The article above presents a good challenge to using 360 Degree Feedback as a means of communication in an organisation.  I would respond as follows:

- Face-to-face communication, with immediate and relevant feedback is of course the best way to manage individuals and teams.  360 Degree Feedback should never be used as a substitute for this, or as a way of avoiding difficult conversations.
- 360 Degree Feedback is part of a wider set of activities that helps people to understand their own skills and how they can grow as managers or leaders in their organisation.  That’s why generic 360s are less useful that those that are customised and aligned with the organisation’s goals.
- Even in organisations with good face-to-face feedback, we find that individuals who recieve 360 Degree feedback are often surprised at the perceptions of others about them, and that this can lead to an increased awareness of their day to day behaviours and their impact on other people.
- And in an ideal world, of course I should tell my boss when I’m not happy that she chews me out in front of the rest of the team…and she should accept that feedback directly from me and without any reprecussions, but we know that’s not always the case.  And maybe my boss needs to understand that a number of other people might feel that way? 360 is a great way of getting that message across.

Used correctly and in the right situations, 360 Degree Feedback is a very powerful tool for development; please don’t throw the 360 Degree Feedback baby out with the bathwater!

I can see why that could be the case, but I do think there are some really strong reasons why doing these things now could make a difference between success and failure in the coming few years.  Here are some of those reasons:

• Building and supporting a feedback culture in your organisation will help to engage people, keep communications lines open and ensure that everyone is really focused on the same goals and ways of achieving these.  Formal structured approaches such as 360 and effective performance reviews are a key part of that feedback culture.
• Being able to identify critical skills and key performance attributes is more important now than ever before.  We know from previous downturns (I was there in 1990!) how important it is to keep upskilling people, firstly to ensure you are better than the competition, and secondly to have an engaged, skilled group who are ready to push ahead when conditions eventually improve.
• Efficiency of processes, and cost control, is going to be central to HR and Learning and Development in the months ahead.  Getting those processes to run quickly and smoothly, with the minimum administration and cost, is critical.  So running your 360 Degree Feedback, performance reviews, skills assessments, training booking and attendance online could mean huge savings in cost and effort.

Feedback and in particular, 360 Degree Feedback, is a powerful tool that allows leaders to obtain the views and perceptions of the people who work with them, in a structured way, and confidentially.  By asking questions about specific behaviours and actions that their colleagues at all levels can observe, leaders can start to understand how they come across to others, what they do that motivates and empowers, and what they do that creates demotivation or confusion.

I would agree, and add that, for Feedback to be really effective:

- The content needs to be right i.e. what are we asking and what exactly is the feedback telling us

- The way it’s positioned is cricital, i.e. it’s not just another thing that HR want us to do, but something that is going to be takent notice of will make change happen

The bigger message from individual or group feedback is that you are valued as an employee and that the organisation cares about talking to you and listening to you.

Of course, don’t do what some people (and organisations) do and scupper that great message by asking for feedback and then
1. Disagreeing with it (”yes, but there’s an reason why I/we do it like that..”)
2. Listening but not hearing (”thanks for the feedback”, then nothing apparently changes)
3. Using the feedback as a stick to beat people up with, or
4. Only hearing and acting on the negative stuff - positive feedback is just as important..we can always do more of the good stuff!

Plan is a child-centred community development organisation with no religious and political affiliations, enabling families and communities in the poorest countries to make lasting improvements to the lives of their children. Plan operates in 49 developing countries throughout the world.

Our 360 Degree Feedback work with Plan links with the organisation’s Certificate in Management, and delivers structured feedback and development planning to managers in all Plan locations, in English, French and Spanish.  We’re delighted to be part of this great programme that is contributing to learning and development in such a critical area of activity.

Hi Stuggling Manager

Great article.  I love it so much that I’ve tagged it and linked to it from my blog.  It’s great (and I’m not being ironic) because it says everything that people say who don’t like 360 Degree Feedback, or who’ve had a bad experience with 360, or whose organisation does 360 very badly.   All of which are valid points of view.

Can I ask you a couple of questions though…?

• Who told you that 360 is a scientific survey? Whoever they were, they lied!  As a 360 practitioner I can tell you that 360 is a subjective, observational exercise, not a scientific measurement or a personality test.The idea is that you get some observations, on the same behaviours, from a number of different people.  If you start hearing the same message from a number of different people, it might be worth taking some notice…
• As you say, asking someone ‘what kind of a manager’ John is, is completely unhelpful. Of course you’re going to get unfocused generalisations and opinions based on people’s theories about personality. That’s why good 360 doesn’t ask you those kinds of questions.
• “Criticism never is useful”..Really?! Have you never heard something about yourself from a friend or family member that made you do something different?
• How much politicking have you seen around 360? OK, there could be some, but do people really have the time to manipulate feedback to such an extent as to make a difference? In my experience this is rare- of course if you use 360 to determine salaries and promotions that might be the case, but you really shouldn’t use it to do that - very dangerous.
• I so agree with you about jargon, ‘thinking out of the box’ and the rest of it.  That’s why 360 questions have to be worded clearly, focus on actual, observable behaviours, and not woolly or managment-speak.  As well as structured questions, a good 360 will also have a section that allows you to give some clear behavioural feedback, just like your great examples.  We use, for example, things you would like your colleague to start, stop and continue doing.
• “360 degree reviews exist only because effective management is not there to fill the void”. What kind of managers have you had, Struggling Manager? And yes, managers should be giving you feedback, but what about all the other people you work with? Don’t you think that they might be able to give you some helpful insights too, that they might prefer not to tell you face to face (e.g. tells jokes when others are starting to appear frustrated)?

You see I think when you say 360 feedback, you really mean bad 360 feedback.  Am I right? Hope to hear from you!

Very best regards
Jo

The 360 Degree Feedback process and resulting Report is primarily a tool to support discussion with the individual’s line manager, team-mates, mentor, or others involved in their development.  It should not be used as a stand-alone measure of behaviour or effectiveness, and care needs to be taken both in giving feedback and in understanding and interpreting the results of that feedback.

When to use 360 Degree Feedback

When considering whether to use 360 Degree Feedback for your team, group or department, there must be a clear business or learning objective for the 360 Degree Feedback; this makes it easier to decide what questions you need to ask, what you are going to do with the results, and how you are going to communicate and position the 360 exercise to participating people, their reviewers and the rest of the organisation. 360 Degree Feedback provides observations and feedback to individuals on specifically stated behaviours or actions, allowing them to increase their level of self-awareness about how their behaviours are perceived by their colleagues or others. 360 Degree Feedback is therefore a tool for allowing individuals (or teams) to:

• Reflect on their own behaviours
• Understand where their colleagues’ perceptions of their behaviours agree or differ from their own, and
• Understand how they are perceived by different sets of colleagues, for example their peers and their direct reports.

Bearing in mind that 360 Degree Feedback is a subjective tool that gathers perceptions and observations in a structured way, and that it helps to create discussions around not just what gets done, but also how it gets done, 360 Degree is a great tool for:

• Providing a basis for a discussion about an individual’s strengths and development needs
• Creating a development plan
• Taking to a coaching session
• Sharing with team members
• Reviewing a project
• Obtaining customer views on individuals or teams
• Assessing the impact of specific learning and development activities (by measuring before and after the activity
• Providing evidence for changes in individuals and the organisation’s behaviour, again by measuring over time
• Training needs analysis

Used correctly, 360 Degree Feedback can:

• Be motivational

• Encourage people to focus on their development

• Give people an ongoing measurement of how their skills and behaviours are changing and improving

• Help to communicate the organisation’s priorities including values and behaviours
  
• Be empowering
  
• Link to job specifications, interview criteria and critical success skills for the organisation

Stop press 1st September 2008!  Track are delighted to announce that we have been selected as a finalist for this year’s UK National Training Awards, which are designed to celebrate organisations and individuals that demonstrate outstanding business and personal success through investment in training.

Great article, but I would put it this way: “You heard. You listened. You said Thanks. You responded”.  Saying thanks and acknowledging feedback from a colleague means that you have listened to what they’ve said, and that you value the feedback. It helps build your relationship with that colleague and encourages them to come to you with more great feedback in the future.