We run 360° feedback projects so that leaders and managers can learn about how others experience them as leaders, build on their strengths and plug any major gaps. Done well, this can be enormously valuable.
There is another benefit we don’t often talk about: What managers can learn from the process of giving feedback.
Picture this: You are a senior manager in a company conducting a 360° feedback project. You know it’s important, but you have a very busy schedule, and too many middle managers you have to rate. You have left it late and now you are under pressure to get it done.
Half-way through the process you find the name of your most “difficult” team member. Let’s call him Jonah. There are some things he doesn’t do well, but there is also an “attitude” that annoys you. “This one will be easy” you think to yourself, and you rush through the questionnaire giving scores of two or three out of seven, barely pausing to check the particular behaviour.
This is understandable. Even the most principled managers can struggle with a certain degree of bias. They may have team members who they feel just don’t perform, and others who they feel can do no wrong.
What has just happened is most unfortunate, and it probably just hardens the antagonism you feel towards Jonah as being a difficult thorn in your flesh.
It’s also unfortunate because it is a missed opportunity. If you had been less pressed for time, and if you had thought about it, rating a team member using a 360° questionnaire is a perfect opportunity to explore why you feel such antagonism towards this member of your team.
The questionnaire probably contains about 50-60 behaviours. If you gave it due consideration you might have found, for example, that Jonah is often late for meetings and doesn’t complete tasks on time. He may also be resistant to changes in the way that work gets done and not very open to receiving critical feedback from you. These are annoying traits, and could be particularly provocative to someone like you with a large team and pressure to get even more work out of them.
However, as you thoughtfully work through the questions, you may also realise that Jonah manages his own team rather well, sometimes steps forward to take on tasks not in his job description, and has effective working relationships with teams across the company. These qualities would probably be affirmed by other raters who are the colleagues or direct reports to Jonah and show up in Jonah’s report.
This would be very helpful. The detailed nature of the 360 creates a useful guide to understanding your colleagues and those who report to you. It can help you to zero in on those behaviours in your team members that really need to change AND help you to take note of particular strengths for use in the future. This can transform a general discomfort about a particular staff member into a plan to address their shortcomings and help you to give credit where it is due.
You don’t have to like Jonah any more, but you can learn to enhance his contribution to the team. As your ill-defined antagonism to Jonah falls away, you may even find that he becomes more receptive to the (now) constructively critical feedback you have to give him, especially if you also give him credit for the strengths highlighted in the 360.
This added benefit of conducting a 360° feedback project will only happen if companies make it happen. This means that in preparing their staff, project leaders should take care to point out to their managers: “This is not only about what people can learn from receiving feedback. It is also about what you can learn by being thoughtful about the feedback that you give.”
One last tip: If you are receiving the 360 feedback reports on your team members, look for those behaviours where you rate a participant much lower than their colleagues or direct reports. You may be correct in your rating, but you may also learn that others have a very different view. That should be food for thought.
Other articles in this series will help you plan and run your 360° feedback project to best achieve the objectives that you have set.
Thornhill consultants will gladly answer any questions you may have to ensure the successful implementation of a 360° feedback process in your organisation.
For more information on Thornhill’s various products and services for all levels within your organisation, please contact us on admin@thornhill.co.za.
Written by Cedric de Beer