360° Feedback
« To evaluate is to create: so listen, you who are creators! It is evaluation that turns all things evaluated into treasures and jewels. »
Friedrich Nietzsche
360° feedback is a powerful tool for assessing managerial or leadership skills. It also makes it possible to evaluate managers’ communication abilities or their talent for managing complexity. Obtained with input from one’s environment—colleagues, clients, or service providers—360° feedback helps identify areas for improvement for the person being assessed, as well as develop a relevant progress plan to support their growth.
Unlike knowledge (such as knowing a foreign language) or know-how (such as the process of preparing a meeting), soft skills (savoirs-être) are more difficult to evaluate. Requesting feedback from the environment of the person whose skills are being assessed is a reliable and proven way to address certain questions.
Why use 360° feedback as a leader?
360° feedback is a powerful process for developing human potential, particularly suited to:
developing managerial and leadership skills, as well as transversal skills more broadly,
preparing for a new role or position,
identifying the relevant elements for a development plan,
becoming aware of the gap between the image one thinks they project and what others perceive,
accepting one’s image as it is perceived by their environment.
The steps to a successful 360° process
A positive feedback culture within the company is a prerequisite for any initiative, in order to avoid the pitfalls of scapegoating or bashing the people being assessed. It is sometimes also useful or necessary to conduct preliminary surveys to measure the cultural shift the company wishes to achieve. In fact, 360° is a strategic tool for change that helps strengthen a culture of coaching, self-questioning, personal transformation, and feedback.
The evaluation process involves four categories: managers or leaders, direct reports (n-1), peers, and partners.
Step 1: Choose the tool
The tool should align with the values to be assessed and observable behaviors. Each program has its own bias and assumptions about which behaviors to assess. The company therefore chooses the tool according to what it allows to observe and what it wants to highlight.
Step 2: Communicate the objectives
Communicate beforehand on top management’s objectives regarding culture. This communication must be consistent with the company’s business strategy in order to onboard everyone.
A questionnaire is then sent to the person being assessed and to the people in their environment, whom they will have designated together with their manager (if appropriate) and HR.
The answers to this questionnaire may be written or given orally directly to a coach.
Examples of soft skills to be assessed include:
communication (oral, written, relational effectiveness),
strategic vision (understanding of the company’s strategic challenges, ability to communicate and rally others around this vision),
business management (decision-making, progress tracking, issue prevention),
supporting employees (mobilization and development),
collaboration/team spirit (teamwork, solidarity),
attitude towards change (flexibility, innovation, responsiveness),
alignment with company values,
customer orientation.
Step 3: Delivery
The organization managing the 360° feedback produces a report which is shared only with the person assessed and the coach. Responses from the environment are anonymous to ensure confidentiality and obtain unbiased feedback.
The coach then conducts the debrief, which allows the manager/leader to:
acknowledge their strengths and accept their weaknesses,
implement a transformative action plan for their areas of improvement,
strengthen their ability to receive feedback and turn it into actions,
accept how they are perceived,
develop a strategic vision of their growth in line with their business strategy.
The coach’s role is to support the manager/leader in analyzing and understanding the key messages from the questionnaire so they can design a progress plan. Follow-up coaching may also be considered afterwards.
At the end of the sessions, the assessed manager/leader leaves with:
a copy of the report from the chosen tool, including a summary of their leadership style, their highest and lowest scores, perception gaps, strengths, and areas for development,
an action plan they have decided on with the coach, including 2 or 3 objectives and 4 or 5 success indicators,
possibly a vision report they have drafted themselves.
One of the positive effects of 360° feedback is the mobilization of employees involved in their manager/leader’s development journey—an effect that works all the better when the CEO fully engages in the process.
Step 4: Share the feedback
The results should be presented to HR, the executive committee, and top management, along with, whenever possible, a measure of the cultural change achieved. The next step may include revising the company’s internal communication strategy, updating the executive team’s coaching policy, and adjusting training programs.
Conclusion
360° feedback is currently a highly strategic tool for leaders, especially executive committee members, in today’s professional context (including remote work) and the new behaviors that result from it.
#Leadership #360Feedback #Feedback #Management