I am often asked when it is appropriate for a recipient to see their 360 degree feedback report for the first time....before the debrief or at the debrief itself?

The encouraging note here is that most people do now recognise the need for a face-to-face debrief, rather than allowing the individual to read their report of their own.

However I feel that allowing the recipient to read the report on their own before the debrief, misses much of the point of having one at all.

It is a very interesting to be able to see how the individual responds to the feedback when they read it for the first time....nodding, wincing, shrugging, etc, it gives a lot of information to the debriefer, which enables them to question such non-verbal responses and help get a true picture of how the recipient truly perceives the feedback.

If they are allowed to read the report beforehand, they will often come to the session with a more measured approach; they will have absorbed much of the suprise, shock or delight, and so the debriefer has lost a critical part of how the individual feels.

John