The Map is not the Territory – 360° as a coaching tool

This post is very much about my own experiences of using 360° feedback as a coaching tool and I don’t profess to be an expert. I would be very interested to read views on alternative approaches, so if you do read this, please don’t refrain from adding a comment and enhancing the post with the benefit of your own experience. It would be appreciated.

I think that feedback gathered using a 360° process is a wonderful thing. If you get the process right then you will receive feedback that is fast, confidential, targeted and benchmarked, creating a powerful picture for the individual on how they are perceived by a range of their colleagues.

This feedback picture can be vivid, nuanced and full of insight, but it can never be the truth. The feedback that colleagues give to the individual will always be subjective, it will always be open to bias and some respondents will never have the time and inclination to give feedback that is honest and specific. No matter how much attention you give to the design of your questionnaire, if you are running the process for more than one individual then you will not be able to completely bespoke it for each of those individuals, tailoring each question to the specific demands of their job roles. The point I am trying to make is that the 360° process gives the individual this fantastic feedback picture, but it should not be presented to them as the truth.

This is the first point in my mind when I use 360° feedback as the basis for a coaching session, however that doesn’t mean that I feel wary about how the session is going to unfold. Instead, I feel excited, as I believe that this kind of feedback represents a powerful opportunity for the coach and coachee.to generate insight and self-awareness.

Self-awareness is very rarely easily achieved, especially in relation to how we are perceived by those around us and it is not surprising that we shy away from examining how our behaviour impacts on others. Even if we are prepared to put aside our fears of being judged, then collecting meaningful feedback from our colleagues can be an awkward process, for instance, walking around the office asking each person in turn ‘so then, what do you really think about me?’ is just going to make you feel more odd, rather than enlightened.

The 360° feedback will provide a powerful, if imperfect, picture of how an individual is perceived by their colleagues, focusing not just on their areas for development but also their qualities and their particular talents. This gives the coachee a rare opportunity to generate powerful insights into their behaviour and raise their levels of self-awareness. It is worth reminding them however, that this all within the context of their working environment. They are not being given feedback on their worth as a human being, rather they are being granted insights into say, what the people they manage think about their ability to set meaningful objectives, or what their own manager thinks about their strategic skills.

Here lies the rub. For many of us, the tendency when we’re presented with this vivid picture of feedback will be to pick out the negative points, the stark scores or statements that stand out and prick at our pride. Sure we’re happy that our colleagues value our open and positive communication style, but we CANNOT BELIEVE that they don’t think we’re quite so hot on delivering projects on time. How DARE they! It’s natural to indulge in some self-flagellation, but it isn’t going to get us any further down the road. So this is where I think the coach needs to work really hard to ensure that the 360° process remains a useful process for the coachee.

I feel that if I’m coaching someone through a 360° feedback session, I need to ensure that we have a really strong and robust structure to our conversation. At the beginning, when we set our ‘contract’ together, I’ll be sure to let them shape their outcomes for the session and the areas that they want to explore, but I’ll also be a little bit directive and establish that as well as taking a look at the areas where they feel they want to develop, we’ll be exploring what the feedback tells us about their key strengths, their qualities and the talents that their colleagues feel they bring to the workplace. I will propose that we take a forensic approach to all the feedback that has being generated, establishing which is strong, honest, accurate and focused – the stuff that we can work with and which can be of use to the individual. That’s the good stuff we want to pick out the key themes from, getting us closer to the truth. The rest will be of no use to the coachee and they can take the decision to discard it.

I will be clear that some of the feedback will be of no surprise to the coachee and that it may be more beneficial to focus on the themes that contain fresh insights and new understanding, rather than treading on old ground. And I will also offer the idea that you cannot please everyone all of the time, that there maybe aspects of the coachee’s behaviour or work-style that don’t go down well with some individuals, but that those choices are made for the sake of the organisation and shouldn’t lead to knee-jerk reactions.

Finally, I will emphasise the context within which the feedback has been created, reminding them that the 360° process is powerful yet imperfect and does not represent the truth, rather it represents an opportunity for the coachee to find their own truth.

These are the kind of parameters that I want to build into this kind of session. They underpin the conversation and help provide a supportive and positive space within which the coachee can explore all the marvellous feedback that has been collected for them. With any luck, they will gain new understanding, recognising where they might build on their existing strengths and where they might try new ideas and strategies in their drive for self-management. As the coach in this kind of session, I would be seeking to understand what learning needs the coachee had identified for themselves and the opportunities they would grasp in order to meet those needs.

My final thought around using 360° as a coaching tool is that I would be surprised if you can tie up all the themes that emerge in just one session. After such a powerful barrage of feedback, the coachee is going to need some time for reflection and let these new insights and ideas settle into the mind and it may take one or two follow-up sessions before they’ve really absorbed everything that has been handed to them by their colleagues.

To conclude then, I believe that the 360° process is a powerful coaching tool that if handled carefully, can enable the recipient to reap some rich rewards in terms of self-awareness and new insights.

Over to you. What do you think?

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