s now doing management training! Here an article in the Times recently on her philosophy of how to help people behave better in the workplace.

I like the simplicity but I do think there’s more to it than that….here’s my response..

I found this great summary of questions people often ask about 360 Degree Feedback, and some of the criticisms that can be levelled against the process.

Here’s our response (we’ve repeated the comments/questions at the beginning of each paragraph):

It’s right that 360 focuses on managers and above; this is because 360 is most effective when measuring management, communication and leadership skills, and it’s at manager level that those skills become important.

There are indeed some key things that need to be in place for 360 Degree Feedback to be effective and valuable.

1) giving appraisals is a difficult task.
Yes appraisal can be difficult, but managers need to be trained in giving appraisals.  360 Degree Feedback is an additional tool to help with appraisal, because it gets feedback from multiple perspectives; it is one form of appraisal, not the only one.

2)there may be a gap between an organization’s business objectives and what 360-degree feedback programs measure.
I so agree with you - it is critical that the 360 Degree Feedback measures the behaviours that are needed for the organisation’s business objectives.  This is normally the first thing we do when designing 360 Degree Feedback.

3)time and cost associated with 360-degree feedback also are stumbling blocks
Yes, there is time and cost involved in doing any people development work.  However good communication and positioning of the 360, and careful planning, can reduce the impact of the activity. And a tool that helps employees, their managers and the organisation to understand skills gaps and strengths, is critical to the organisation’s success.

4) Reviewers and those being reviewed fail to follow up after feedback.
Follow up is essential - as with any people development tool, using it and then forgetting about it is a waste of time and money, and creates negative attitudes in the organisation.  The 360 should be integral within the people processes of the organisation, should be meaningful, and should be aligned with other activities like appraisal, training needs analysis and management and leadership development.

For a free guide on 360 Degree Feedback Best Practice, go to our website Track Surveys and download the document.

‘What organisations increasingly need is a cost-effective way of developing the leadership skills of large numbers of managers in a way which moulds them into the type of manager best suited to the organisations’ needs – and preferably, without taking them away from their day jobs – ideally through, an approach that allows them to dip in and out when time and opportunity permits’.  View this article on localgov.co.uk

I would add that effective learning should be all about learning through the medium of the individual’s day-job. By focusing on 360 Degree Feedback and coaching, as in this great example, individuals can reflect on how they do their job, what they need to change to improve, and then do it, in the context of their workplace and their colleagues.  The regular 360 Degree Feedback and coaching is so important because it’s easy for busy managers to forget about what they are learning, and their learning targets - 360 feedback and regular coaching keeps them focused. 

On the point of ensuring that the organisation gets the skills improvement it needs (as well as individuals improving personally), it’s critical that the 360 Degree Feedback is aligned to the organisation’s learning objectives, which in turn must reflect the skills and behaviours it requires in its people in order to meet its business objectives. 

In this article from Management Today the writer describes a common situation: someone who refuses to accept the feedback they have recieved from their colleagues.

I would say that this happens in every organisation that has people in it, i.e. every organisation!  It’s less about conflict and more that there is always a small percentage who do not accept feedback, either because of their own insecurity, their lack of trust in the feedback methodology, or lack of trust in their organisation.

1. People need to thoroughly understand how the 360 Degree Feedback is gathered and how the resulting scores are calculated. This is especially important for analytically-minded people who will tend to believe it more if they can understand the numbers!  Guaranteeing confidentiality is also important.

2. Each individual getting 360 degree feedback also needs to make a choice as to what in the feedback is important and relevant to them, and why, so help from their coach or mentor is important.

3.  Acceptance comes only after shock, denial, then questioning and understanding, very much like the response cycle to bad news or events.  You need to give people time to get through this cycle.  (Click here to download our guide on Helping People to Deal with Difficult Feedback).

4. Finally there is the ultimate choice: if the person totally refuses to listen to feedback and agree to change (’that’s just the way I am’), as an organisation, are you willing to continue to support and promote that person, and put them in charge of other people, despite their abrasive behaviour? That’s where organisations usually have the greatest difficulty, particularly if someone is a good revenue earner…

To many employees, managers and business owners, performance and 360 appraisals are a bureaucratic and time-consuming chore.  As people professionals we often find ourselves having to argue the case for Appraisal and its benefits.   An appraisal process of some kind is essential where you have people whose performance is going to be assessed for any reason – even in the smallest company, a consistent, clear appraisal is necessary.  This is because:

1. People need a clear understanding of their role, what they are expected to do as their key tasks (i.e. their goals), and the scope of their responsibilities

2. People then need to understand clearly how their performance is going to be assessed - how their training, pay and promotion is going to be affected by their performance

3. A consistent, transparent appraisal process ensures that as far as possible, people are being assessed on a consistent basis, on the things that they have agreed to be assessed on, and have a fair chance to put their case forward in a two-way discussion with their employing organisation.

There is in addition a strong business case for getting a good, customised appraisal in place.  

1. Although time needs to be spent in running the appraisal process, this will be less than the chaos of not having any guidance in place, where managers judge their people entirely on their personal preferences and assumptions.  A fair appraisal system makes people feel that they are being treated fairly and consistently – a key indicator of employee engagement, which is critical to good employee performance

2. Having a good appraisal system in place ensures the business has an audit of the ongoing interactions with employees around performance problems, and can be an important factor in the employer’s favour if any cases are ever brought against the employer for unfair dismissal etc.

3. Appraisal need not be a long painful process: keeping your appraisal process simple, straightforward and directly linked to the company’s business objectives will ensure that people use it and that managers rate it.

 For more information on the key steps in creating a customised Appraisal for your organisation, contact us at info@tracksurveys.co.uk or on 020 7206 7279.    

Posted on Training Zone today 28 September 2009.

In this interview with the CEO of a high tech corporation in the states, she makes a number of interesting observations about her development as a leader.  In summary, the key messages are:

- She has learned not to try to do everything herself
- She listened to feedback and learned to modify the way she dealt with certain issues
- She realised from her 360 reviews that sometimes you don’t realise the messages you’re giving to people in the organisation and that those messages might not be what you intended.
-Sometimes strengths can be overdone and become weaknesses, so she has learned to be aware of that and act accordingly.

Follow the discussion here and on UK Training Zone.

In this blog on Training Zone I discuss some recent research on how well employers support new managers, and what they could do to improve in this area.
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/blogs/joayoubi/360-degree-feedback-and-talent-management/how-effective-are-employers-supporting-new-

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.

People Management 14 August 09

I don’t know about you out there, but I would love to understand exactly what these guys are going to learn, watching theatre people do things that really don’t relate to the banking environment whatsoever. Ok so the general concept of risk is the same, but surely the context
is completely different?

Without a strong awareness of their own behaviours and responses, and their effect on the people around them, in the context of the work they actually do, I really can’t see how this programme is going to achieve any real results or changed  behaviours for the participants.  I also wonder how the results are going to be measured?

It is ‘hoped’ that they will learn to ‘pick up’ on ways of giving feedback…..I should think this is the minimum requirement! Call me old-fashioned, but that doesn’t sound like a solid learning objective to me.

There’s a great quote from John Adair that comes to mind in the context of this article: ““You learn by doing and experience, and by developing an awareness and understanding. It’s simple but not easy”. Here’s the linking article.