360 Degree Feedback; heading True North...

We have spoken many times about when to share an individual's 360 degree feedback report and have always stated a firm belief that this should happen in a face-to-face debrief.

I used the following analogy the other day to explain our thinking on this - If the report represents some kind of 'True North' for an individual, a balanced view of both the positive and the negative, then our role as a debriefer is to guide someone along that route heading North.

If they receive the report beforehand, they can travel off into the distance, veering away from True North very quickly, focusing on particular bits of feedback (usually the 'negative' feedback as they would see it), and ending up more and more remote from the balanced view which we wish to help them see.

This leads to a debrief session, where lots of energy and time is expended trying to pull them back to True North; it can be exhausting, and with limited time leave them some way off where they should be.

Better to guide them on their journey, inevitably they will veer left and right from True North, but only marginally, with your help to bring them back onto the path.

The image below was a hastily scribbled attempt to convey this on a flip chart, but it hopefully sums up the key reason to have a face-to-face debrief from the off.

John

Comments for 360 Degree Feedback; heading True North...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Linda Doe:: I do agree that a face-to-face debrief is essential when sharing 360 feedback. However, there may be good reasons why providing the report prior to the debrief is either "OK" or even "a good idea".Why? A person's response to their feedback, their emotional reaction or what they choose to focus on (negative or positive) is all data to be explored. In my experience, extreme negative reactions are rare. And importantly, there are clear personality differences in how people process and absorb information and are able to respond to it: by giving information for the first time at debrief, you will exclude "true North" discussion with those people who require time and reflection in order to process their response. On balance, I prefer to give the report to people beforehand, allowing time to process and interpret according to their needs. And yes, this may take time to unpick at the debrief, but the rich data received that further informs the "finding true North" makes this worthwhile. Better to spend time exploring the reaction to the report AND the report itself, than to focus solely on the "dry" feedback report data - which is only piece of the jigsaw. Linda Doe, Apana Business Psychology www.apana.co.uk
Thursday, December 17, 2009 by John Rice:: Thanks for the comment Linda - I agree that exploring the reaction to the report is as important as the feedback itself, which I guess is why we favour the report being shared in the debrief session rather than beforehand; in this way, I see that reaction, unmeasured, instinctive and 'raw' in many respects. You are clearly right that different personality types process the feedback in different ways; some do need to mull over the findings before they feel they are able to respond. Our own experience here though has overwhelmingly been one where individuals still derive a lot of benefit from that initial guided session which helps them then process the feedback in a productive way after the session itself. Despite these different viewpoints on the positioning of the report, I sense an underlying agreement here which is that we collectively believe in a duty of care to the recipient which helps them through the feedback itself and their emotional wellbeing in what is a sensitive process. John
Monday, January 4, 2010 by Linda Doe:: Hi John, you are quiet right in that a duty of care underpins feedback and emotional well-being must be addressed. It occurred to me too that the positioning of the report may be affected by the length of time I am able to spend with the recipient and also their level with an organisation. For example, a very senior leader attending a 3 hour debriefing with me (often as part of an ongoing coaching process) allows for a very different conversation than does the one-off one hour interview allocated to a less senior person ;). Linda Doe at www.apana.co.uk
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 by John Rice:: I wholeheartedly agree; at the most senior level, the skill is very much in facilitating their ability to explore the report and make connections, particularly to issues that may be being addressed as part of their coaching dialogue. Look forward to taking this conversation and that around exploring leadership competencies further off-line. John

360 Degree Feedback Best Practice