We were very pleased to have been invited last month to present at a 'HR in Law' breakfast briefing seminar on how to implement a 360 degree feedback process within a firm.

As well as a high number of attendees, there seemed to be a real appetite for the topic with some great questions being raised about how to introduce the process within a partnership structure.

Not unsurprisingly, the concerns raised were less to do with the technology of an online system to handle the process, and more to do with how the critical face-to-face debrief should be approached.

We have written many times before as to what makes this stage of the process go well, and we re-iterated the points during this seminar; namely, that you quickly establish the boundaries of the debrief which is not to give the feedback but to explore the feedback with the partner.

The dynamic of the debrief changes instantly, as the recipient feels they have the opportunity to discuss the feedback without being judged; it becomes all about helping raise their self-awareness and where appropriate challenge them to accept that there are things worth paying attention to.

John