Cake and fruit always go down well between sessions!

Developing in-house resource for 360 feedback

A previous message on the blog commented upon the importance of organisations developing in house capacity for 360 feedback as opposed to relying on external support. This brief article aims to share some experience and learning of developing in house capacity and skills in a large public sector organisation.

Rationale for introducing 360

Recognising that the quality of leadership was seen as the answer to many of the challenges it was currently facing, the senior management team of a large public sector organisation agreed to implement a structured approach of 360 feedback to the senior 80 people working in the organisation. The  process and rationale of creating an in- house resource of   360 feedback facilitators was debated and agreed and     some underlying principles as to how the process would be undertaken and introduced in order to allay concerns – (especially about confidentiality) were identified as a starting point. These  principles proved to be invaluable when working with the  feedback facilitators.

Initial principles

• Engage wider management team  colleagues to secure commitment to 360 process and agree core principles
• People would volunteer for the training as feedback facilitators but would have to have experience of facilitation
• Feedback facilitators would not feedback to people working  in their own part of the organisation (this was seen as away of keeping confidence and also developing relationships across she organisation)
• The feedback reports and data would be owned by the person undergoing the 360 and would not be stored on any organisational data base
• The process was to be developmental and not performance driven
• Participants would be encouraged to share learning and development plans with line mangers  (links to appraisal to be clear)
• A quality process was to be developed which included 2.5 development days and follow up support for facilitators
• Ensure all raters understand their role and responsibility to enable timely and useful contribution to the feedback process.
• Plan for evaluation of  the whole 360 process
• Ensure core principles of 360 are understood by those participating and line managers.

The training process

I and another very experienced facilitator / trainer underwent a programme of training for trainers which included undergoing the 360 process ourselves. This was invaluable in enabling us to empathise with concerns associated with the process of feeding back and also receiving feedback. (Additionally we were able to anonymise our reports and we used them as additional reports for training purposes – only revealing after the session that the reports were ours and this willingness to share was really well received by the group ! ) We decided to hold an initial introductory half day session with the initial group of  facilitators  who came from  very different parts of the organisation  (9 in total). This gave us the opportunity to be clear about expectations,  the process of training and subsequent commitment  ( it also gave people the chance to opt out if this really wasn’t for them). Everyone who wanted to train as a facilitator had to undergo 360 themselves and this was set up immediately following the introductory session. Their  reports would be used  as real feedback training material on the final day of training and we needed to ensure people were comfortable with this.

Aims for the initial half day were:

• To ensure understanding of the context for 360 degree feedback in the organisation
• To introduce participants to the 360 tool  and the Leadership Framework it linked to
• To explore the purpose and benefits of 360 degree feedback
• To explain how the 360 process works
• To introduce participants to the 360 feedback tool technical manual
• To set up participant 360 assessments
• To be clear about role and expectation

Additionally we explored the importance of investing in time ensuring that chosen raters understood their role as this would add to the richness of the reports.

Following a 6 week gap we met for days 2 and 3 and on day 2 the training included:

• Facilitators role and responsibilities
• The report
  • format
  • analysing and interpreting the data
• Case study reports
• Feedback process and skills (including facilitation  skills, real listening and powerful and solution focussed  questions)
• Preparation for day 3  using a real 360 report to feedback to another group member

The final day saw the group divided into trios and   working in different groups of 3 they each took the role of

• Feedback facilitator
• Receiving feedback of own 360 report
• Observing and feeding back to colleagues

This process evaluated really positively and had additional benefits:

• The participants became very aware that they perhaps did not give enough feedback  in their usual roles ( a real criticism of leaders in this public sector)
• They found the process very challenging – but because it was so real it was valued and they felt a real sense of achievement
• They especially liked working in trios and liked the feedback from the observer and the facilitators who moved between all groups
• Many of them tried to slip into “tell” modes instead of facilitation and the support structures challenged them (and their perceptions of themselves)
• The organisation was able to run a composite report giving more information on organisation learning and development needs
• The group have stayed together and worked with a facilitator to become a learning set sharing experiences

As facilitators we found the whole process exciting and challenging and our top tips are:

• Invest in the initial half day – you get real buy in
• Do be very clear that people  are facilitating 360  feedback – they are not acting in judgment and therefore investment in sessions on facilitation skills, questioning and listening make  a real difference
• People are up for being  really challenged if it is constructive
• Don’t assume people who say they do -really have good facilitation skills
• Ensure you talk about real listening and sensitive questioning
• There is a lot of information here- even for senior leaders- plan time carefully
• Cake and fruit always go down well between sessions!
• Ensure you have the capacity for ongoing support structures
• Think about how you are going to challenge the real time  feedback if it is not being done well- be clear about your role as trainers  and what people can expect in the interest of learning
• Think carefully about the rooms (we did) – ensure people can be comfortable and have tissues discretely in each room (Many people got emotional about positive affirmation of things they do well)
• Be clear about your links to the senior team  and ensure participants have opportunities to help shape ongoing  processes and principles.

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This post was written by Kim Jelphs. Kim can be reached at KIJ Limited

Photo credit: Adactio

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