This post is provided by Linda Doe, following an exchange of emails where we disagreed on when to hand over the feedback report.  My comment on the post will follow!  Many thanks to Linda for providing the following:

"A question I am asked often is: but when do we show the person their 360 feedback results? Before they have their feedback session? Or wait until they get there? There is no one answer to this, it's a question of judgement. But generally, I advise that reports should be given to individuals about a week in advance fo their feedback session, providing of course that the 360 views are non-attributable to the individuals who have contributed.

Why? - several reasons. Because there should be no harsh surprises with appraisal data: if managers and apprasiers are on-the-ball, any serious relationship or management issues should be dealt with in a timely fashion, on an ongoing basis, not left until yearly appraisal.

Often the fear of upsetting or difficult responses is greater than the reality: in my experince of helping companies with appraisal, more often than not, responses to 360 are helpful, constructive and - and here is the important bit - need time to sink in for the individual to appreciate their impact and to prepare and engage in discussion about them. Further, appraisal at its most effectrive should not be a top-down, management-led tool: individuals need to be highly engaged in its process and buy-in is essential. How can someone prepare for their appraisal session, contribute meaningfully, when they are seeing the results for the first time at the session? The apprasier has not only the unfair advantage, but this also sets up a "teacher knows best" scenario.

My advice would be to place appraisal carefully in the culture of the organisation, so that no nasty surprises emerge...and if on those rare occasions that they do, make sure the data is sent to the individual accompanied by a telephone call or note of reassurnace that "everything will be discussed fully when we meet". If you are really worried, then last resort is to show the responses at appraisal interview - with an explanation of why.

On balance, its better, in my professional view, to risk the odd sensitive set of responses being misunderstood, than to perpetuate the "manager knows best" top-down approach. That said - if your organisation has avoided difficult and sensitive issues - watch out! - they will certainly emerge with a good, confidential, 360 tool and process.

From, Linda Doe, Chartered Business Psychologist, www.psychatwork.co.uk

With our eye firmly on how 360 degree feedback precipitates changed behaviours, the following article is a great insight into the neuroscience of change.

We are delighted to have our guest contributor, Lilliana Gibbs of Enthum Coaching, provide a very interesting article that illuminates how coaching and 360 degree feedback effectively support an individual to affect lasting change.

Ah Ha Moments, and how to have more of them

Changing behaviour within organisations is much more difficult that we like to think it is. Now thanks to the integration of psychology and neuroscience, we can see how the physiological nature of the brain predisposes people to resist some forms of leadership, and accept others.

 

The Neuroscience of Leadership by David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/06207 describes why persuasion doesn’t really work, and that despite the evidence of its ineffectiveness, the ‘carrot and stick’ approach remains as popular as ever. What has been discovered is that change is pain; it genuinely provokes discomfort and zaps our energy.

Our brains have developed a useful capacity to detect ‘errors’, those perceived differences between expectations and actuality. At the traffic lights we expect a green/orange/red sequence. So familiar, it requires minimal brain power. However, if the sequence skips orange, it jars with our expectation, and shows up on an MRI scan as increased activity in our amygdala or ‘old brain’, a spot closely connected to our fear circuitry. When activated, the amygdala draws metabolic energy away from the prefrontal lobe where our higher intellectual functioning is generated. This means that the unfamiliar and the new not only increase our discomfort and stress, but also decrease logical or higher thinking.

So what is the right way to go about facilitating organisational change?

The answer is to spend quality time and attention on new ideas, and sustain reminders and reinforcement until the mental circuitry changes, and the ideas are adopted.

The authors describe how the act of paying attention creates physical changes in the brain, and how our expectations shape reality. Repeated, purposeful and focussed attention can lead to self-awareness and ‘long lasting personal evolution’ or change.

The first step is to get people’s undivided attention. The brain’s prefrontal cortex requires concentration to process new information, so removing everyday routines to focus on something —such as an off-site workshop —provides an ideal environment. Once leaders have achieved attention, give people the big picture, the broad vision. Scientists are finding that our expectations and attitudes —our mental maps— actually define our experience. When allowed to focus, and given a vision, our brains are encouraged to contribute —to imagine opportunities and solutions. We are inspired to co-create the picture –—conditions ripe for moments of insight.

Brain scans show sudden bursts of high-frequency gamma waves just prior to moments of new understanding. This suggests a complex set of new connections is being created in the brain. With it comes a rush of adrenaline like neurotransmitters, providing a turbo charged feel-good energy. These ‘moments of insight’ are powerful motivators that counter resistance, and propel change.

One of the most effective ways of increasing these moments of insight is through one-on-one coaching that supports people to find their own answers and encourages self-awareness. Most people find it hard to hold onto new learning, and one study found that training alone increased productivity by 28%, but when follow-up coaching was added to the mix, increased productivity went up to 88%.

Positive feedback when managed skilfully is also a powerful reinforcer of behaviour, and a well-designed 360-feedback process is an effective tool for encouraging self-awareness. The brain recognises positive strokes as a reason to ‘do more of something’, and the act of focusing attention, supports an individual’s efforts on specific developmental issues.

Clearly, the more we learn about the phenomenon of change, the more effectively we can manage it and benefit, both personally and organisationally.

Lilliana Gibbs is a director of Enthum Coaching www.enthum.com

“I’ve only got 45 minutes, so can we get straight to the point?” said Charles, the head of corporate law as he strode into the room. The “point” to which he was referring was our meeting to go through his 360 feedback. The “point” that he actually wanted to make was that he didn’t really want to hear the views of others.

Coaching this high achieving City law firm partner had proved challenging for the last 4 months. Asked by the firm’s Managing partner if I “could help to sort him out”, I had struggled to engage in a change process. Charles was admired by the firm for his talent in winning millions of pounds of fees with new clients. But there had been staff losses and dissension in Charles’s department. Charles had apparently to change his style.

It was clear from the outset of our coaching sessions that Charles had no real intention of changing. My observations were brushed aside. He told me that his colleagues would have to “take him as they found him”. Charles demonstrated all the traits of the ultra alpha male with a few of the more extreme lawyer’s attributes thrown in – highly analytic, intimidating, quick witted, highly (superficially) confident, impatient, opinionated and focusing on flaws in other people and their views.

What’s more, Charles typically didn’t like exploring emotions - “I don’t do emotion –emotions can’t be controlled!”. Yet it was clear that Charles was actually highly emotional in frequently talking about his anger, frustration and - in his very occasional weaker moments – his insecurity.

Charles was eventually persuaded to agree to a 360 feedback session. In typical fashion, he was immediately dismissive of any negative comments. He also spent the first five minutes trying to work out who had been less than glowing in their opinions of him. Here, however was feedback that Charles could not ignore. Here was written data with examples of his behaviour being repeated across his department. There were well argued remarks backed up with facts.- a benefit of 360 work with lawyers is that their written comments are clear and supported by strong evidence.

Gradually, Charles’ curiosity in the feedback was engaged. He began to understand that the strengths that he thought were so important were damaging to his colleagues (and to himself). A common comment was that Charles was a very poor listener – to the extent that many in his department had stopped talking to him - “Charles only listens to respond”, ”I’ve stopped talking to Charles – I am not important enough fro him “ “Charles is only interested in his own clients”.

For the first time in 5 meetings, Charles’ defences were lowered. I turned the screw (a bit). This was an opportunity that might not come again! I suggested a FIRO assessment ( more data/evidence) to help Charles understand his needs for control (high) and openness (low).

Charles thought that he should acknowledge the feedback at his next departmental meeting. “Do you think that is enough?” I asked Charles. “On reflection – no. I will make more time for people. I will tell people that I appreciate them “.

We’ll both see what happens. Will Charles revert to type?  The first signs are promising but one 360 appraisal does not lead to a complete personality change. One thing is clear - without a structured approach, Charles would probably never have started to “listen” to his co-workers. Appealing to his curiosity about data was crucial to any breakthrough. Charles may even admit to having emotions soon!

This is a guest post for Bowland Solutions by Nigel McEwen.  Formally a managing partner of a top 100 law firm, Nigel is now an executive coach who works with clients in the accountancy, legal, manufacturing and financial services sectors.  To contact Nigel, please add a comment to this post.