I was in the US last weekend.  I was working hard in the Florida Keys! 

Whenever I travel to the US a number of things strike me.  Let's take the easiest example: the different approach to service.  Waiting staff in the US are different - the norm is different.  Refilling your coffee, providing iced water, being attentive are all the norm.  Of course, leaving a tip is also a norm!

We can all see these differences - many things better, some not - but what I love about travel is that it challenges your own norms and perceptions.  

It is very easy to keep on doing the same thing.  Setting the same goals/targets each year in your performance appraisal.  Asking 360 feedback questions that are asking "do you behave in the same as we always have done".  But to challenge yourself, you need to see a change in behaviour - a different norm.

Not everything is better of course - I had a breakfast where an omelette was placed inside a croissant! - but rather than just doing the same thing a bit faster isn't real improvement.

Next time we're working on a performance appraisal form or a 360 feedback questionnaire I'll be reminded that the aim of these exercises is to help improvement not just repeating the norm.

Brendan

I really recommend reading the following article in a New Zealand online website www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/6195646/The-myth-of-team-culture .  It is well written and well though through.  At first read, the author is so convinced of his own view that you find yourself agreeing with him.  And even on the second or third read I did find myself wondering whether 360 degree feedback really is useful for team sports.

The ultimate issue I have with the article is that it falls for a classic "either or" structure.  In summary he says either you have sportsmen (forgive me following his male assumption!) taking responsibility on the field or you have people working to develop performance goals, team culture, or consider the mental side of the game.  He sees these as conflicting goals.  I believe you can have both.

It strikes me that regular performance reviews and regular feedback sessions (360 degree feedback in this context really is just having team feedback sessions I'd guess) are sensible parts of delivering a high performing team.  That underneath this process each team member is responsible for their own contribution and performance fits well with such work not against it.

So, while I sympathise with some of his general sentiments of overly pampered sports stars I don't subscribe to the argument that working on teamwork, having well defined goals, and working on the team culture works against high achievement.  

Clive Woodward's autobiography/book on England winning the World cup (Winning!) and the excellent book "Sacred Hoops" by Phil Jackson; coach of Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers show how great coaches and leaders balance team management, leadership and culture with letting great individuals thrive.

Brendan

We've been working on putting a Johari window into our report.  One of my colleagues looked up the origin's of the Johari window and (and maybe I am the only person who didn't know this) we find out it was developed by two guys called Joseph and Harry...johari.  What a wonderful piece of marketing.

Anyway - 360 feedback works perfectly with it.  Our client is using a Johari window to identify known strengths, hidden strengths, blind spots and known weaknesses.  These are topics that you would regularly draw out in 360 feedback but this is a very simple method of representing the items at a high level.

And Johari window sounds much more exotic than Jo and Harry's window!

Brendan

I think ER may be the best thing ever on telly.  We're watching it again on Sky Atlantic.  Right from the very beginning.  While watching last night (I think it is episode 1 or 2 from the programme but we've sky plused it so I've no idea) Carter called for a psych consult (I've got all the words off pat....I could order a CBC and Chem 7 in a shot!).

Following an investigation which showed the woman was clearly struggling to remember anything, Carter queried whether the problem was some unheard of disease and gave 3 or 4 complex possibilities.

The psychiatrist responded...

"When you hear hooves; first think horses not zebras".

Well, that is brilliant.  So often I overcomplicate problems and see others doing the same.  The woman had alzheimers something Carter had overlooked while seeking a more unusual problem.

Often when working in a 360 degree feedback debrief session I see people overanalysing a particular response in their feedback when actually the message is clear.  Rather than trying to work out "what did they mean by that", "what is leading to this response" and looking for something complex our first instinct should be to find the simple explanation.

"When you hear hooves; first think horses not zebras".  Brilliant.


Brendan

We are doing a lot of work with clients at the moment about setting objectives (for many it is "that time of the year" as the annual performance appraisal process starts).  I also tend to set myself some personal goals for the year and I was musing on what worked.

Last year, I had a goal of cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End.  I completed that in August and it was incredibly enjoyable and satisfying.

This year I wanted to do something challenging again.  But, if I set the same goal it really wouldn't have fired me in the same way.  Even if I cycled in the other direction, or decided to do it in 7 days rather than 9, or on a tricicle, or with different people, or solo, my motivation to achieve a similar goal would be lower.

How often at work though do we set roughly the same goal each performance appraisal cycle and expect the team to fire up and go for it?  Let's be honest 'increase sales by 10%' is quite similar to 'increase sales by 5%'.  It would be better if objectives were set that were genuine, interesting, challenging goals for the year.  Let "key performance indicators" take care of the aims that repeat.  They're important but they are not motivating.

My goal : to cycle 200 miles in 24 hours on June 18th (that date already looks like changing which leads to another post on what is important in a goal!).  Its a great goal for me because it requires different preparation, is more challenging, and makes me a little nervous.


Brendan

On 18th January, I am presenting the above masterclass on the back of an article that was published in managing partner magazine.  The session covers general 360 degree feedback implementations but focuses in particular on how to make best use of 360 feedback in law firms.

This is an external event to Bowland; if the content is relevant to you and of interest then you can register for it here 

Hope to see you there.

Brendan

I was checking something today and noticed that we had roughly 1000 360 degree feedback appraisals completed yesterday in our system.   It made me think.  If those had to be sent out on paper, I'd guess they would be 5 pages long;  3-4 questionnaire pages including open format questions and some sort of instruction page.  So, 5000 pages.  That is a lot of paper.

The great god google states that it takes one tree to create 8,333.3 sheets of paper (the sort of accuracy that some of our competitors generate from their 360 reports!).  Add in some people looking at their reports online rather than printing them and a good dollop of performance appraisal forms that we had completed yesterday as well and I suspect it is a tree's worth of paper.  Sort of interesting.

Brendan

We've been doing a lot of translating recently.  Both translating our 360 degree feeedback system and our performance appraisal service.  This reflects us gaining new clients that operate on a worldwide basis and also that some of our existing clients are broadening the reach of their system.

Generally our clients have English as their business language with much of their internal documents and meetings written or held in English.  So, why translate the 360 feedback and performance appraisal?

I certainly do not believe that they should be translated as a matter of course.  It adds a complexity and level of work that should only be undertaken where it is justified.  However, in many cases translating is beneficial.  Here's why.

Most organisations spend a great deal of time gettiing the wording right on their competency framework, questionnaire or performance appraisal form.  Much time is spent getting the precise nuance right.  Where this is the case, often someone working outside of their native language is going to struggle to pick up this nuance. 

One sensible option or compromise is to only translate the 360 questionnaire or the performance appraisal form.  Leave the main body of the system in English if all of those participating are used to working in English day-to-day.  The key element of the process - the completing of the form or questionnaire is then completed in the individual's native language ensuring the feedback is accurate and as required.

An additional point is that it is important to translate into your organisations' language as well as the country language.  One person's performance appraisal is another's annual review.  We translate first into the language (e.g. Spanish) and then we translate into the words that are relevant for the client.

Brendan

Taking a recipient through their 360 degree feedback report is a key moment in the 360 feedback process.  It is multi-faceted and requires a good amount of skill and effort.  I just wanted to note down my 3 top tips.  There's more to the job, but here is my recommendation.

1. Read it, read it again, and read it one more time

The first time you read the report you get a feel for it.  No more.  As you read the latter parts of the report it perhaps hints at themes from earlier in the report.  You can't get these in the first reading because you need to have read the whole thing.  

Then you read it again; this time you draw out where you think there may be strengths, development areas and themes.  I make my notes of areas I'd like to explore in the debrief meeting.  This is only an aide memoire, it most certainly isn't you working out what the report is saying - it just hints at areas you may want to explore in the meeting.

And finally I read it once more when I am with the recipient to refresh my memory and get into the moment of the debrief session.

2. Look at the self feedback

The self feedback hints at the self-perception.  How does it compare to the other feedback?  Are they aligned, high, low?  You should avoid judgment of why you are seeing what you are seeing but make a note and explore it with the recipient in the meeting.  All of the 360 feedback is important of course, but the self feedback is the most important.

3. Remind yourself that it is your role to explore the feedback and aid interpretation

By this stage it is easy to fall into a trap of thinking you are an expert.  Not just on 360 feedback debriefs (humility is required there) but on this person.  You've read one report on them, often you've never met them.  You don't know them and you don't know what this report means, however clever you think you are!  You are now just well placed to discuss the report with them.

There is much, much more to creating an effective debrief session but these are my top 3 tips.

We run a training course on debriefing 360 feedback.  Feel free to contact us if this would help you or you have a general 360 requirement we can help with.

Brendan

Two unrelated issues that are often confused – confidentiality of your report and anonymity of responses.

Let’s take confidentiality of the report. 

Up front – before the 360 feedback process is even started – you should be clear on who gets access to a 360 degree feedback report.  The manager?  HR?  The department director?  As long as it is clear and as long as it is restricted to those people that the recipients and respondents see as having valid  reason for using the report then all will be fine.  Most of our 360 feedback reports are in a work context and so we would expect as a minimum that the line manager would have access to the report.

Now anonymity of responses. 

I would say that in an ideal world there should be no need for anonymous responses.  360 feedback should not be seen as a way of saying to people something that you would not have said to them directly.  Rather it is an effective method of gathering feedback from a range of people and presenting that feedback in an aggregated manner.

But, 360 degree feedback is also often used as a method of getting feedback that the organisation has not seen as forthcoming and fear would not be forthcoming if anonymity of feedback were not guaranteed.  This is very common – indeed it is the norm – but I suggest that anyone starting 360 degree feedback or renewing a process at least considers whether anonymity is required. 


Brendan

One of the most important aspects of a performance appraisal form is that it tends to be used by manager's as an aide memoire during the annual appraisal meeting.

We can all picture a manager with the performance appraisal form in front of them talking things through with the employee.  We may prefer them to do something different but we'd probably accept that the uncertain manager will use the form as a prop during the meeting.

With this in mind, how we structure the appraisal form; the words we use, and the questions we ask can positively influence the conversation from afar.  We are the experts in performance appraisal, not the manager, so this is our big chance.

For example, by using a simple "look back", "look forward", "plan development" structure we can immediately help the manager to structure their thoughts.  Hopefully they will then review last year's performance, set targets for the coming year and consider what development the individual needs based on last year's performance and this year's targets.

You can follow this approach through into the detail of the form - have in the back of your mind ... "how will the manager use this".


Brendan

I was reading a 360 feedback report today and one of the respondents wrote ... "I wanted to respond neither agree or disagree but that option wasn't there so I went with the more positive option".

This for me is the winning argument (albeit still a fairly marginal one) for having a midpoint on a rating scale.  What would I rather have - someone hedging their bets on a response or someone taking a false position to comply with the forced split of an even rating scale?  360 feedback is, for me, about getting a range of people's opinions on an individual.  It is not that I want forced opinions - rather I want honest opinions.

We rarely see people only answering on the midpoint - the main reason given for a 4 point scale and so I always favour a 3 or 5 point scale. 

Brendan

We are pleased to have had an article published in Managing Partner magazine describing our best practice for using 360 degree feedback in law firms.  The article includes a number of tips on who should use 360 degree feedback, how to tackle concerns on 360 degree feedback, and in particular what you can do to ensure you have a great conversation following the 360 feedback report.

Whether you are in a law firm or not, I'd recommend the article as a good summary of our perspective and views on 360 feedback best practice.

Follow this link to read the article in full.


Brendan

Please forgive a departure from the normal 360 feedback and performance appraisal posts.

On 24th July, I am setting off to ride from John O'Groats to Lands End.  I will be riding an average of 100 miles a day for the 900 miles of the trip.  I am raising money for Help for Heroes.   If you would like to donate (and give yet further motivation to keep going!) then please visit www.justgiving.com/brendanwalshjogle .

If you can keep from reading blogs on 360 feedback for a while, then I will be keeping a blog of the ride at http://brendanwalshjogle.blogspot.com/

Brendan

This isn't a mantra but it is a starting point.  360 degree feedback works best when it is development focused.  When it is assessment based and part of appraisal then you have to be careful that you can get the results you require and that the recipient gets something useful for them.

If your 360 feedback process is development focused then all participants can give feedback openly and straightforwardly safe in the knowledge that the intent is to give the best feedback that will give the recipient most chance to improve.

If the 360 feedback process is appraisal based then all respondents have a filter operating as they complete.  They will generally continue to seek to be fair but the manager and the self responses in particular will be influenced by the appraisal.  Direct reports will be aware of the process and considerate of the impact of positive and negative responses.  None of this precludes using 360 feedback as part of appraisal - many of our clients use it very successfully.  But it does remind you to think it through carefully, get your communication and training right, and build in some failsafes.

Brendan

Quite commonly we are seeing clients wrestle with the relationship between their annual performance appraisal and 360 degree feedback.

Part of the confusion can surround a desire to get feedback from more than one source as part of the performance appraisal process.  Multi-disciplinary teams, virtual teams, matrix management all lead to a correct desire to have more than one manager involved in an appraisal.

The trick for me is to leave 360 degree feedback to be a label applied to something that looks at behaviours and "how" a person is working.  If the desire to get feedback from more than one person is only driven by a desire to get appraisal type information then just get on with it.  If however, you are looking to use 360 feedback as a developmental tool that assists recipients in looking at their behaviour and how they impact others and the results they achieve then linking it to performance appraisal and particularly pay is more challenging. 

My next post will consider this genuine issue but, for now, if all you are looking to do is get appraisal information from more than one source, call it something other than 360 feedback and just do it.

Brendan

I think we're all more receptive to feedback at different times.  360 degree feedback is no different - there are times when the recipient is ready to take on board how others see them and other times when it is less appropriate.  This represents a challenge to HR teams that are looking to implement 360 feedback across a broad population of people.  What to do?

The best practice that we see is to run 360 degree feedback during the following times

• Just prior to training- as part of the package
• As part of a coaching initiative
• At a sensible time in the annual review process (often 6 months either side of the appraisal meeting)
• As part of succession planning / career management.  E.g. during promotion reviews, after 6 months in a new role

You can think of others - the idea is to consider when recipients are most likely to take the 360 degree feedback on board.  Probably when they're not too busy with other things and when they are actively interested in their own development.

Brendan

360 degree feedback can become complicated.  Often there are some tricky things to think through.  What is useful when you are putting together a 360 feedback project is to have some key points to focus on and to test your solution against.  My three are

1. Ask the right questions
2. Follow a well-structured process
3. Have a great conversation around a great report

If you check whatever 360 feeedback process or service you devise against this list then you will do ok.  Are we asking the right questions?  Is our process well-structured?  Are the people involved going to have a great conversation around a great report?

Our 360 degree feedback white paper expands on these - but don't lose track of these simple requirements.

Brendan

Our very own John Rice is running in this Sunday's Brighton marathon.  Here's a public good luck wish from everyone at Bowland.  John is raising money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  If you'd like to donate to this great cause then click here.

Good luck John (and we're all confident you'll beat the womble outfit guy this time).


Brendan

We're scheduling our next 360 degree feedback seminar for June.  We'll confirm the exact date and location - which will be London based - in due course, but please register now if you'd like us to keep you informed as we get everything organised.  The seminar concentrates on how to effectively implement 360 degree feedback in your organisation.  We focus particularly on how to handle the debrief sessions.

Brendan