Management Team 360˚ Feedback Exercise

Welcome to your 360˚ feedback exercise. We are delighted to be supporting you in this development activity over the coming weeks. Your coach for this exercise will be Sarah Jaggers.

​The following information is intended to give you details about the process and more general guidance about feedback.

Why are we doing this?

360˚ feedback exercises are a great way to enhance your job performance, career fulfilment and potentially also your well-being. They are a valued and established way to support your professional development. When feedback is given well it has been shown to:

  • boost performance

  • enhance learning, skills and understanding

  • motivate and build confidence

  • demonstrate recognition and value

The process

We will be using the ECR 360 tool for this exercise. This is a well-established tool which has been designed for those in management and leadership roles. The tool assesses a series of emotional intelligence factors that support effective leadership behaviour. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is defined as "the capacity for recognising our feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships”. Studies suggest that for those with otherwise comparable IQ scores and technical skills/experience, having a higher EQ elevates performance, effectiveness and wellbeing. In most people, EQ develops naturally over time and, importantly for these purposes, can be further developed.
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360˚ feedback involves requesting feedback from a number of invited colleagues (raters) who know you and your work at least reasonably well. These people will usually be a selection of your managers, peers, direct reports and others - in other words a selection of people who can give an "all round" perspective. It will ask for feedback on observable behaviours relating to the way you manage yourself, your relationships with others, and your approach to your work. This will provide you with a picture of your strengths - which you may choose to capitalise further on, and your development areas - which you may choose to address.

The assessment process:

  • You should identify between 8 and 15 colleagues ('raters') you would like feedback from. To ensure the feedback you receive is of maximum development value to you, it is recommended that you choose from a balanced group of colleagues (e.g. try not just to select people who are friends or fans).

  • You should notify each person and ensure they are happy to provide feedback.

  • You will receive an email from Sarah with a link to the assessment.


The feedback coaching session:
Once the feedback is complete (which usually takes around two weeks), a confidential 1-1 session will be scheduled for you with Sarah in which the report will be discussed and explored with you. During the coaching session you will be supported in writing an action plan in which you may identify the areas arising from the report that you wish to develop further.

Confidentiality:
Your coaching conversation with Sarah will be confidential. On completion of the session your ECR360 report will be forwarded to you. It will not be shared with anyone else. You will of course be at liberty to share it with anyone you choose.

You may find it helpful to discuss your action plan with your line manager to ensure you are supported in its implemention.

Receiving feedback well

For most of us, receiving feedback from others is uncomfortable. In this exercise we will be emphasising the need for your raters to provide constructive and clear feedback which is intended to be helpful to your development. In the coaching session which follows the assessment, the report will be shared and explored with you in a sensitive and supportive way. If you have any concerns about the exercise please don't hesitate to contact Sarah. In the meantime, the following guidance may be helpful to you.

Be open to, even welcoming, of constructive feedback. This is being given to you, for your benefit, from people you have asked to provide it. Other people's perceptions of what you do well and what you do less well, how you behave and the impact you are having, provides important information that you can use to boost your performance and make changes to achieve your goals.

  1. Don't be defensive. It can be easy to try to justify a particular piece of work or situation upon receiving negative feedback about it. However this reaction can signify that you are not listening or willing to consider that there might be some merit in the feedback. If you feel yourself becoming defensive, take some time out to reflect further both on the feedback itself and what your feelings about it are. Could the feedback be accurate? Can you see the other person's perspective in this assessment? Are there things you might have done differently on further consideration?

  2. Don't brush aside the positive feedback and simply dwell on the areas for improvement. When receiving feedback it is very common for people to skate over the positive comments and ratings, and zoom straight into anything they consider critical or negative. This is problematic for two reasons: (1) optimal performance and well-being entails being able to recognise and accept your strengths and weaknesses and to hold them equally in balance. This means accepting that you have both strengths and weaknesses and being OK with that. It is not possible (or desirable) to be excellent at everything. (2) A significant body of research indicates that we derive greater performance and development benefit focusing mainly on our strengths rather than simply focusing on our weaknesses. If you don't fully understand your strengths you can't enhance them or capitalise on them.

  3. Keep the feedback in perspective. Do accept it at face value - raters will be providing feedback based on their knowledge of you in a particular area of your working life, and as seen through their eyes. Whilst you are advised not to simply reject some feedback out of hand, equally you are advised not to over-dwell on it either or to exaggerate its importance.

  4. Think about your response. Once you have received it, take some time to think it through and consider how you'd like to act on it. Are there consistent themes emerging that you might want to do something about? Are there some surprises you might want to ponder on, or get further feedback on? If a piece of feedback doesn't resonate with you and, if on further reflection you cannot think of examples that would have led to it, then you might want to reject it. Whilst it is helpful to challenge yourself and accept feedback gracefully, not all feedback is helpful and if you genuinely cannot find a productive way of acting on it then you might decide to ignore it. ​​

Providing effective feedback

As part of this exercise you may also be asked to provide 360˚ feedback for colleagues. This section is intended to help you provide constructive and clear feedback to them. In providing feedback, your responses are anonymised and your identity will not be revealed in the report.

​When completing the online ECR360 assessment you will asked to provide specific numbered ratings for a series of competencies, as you perceive the person to exhibit them. This will be followed by an opportunity to add free text comments regarding the person's strengths and development areas.
​Please ensure:

  • you keep in mind that the clearer and more specific the feedback you give, the more helpful it will be to the recipient​

  • you avoid giving 'middling' ratings where possible - it is assumed that all ratings are individual perspectives and not absolute measures

  • you avoid making ambiguous or hard to interpret comments

If the prospect of providing feedback to others troubles you, a helpful perspective can be to recognise the opportunity this provides you to support and encourage the development of valued colleagues.

See our section on Giving Feedback for further recommendations and guidance which you may also find helpful in the day-to-day management of your team members.

Being aware of unconscious bias

You may already be aware of 'unconscious bias' - those rapid, automatic thoughts and assumptions our brains make before we are aware of them. If you are familiar with the term you have probably encountered it with regard to gender, class, race, disability or sexual orientation. In the workplace, and especially when we are asked to provide (or receive) feedback from others, it is important to be aware how it affects you and others. Unconscious bias is a natural, normal phenomenon to which we are all subject. We can however work to overcome the discriminatory or unfair effects of this by thinking about our own biases, identifying them where possible and checking that our feedback and decisions are unaffected as far as possible.

As an example concerning gender bias, a fairly recent UK study (2017) involving over 4,000 employees, found that women consistently underrated their performance in 10 out of 24 competencies. In comparison, men rated themselves lower than the ratings they received from others in just 5 out of 24 competences. At the same time, the study found that women tended to give more positive performance ratings than men for 20 out of the 24 competencies when assessing other people. Significantly, the study found that men's performance was rated more or less equally by men and women raters, whilst women's performance was rated lower by men than by women.

This is concerning since it implies that women may be under-promoted and men over-promoted (particularly as men tended to rate women significantly lower on competences including leadership potential and persuasive communication, key factors in promotion decisions).

It may be helpful to keep this in mind when you are providing feedback on others, rating yourself or receiving feedback from others, whether concerning gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, social class and so on.​ If you have any concerns or questions about this don't hesitate to contact Sarah or your HR team.