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360° Feedback -
a users guide to gathering information.
This is an extract from a chapter in ‘Developing the Allied Health
Professional’, edited by Robert Jones and Fiona Jenkins (Radcliffe
Publishing, 2006).
When we were asked to write this chapter, our first reaction was,
reasonably
enough, ‘why us?’. The reason was a session one of us had given on
this topic at an NHS leadership training event. The person who put
us forward for this article had been a participant on the programme.
She had come into the session feeling, ‘I couldn’t possibly do this
– much too scary’. She left feeling, ‘This feels well worth while –
and I think I could do it’. If readers of this chapter leave with
the same feeling, then our time in writing it will have been well
spent.
1. Introduction: What is 360° feedback? And
what is the point of gathering it?
360° feedback is simply a method for gathering information from
those around you, about the effectiveness of your behaviour.
‘Feedback’ refers to a response or reaction; ‘360°’ indicates that
it goes right round the compass to cover all angles on you and what
you do, from your boss above you, through your peers beside you, to
your reports below you in the organisational tree. When you set out
to gather 360° feedback, you are simply asking those most affected
by your behaviour to tell you how your behaviour impacts upon them,
what messages (intentional or unintentional) you are sending, what
works well – and what needs improving.
Put as simply as that, it is perhaps strange that we don’t use the
technique more often. After all, we interact with others every day,
and our behaviour affects them constantly. The same is true in
reverse: others’ behaviour affects us all the time, and sometimes we
long for the opportunity to encourage them to do more of what works
– or to find ways to stop them doing what doesn’t work.
Organisations use it a lot in the form of questionnaires and
satisfaction surveys; car manufacturers, garages, supermarkets,
hotels, local councils, even training providers, are constantly
asking us whether we are happy with what they do. Feedback (in the
sense we are using here) is now a fact of life. And given that our
behaviour is the only tool we have for influencing others, it would
be strange if we didn’t invest some serious time in finding out
whether the tool is working properly.
However, most of us also have a degree of apprehension in asking
others for feedback – particularly such ‘significant others’ as
boss, peers, reports, and customers (or patients). One apprehension
is about the possibility of ‘bad news’ - what if they don’t like the
way we behave towards them? Worse, what if they don’t like who we
are? How will we face them at work when we know that? Curiously,
however, another apprehension is about good news. The English
reluctance to confront feelings directly means that direct praise
can be as embarrassing as direct criticism. So even getting good
feedback and enthusiastic affirmation of what we do, can still be
uncomfortable!
How might we overcome this reluctance?
A good way, we would suggest, is to reframe the whole concept of
360° feedback. Its parenthood is stern. Its father is appraisal – a
manager assessing and judging the effectiveness of the work of a
member of their staff. Its mother, born perhaps thirty years ago, is
upward appraisal – direct reports assessing and judging the
effectiveness of the person who manages them. But 360° feedback at
its best is different from both its parents. This difference is best
thought of in three ways.
The first is to think of it as a process,
not the one-off annual event of appraisal.
The second is to remember that it is about development, not about
assessment. Apart from your boss, those who you ask for feedback
won’t have power over you or over your salary.
And the third – which grows from the first two - is to think of it,
not as a method of judging your effectiveness, but rather as a way
of involving others in your development. Used correctly, 360°
feedback gives others the chance to help you be more effective, to
grow, and to develop. And most of your respondents will be pleased
to be asked – and appreciative of the chance to ...
To hear more, please email us on
info@k2leadership.co.uk
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