Go Full Circle-Why Everyone Should be Asking for 360 Feedback

It’s easy to get caught up at work in the daily grind. You’re focused on fulfilling your job description, your team’s mission statement and checking off your to-do list. You might have an annual review with your boss– wait, did it actually happen? - but isn’t/wouldn’t it be great to know how you’re performing more regularly than once a year? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know how your colleagues, not just your boss, perceive you or your effectiveness? This is what makes 360 Feedback, where you are evaluated by peers, supervisors and subordinates, essential.

Professional athletes get feedback every time they are challenged, at practice or in a competition. They learn immediately what they have to improve upon. Executives should also enjoy this privilege. The goal of 360 Feedback is to use the comments and critiques of your colleagues to create a development plan and help you be the manager and leader you want to be.

I prefer calling the practice “Feedback Interviews” because people tend to associate 360 Feedback with “let’s find a reason to fire you”. I favor qualitative one-on-one interviews because they result in more specific and tactical feedback that can  provide executives with the opportunity to realize their objectives. Your choice to pursue Feedback Interviews also highlights the fact that you are so motivated to be a better manager or leader that you have engaged a coach to help yourself achieve such goals. More often than not, your colleagues will want to know how they too can get a coach and why they haven’t pursued this valuable perk.

A 360 questionnaire identifies a person’s strengths, areas they need to work on, and advice that could be helpful, such as “What do you appreciate the most about (name of leader)?” Or, “What could they do to improve their leadership effectiveness?” It’s preferable for the interviews to be conducted by a few different coaches, if resources allow, to avoid interview fatigue and to ensure objectivity.

The results include the obvious ones, things you already knew you had to work on, or areas where you know you excel. There will be issues you discover that you had not considered. And then, there is, inevitably, the surprise.

The surprise is probably the hardest thing to hear and digest. Not only were you unaware of this perception about you, but you may also feel like you have bent over backwards to perform well, and are flabbergasted that people aren’t seeing that. You are probably going to feel hurt and insulted, maybe even betrayed. Though you feel like you work tirelessly on your performance, we humans tend to overestimate the impact our effort has in the workplace. Your colleagues probably  don’t take daily notes on how you’re doing, like counting the number of presentations on marketing strategy you gave over the last three months, even if you are keeping tabs on yourself. My advice? Create a development plan, list your tactics and double it or triple it, for whatever you are trying to improve. When you think you are starting to sound like a broken record is likely the first time your change is getting noticed.

Once we’ve completed your 360 review, understood the feedback and created a plan for new actions or behaviors, you have to apply the Rule of Seven. This marketing adage says that a prospect needs to hear your marketing message at least seven times before they will buy from you. The same theory applies to the message of new behavior. Your colleagues need to see that you are on board with change and need to see examples of your willingness to see it through. The sting of the surprise diminishes when you realize that this was an area you already knew you would have to work on, but just probably didn’t know how much more you would have to step on the gas. Once you accept this, the rest is easy. It’s about beefing up the tactics and the effort needed to accomplish your goals. 360 Feedback is not for you if you are not open to hearing honest feedback or making changes, then

Below, some of my clients explain their experience with 360 Feedback.

Jennifer, a senior director at a financial services company in charge of product and business strategy, pursued 360 Feedback as part of a training package for senior female executives at her firm. She said the biggest “aha moment” was when it became clear that there was a huge difference between her intent and the impact she had on her colleagues.

“People had the impression that I was very ambitious and working for myself, but anyone who really knows me and works with me daily know that I’m in it for the team,” said Jennifer.

Jennifer said the process helped her change how she expressed herself, how to solicit ideas, and “to recognize the contributions of others in a more deliberate way.” It also helped her understand that her company’s culture didn’t suit her and now, she’s changing jobs.

Meaghan, a senior product development executive at a media company, also did Feedback and discovered that when she didn’t get back to a colleague in the time the colleague expected, it was perceived as a passive-aggressive power play. She learned that she needed to keep her lines of communication more open.  Meaghan also understood that she had to set clearer expectations on what she was delegating in terms of content and deadlines.

“I can piss people off,” said Mark, an operations and organization manager in financial services. “I struggle with: do I bend over backwards to make people like me and forgo the project, or just be a badass?”

Mark understood that his greatest setback was in his delivery of information to others. He learned he had to be more inclusive, less abrupt. Something that can be frustrating when you’re the experienced senior executive dealing with hotshot young Wall Street recruits. So rather than imposing one idea from the outset, Mark brings up the subject, discusses how he’s treated it before – if he has – and asks others for input. He says he has to remind himself to be open minded but is thankful that the 360 Feedback pointed this out. He also warned that it’s futile to undertake 360 Feedback if you’re not open to feedback.