360-Degree and Upward Feedback Process

The Power of Feedback

There's no doubt about it; 360-degree and upward feedback processes are powerful. As one feedback recipient put it to New Futures' director Don Dunoon, "I've waited 30 years for feedback like this".

The feedback projects that New Futures conducts usually form part of a development process for managers, or aspiring managers. Commonly, the feedback exercise is carried out with other activities we offer, such as a workshop series and action learning processes. Sometimes, the feedback process is stand-alone, although with a debriefing component built in for individuals and perhaps a concluding workshop for all participants.

The power of such a process is principally that managers tend to find anonymous feedback from staff and colleagues (as well as from their own manager) jolts them into action for improvement, when otherwise they might find reasons to avoid acting. 

Aims

The focus of a feedback process is then, commonly, towards:

• Enabling individuals to gain insights into areas of strength and areas in need of improvement, as seen by colleagues and through a self-assessment
• Assisting and supporting individuals to understand the messages, themes and patterns in the feedback at a deeper level, and to develop and implement action plans to deal with any issues raised
• Assisting the participants as a group to better understand and deal with issues highlighted in the feedback that are relevant to the group generally, or at least to more than one individual.

Approach

While the process is tailored to the needs of the particular organisation, it generally involves at least four phases:

• Development of questionnaire
• Gathering of feedback
• Analysis of responses and preparation of individual reports
• Individual debriefing interviews.

New Futures also provides an aggregate report to the organisation, though strict confidentiality is observed in relation to the results for individuals.

An optional follow-up workshop enables the group as a whole to interpret the overall patterns in the results, identify any themes and issues, and plan improvement actions.

Development of questionnaire

In some cases the client organisation has its own management competency framework. If so, New Futures can work with the organisation to adapt items and build a feedback instrument.

In other instances, New Futures will provide the client with an initial set of manager capability statements, covering leadership and management skills. Don Dunoon will then meet with the client representatives - preferably including some of the participants - to discuss changes/additions/deletions to this initial set, in order to develop a set of manager capabilities that makes sense in the organisation's context.

From this discussion, a draft questionnaire is developed and posted online, and the client representatives are invited to comment. A revised questionnaire is then developed and submitted to the organisation for approval.

Gathering of feedback

Feedback responses are usually gathered via a web survey. Participants are provided with an invitation template, enabling them to customise an invitation to colleagues and relevant others requesting them to provide feedback. Managers also have the opportunity to complete a self-assessment, and to compare their own assessment with the responses from others.

Respondents are assured that their responses will be treated in the strictest confidence. They need to simply click on a link to the web survey document, complete the items and click on 'submit' to return their responses for analysis. Completing the feedback form generally takes only 10 minutes or so.

Respondents generally have a period of 2 weeks (though this can be extended if needed) within which to return completed questionnaires.

Analysis of responses and preparation of individual reports

From the responses returned, a confidential individual report is prepared and provided directly to each participating manager. The report comprises clear, coloured charts and respondent comments, and is designed to combine clarity, ease of comprehension and richness of information.

The report enables the individual manager to see:

• How he or she fared on each of the items in terms of response patterns
• Responses by respondent category (e.g. direct reports, own manager, self-assessment, peers)
• Respondents' written comments.

Note that New Futures' individual feedback reports do not include any comparison between that person's results and the overall group results. The danger with such comparisons is that they encourage managers to focus on how they rated relative to others, rather than on the areas in which they need to improve, personally.

Individual debriefing interviews

Each participant has a one-hour debriefing interview with the consultant, to help that individual interpret underlying themes and messages in the feedback, to clarify any areas of uncertainty, and to identify action strategies. The debriefing session can be conducted face-to-face, by telephone or by video-conference.

Further coaching sessions can be undertaken with individuals on particular issues or to help them strengthen their skills in particular areas of leadership and people management.

Optional follow-up workshop

A typical half-day workshop could involve:

• Reviewing the results for group as a whole and identifying patterns and themes in the combined results
• Exploring the deeper meanings and significance of particular results and issues
• Identifying strategies for improvement at the level of the management group as a whole.

To find out how a 360-degree or upward feedback program could benefit your managers and organisation contact New Futures for an obligation free discussion.

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