Elva R Ainsworth - 360 Degree Feedback: A Transformational Approach

This is all about 360 degree feedback but it is not just about 360. This book is written as a thorough and practical review of all the critical factors you need to consider when you are introducing 360 degree feedback into an organisation. It covers how to position it, how to design the instrument and the report, how to deliver 360 data so it works and how to unpick the emotional reactions you may get from it. From over ten thousand hours of hands-on experience, it gives you examples of how 360 degree feedback can be done and how it can be done just right for your environment. Overall, it describes an approach designed and tested to have a truly transformational impact.

In order to do this it covers how best to approach your role as a change agent in HR (or as a consultant or coach) and ultimately how to change people. This thinking has emerged from a commitment to deliver 360 degree feedback as an effective developmental intervention but naturally also applies to other types of intervention, so you may discover a broader application of the key ideas and concepts. They have been discovered through dedicated experience of almost 30 years of operating in what is a deeply resistant culture here in the UK. A taste of the USA, which has a more self-expressive environment, demonstrated how resistance itself was significant which then led to a journey of discovery to work out how on earth HR can truly influence in these conditions. Hopefully you will see that it is possible to make a difference. It may take huge ingenuity and creativity along with a big dose of determination but it is worth it.

There is a whole new way for work to be one where everyone is fully satisfied; where talents are tenderly nurtured and growth is extraordinary; where there is a clarity of purpose and a strong sense of fulfilment; where results are co-created and the organisation is fully integrated into the community. HR has a special place in this future in that, if this were true, HR would be redundant yet at the same time could be wonderfully proud of being at the source of this new way. Hopefully you will see how a well-designed and carefully executed 360 degree feedback survey can help you get there.

360 Feedback

It was 1992. I was heading up the corporate HR function at the RAC Motoring Services and I was exasperated! Our newish intern was driving us crazy. He was bright and desperately keen to learn but way too eager to help. All my team were complaining as he kept getting in the way. I had tried all our usual tactics asking him to stop, personality profiling, others giving him feedback, even getting irritated with him, but nothing worked. I had heard of this new thing called 360 degree feedback so I tried this (it was an early form, based on a personality profile). Surely we in HR are supposed to be able to change peoples behaviours?

Everyone was delighted to be able to give him full and detailed feedback. He was happy to have some attention and I simply showed him the results. It was clear he saw himself as very caring, supportive and sensitive to feedback and literally everyone else saw him as quite the opposite on these traits. He took it in and went quiet. I acknowledged that I thought this reflected his clear intention to support us all and thanked him for this. I waited and finally he looked up at me and apologised profusely: I will stop trying so hard and start listening.