In this article by by Lee Gardenswartz, Jorge Cherbosque, and Anita Rowe on the ASTD site, the writers provide a great checklist for helping teams to develop emotional intelligence and therefore perform better.
"Teach respectful ways to provide feedback, and encourage openness by institutionalizing 360-degree feedback and using feedback sessions as a tool for development".
As well as individual feedback, the team can obtain feedback about what they're like to work with as a group, i.e. how responsive, creative, communicative and co-operative they are. They may well find that individuals and other teams have some unexpected (and constructive) observations to make. Teams, just like individuals, develop habits and ways of doing things that aren't always necessarily useful or productive, but if no-one ever tells them, how will they know what to change?
For more information on Track's Team Works tool, click here.
In this article the Reformed Manager tells a story about how coaching and 360 Degree feedback can have the effect of making people aware that they are not in the right job or role, and how that realisation can turn out to be a turning point for them.
Sometimes 360 Degree Feedback and coaching can bring difficult messages out into the open. Although it’s uncomfortable, we need to listen to those messages and do what’s best for the person and the organisation.
And sometimes what’s best can be for that person to move to a different role or a different department, or even a different organisation. I’ve had experience of coaching people and working with their feedback which ultimately led them to change careers!
But rather than fear this, organisations should accept it and use 360 Degree Feedback and other tools to ensure that the best people for the job are doing that job. Unhappy unfulfilled employees don’t do themselves or their employer any good at all.
In this article, What Kind of Example Do I Want To Be, the writer has analysed 360 Degree Feedback from a number of organisations and has identified some key leadership behaviours from the feedback and comments received.
This is something that we have started to do with a number of the organisations we work for, that is, using their 360 Degree Feedback as both an assessment of current skills, behaviours and values for individuals, and a way of analysing the overall skill levels and key values in the whole organisation.
So if you're conducting a training needs analysis, or looking at the real values that the organisation aspires to (which is an essential place to start if you're looking at what really differentiates you from the competition), then 360 Degree Feedback is a great tool to use for this.
You can start with measuring against standard skills, competencies or values, and then develop and customise these as you gather more evidence, and measure the changes as they happen.
If you've used 360 Degree Feedback this way, please feel free to share your experience and whether this was a valuable exercise. If you like to talk to us about this in more detail, please e-mail at jo.ayoubi@tracksurveys.co.uk.
In this interview, the former CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Medtronic, gives his views on leadership, the mistakes that leaders make, and why 360 Degree Feedback is so critical to the promotion process.
These include:
- Not listening to what other people are telling you: "I think the idea of 360 degree feedback, where you get feedback from your subordinates and your peers, is the most valuable thing you can do".
- Thinking and reflecting on the feedback you get: "You need to ask, "What did I do well? What didn't I do? What turned me on? What didn't I like?" These are important questions".
- Spot 'imposters' - people who make a great impression but who weren't pulling their weight behind the scenes, in which case go "back to the 360 degree feedback...I made it policy when I was at Medtronic never to promote anyone unless I had feedback on how that person acted as a leader and how they treated other people".
I've been re-reading a great book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith. It's a thoughtful, practical and well-written guide that individuals, as well as learning and development and HR professionals, will find incredibly helpful. In this article, which also appears in the book, Marshall very clearly sets out why getting feedback from others is so important. As he puts it "If we can stop, listen, and think about what others are seeing in us, we have a great opportunity".
Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, said he was not involved in the decision-making process that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Is the CEO of any organisation every justified in saying that he or she was too removed from the day-to-day decision making process to bear responsiblity for the eventual outcome of those decisions?
Here's my Training Zone blog on this- please feel free to add your comments.
On the subject of performance review and appraisal, giving regular feedback to your team, colleagues and boss is a great, easy way of improving everyone's performance and building good work relationships. Here's a link through to how giving rapid feedback can really help performance.
Here's a quick thought from my UK Training Zone 360 Degree Feedback group discussion on the dreaded 'Can I give you some feedback' question....
The Problem with 360 Feedback
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!
"You learn by doing and experience, and by developing an awareness and understanding. It's simple but not easy".
In recent years I think we have devalued the hands on experience of people who have risen through the ranks and know their organsations intimately, and overvalued the charismatic outsider who comes in and changes everything. In my experience the best leaders have a strong awareness of their own strengths and limitations, and so are able to listen to others and make better-judged decisions. This is my take on the humility of leaders that John Adair mentions in this article.
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.