360 Degree Feedback - Principles for Success
360 degree feedback is a powerful organisational development tool. When used well, it can be an effective personal development accelerator and reinforcing lever for embedding ways of working across an organisation. Without thoughtful planning and implementation, 360 degree feedback also has the potential to be a destructive / negative exercise that misaligns people and devalues feedback.
The following guiding principles for successfully implementing 360 degree feedback are based on Lumus’ experience of supporting hundreds of organisations to develop and integrate 360 degree feedback as a key component in their organisational development strategy.
1. Clarity of purpose (a lever for change). Many organisations miss out on the full potential of 360 degree feedback tools by not aligning them to the organisation’s future aspirations and strategy. The competency framework and questions should be ‘forward looking’ and describe those behaviours the organisation requires from its managers in the future. This will ensure that 360 surveys raise awareness of, and reinforce, those behavioural styles that will move the organisation forward - driving strategic change, supporting cultural shifts, embedding values etc.
2. Development not appraisal. 360 degree feedback works best when used for development purposes not performance appraisal. For the 360 tool to be effective, those providing the feedback must be open, fair, constructive and honest. Using 360 degree feedback as an assessment tool changes the context and motives of those giving the feedback. Our experience in this area suggests that when 360s are used for appraisal purposes, responders tend to either rate higher in order to not disadvantage the feedback subject, or to score low in order to punish. Either way, the quality of feedback is at best diluted and at worst corrupted.
3. Build ‘feedback maturity’ over time. Building a 360 degree feedback culture is more likely to succeed if first time participants are given ‘full control’ and ‘ownership’ over the whole process – this entails allowing participants to identify who they would like feedback from and allowing them to decide who will see their 360 report. Taking this approach reduces many of the concerns talked about by participants when they use a 360 degree feedback tool for the first time. For many people this means they can enter the feedback exercise with an open and accepting mind, without feeling the need to self justify or defend any critical feedback to others.
4. Provide personal insight first and scores later. The initial aim of any development feedback should be to raise the awareness of the feedback recipient, helping them to build a genuine balanced picture of how their behaviour is perceived by those around them, both in relation to those things they are seen to be doing well and those areas they could develop further. To achieve this, feedback recipients should be able to compare their own perceptions with those of their responders. When feedback is compared against other managers, occupational standards, norms, averages, bench marks etc., these valuable insights are overwhelmed by competitiveness, grading and self-justification.
5. Measure the right thing. Every organisation we work with is unique, each having its own culture, aspirations, challenges, values, people etc. Whilst generic 360 degree feedback questionnaires will provide new insights, we have found that organisations who take the time to work out what is important to them and then develop behavioural measures around those competencies gain the most out of 360 degree surveys.
6. Provide appropriate feedback support. Receiving in-depth feedback, particularly for the first time, is often perceived as a daunting event where individuals experience a range of emotions from anxious excitement through to outright fear. Our experience shows that without some form of coaching support, the majority of participants don’t have the knowledge, skills and ‘feedback maturity’ to successfully convert their reports into meaningful action-focused development plans.
7. Follow through. This is by far the most important success factor within the 360 degree process and one which most organisations get wrong. Whilst 360 degree feedback is without doubt an exceptionally powerful development component, unless the outputs are taken into a line manager’s ‘development discussion’ that results in an agreed set of meaningful development goals, which the participant is subsequently measured against, the full potential impact of using a 360 degree feedback tool is rarely achieved.
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For further details about Lumus™ please call +44 (0)1291 637380 or email davidcooper@lumus.co.uk.