Hi Marshall
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic. I wished I had this information an year ago when I had my 360 degree evaluation: ) I liked your example of follow-up after 2 months.

I would like to share what I did after my 360 degree evaluation, because it did help me significantly to focus on my growth plan and make measurable progress. It may help others also.

First thing I noticed that the feedback is more useful if you have more people providing you the feedback. If you have only your boss, your one direct report, and one co-worker provide you the feedback then it may not be as valuable as it should be.

Second, after gathering the feedback I did the exercise of S.W.O.T. analysis i.e. Strengths, Weakness (Wishes), Opportunities, and Threats. Based on the feedback I listed 8 to 10 items in each section on the paper. Once I had all the items in each section, I highlighted the top 3 (in Green) and bottom 3 (in Red) items in each section. For example, my top 3 strengths are highlighted in green color and bottom 3 strengths are highlighted in red color in the STRENGTHS section.

After doing the above exercise, I had a good list of top 3 items from each section and it helped me to put together the action plan to work on these. In addition, I also tried to find the correlation among all top 3 across to see if there is a dependency or the link between them.

Finally, the follow-up and making good notes about your progress by doing the timely self analysis and evaluation helped me significantly.

Regards,
Kashi
Capella University
kashif@kashifahmed.com

Hi Marshall
It is a wonderful article.
Yes 360 Degree feedbacks are very useful in running a complex organization.
The most important thing it can bring in transparency and can reduce office politics, which is very much necessary for running the business efficiently and effectively.
Regards.
Debashish Bramha

Hi Marshall,

I have floated my own company just a year back. Right now not many people are working under me but I have a dream of making it real big.But I am for sure going to keep all your inputs in my mind and bring them in practice once I have a big team to handle.

Thanks

Thank you Marshall,

360 Feedback is another tool, and the usefulness is determined by how we use it.

Many years ago, as a new VP in an extremely large corporation, I received 360 Degree feedback. The corporate behavioral psychologist who worked through the results with me advised me to refresh my resume immediately and leave the company because I was "actually a team player and this is a company where people climb the ladder stepping on the knives they placed in the backs of their co-workers."

I thanked him and replayed the conversation to my immediate boss whom I did not perceive to be a "bloody ladder climber." I also called my direct reports together, thanked them for their participation and shared my feedback results (without the "ladder" comment).

Over the years, I witnessed some people climb the ladder quickly, and fall more rapidly as their true character revealed itself.

Now retired from the firm after lengthy service, I continue to receive periodic calls for assistance and job referrals from some of the "bloody ladder climbers."

360 Feedback is a wonderful tool if used appropriately. Your inner Truth will out.

Kashi:
- I agree that three raters in not really enough.
- Thanks for all of your ideas. It sounds like you did a wonderful job of self-monitoring. My only suggestion is to involved others more.
Debashish - I agree. If the feedback is used correctly, it will be a good antedote to excessive politics.
Dagny - Thank you. This sounds like a great plan!
Don - I agree with you. 'Your inner truth will out' - and the quality of the feedback process is very dependent upon the receiver of the feedback!

Hi marshall,

I agree fully that once a 360 degree feedback report has been completed on an individual it means nothing unless the individual reviews the report and their manager uses it to challenge them on specific weaknesses/ strengths which in turn should aid creating a personal development plan.

360 feedback - Excellent point! 'Information' without 'action' is useless data.

Dear Marshall,

It was a nice article....but quite surprised with the criteria on which companies plan to set benchmarks for a feedback that can be called as 360 Degree feedback!
Is the feedback conveys the typical observation of his or her co-workers, or really it is intended to construct some forum to provide the person an opportunity to get a self analysis.

Is it really important to have a SWOT analysis by the company members, or we may take this kind of suggestions from his social life too.

It’s not important what change we r looking in our employee, but it is quite important that whether the person concerned is realizing the change everybody wants to cater into him & how the person himself can justify these change which he or she will be accepting to the persons outside the organization. Because it somehow may impact in his Behavior or Attitude.
So Adjustment towards change for the organization should be proportional to the adaptability of the same with their Social environment.

Thanks & Regards,
Pankaj Pujari
Corporate Trainer & Business Analyst
New Delhi [India]

Dear Marshall,

Excellent topic. I agree with Don. In my opinion, one the most difficult things to achieve is meaningful behavioral change. Turning 360º feedback into a positive evolving experience may require professional help. Let's face it, we are what we are. We perceive facts through a complex set of acquired paradigms and our built in hardware. Change should help us evolve into better human beings not angry corporate automatons.

Meaningful behavioral change is no easy task. I would not recommend anyone embark on this journey alone as you may end up right where you started, angry and confused.

This could not have come at a better time for me. I regularly support 360 feedback surveys and I was scheduled to debrief one this morning. We always struggle in outlining how the participant should react with the team and i was planning on creating a debriefing tool from Marshall's latest book.

As soon as i came in, i had a link in my mailbox to this article and i was ecstatic to share it with my participant.

Note: As a good practice, i schedule a myers briggs assessment for the participant before they receive any feedback information. After the Myers Briggs feedback session, I ask, "What do you think your 360 team said about you?" This is usually great, because the participant generally identifies the key themes before we share the actual comments. It seems to take some of the "bite" out of the feedback.

THANKS again for this great tool!

Good 360 assessments, well carried out, are a powerful tool. Their benefit is considerably increased when they are managed by an independant operator (coach)(from outside the company), who can debrief on the feedback in a neutral and apolitical manner. The coach can then ensure that any development plan(s) are implemented. The majority of today's employees are often so busy with their day to day workload that designing and implementing a development plan can be pushed to back of mind. If development is associated with behaviour change, it takes time and persistance and a coach can ensure that it happens.

Dear Marshal,
It is relly an intrsting and one that really works. It covers all possile aspects that one can forget & doesnot seems where to find them.

Abdul Subhan
BBA8 (HRM)
IBA Sukkur

Pankaj - I agree. Thank you for this connection of the individual and organization reaction to change.
Ramon - While 'we are what we are' - we don't have to 'continue to be what we have been'. The first step in change is to avoid stereotyping yourself and realize that you don't have to keep repeating the same behaviors - unless you choose to!
Donna - Thank you for using what I have been writing! Thanks as well for this great tip!
Alan - I am a great believer in the value of coaching. On the other hand, in some cases INTERNAL coaches can be just as good - or better - than external coaches. GE proved this with some great research that used my coaching process.
Abdul - Thank you!