Make 360 feedback meaningful

By Debbie Hance, Head of Business Psychology

Last week, a good friend and colleague asked me which inventions had changed my life. Feeling that ‘Shellac’ might be a tad too shallow and flimsy, we talked about things that had changed our working lives and practice!

We both immediately settled on 360 degree feedback and heartily agreed that this remains one of the most powerful personal development tools we, as L&D practitioners, have at our disposal.

Whist on the subject of ‘invention’, we debated recent shifts and trends in the 360 market; the emphasis on strengths, the wider application of 360s beyond the boundaries of the career development discussion and the versatility and sophistication – and the different ways in which people can now offer and receive feedback - which technology affords.

But the challenge remains: how to make 360 feedback meaningful?

Something we’ve ‘created’ for our Talent 360 software which I would also say has had a significant impact on my practice - and on the recipients of 360 degree feedback - is our PAPU-NANU model.

I use the word ‘created’ because - as with many innovations - we have stood on the shoulders of giants and have taken inspiration from the ideas of others (in this case Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham) to invent it.  I’ve been using a simple version of this model for a number of years now, to help feedback recipients make sense of their feedback, to prioritise areas for action, to plan their personal response and to recognise the wealth of opportunities that feedback like this presents.  Writing it into our software has made life much easier; it helps to make 360 feedback meaningful.

PAPU was ahead of the curve on the strengths side of things. I’d long since established that, when written down in black and white, people would too quickly focus on the comments and ratings that they perceived to be more negative, and would often overlook more glowing feedback about their strengths, skills, successes and talents.  Among other things, PAPU is a way of restoring the balance and the opportunity here is to enable individuals to recognise and make better use of those things they already do well.  There are also opportunities for them to mentor or coach someone else in these areas, or to act as an organisational role model for these behaviours.

However, it doesn’t overlook potential development needs and the opportunity presented by this sort of feedback is to create a focused development plan (if we’re talking about a critical flaw, or something you need to develop in order to be more effective in your current or aspired-to role), or to accept that this is something you don’t do well, will never do well, and will benefit much more from delegating in this space or ensuring you have people around you who do it well!

We’ve had so much feedback from feedback recipients and feedback providers alike which says that PAPU is one of the most useful 360 degree tools or models they’ve come across and really does help to make 360 feedback meaningful.

For many people, it’s an access point and a very positive start to a discussion that can have a real impact on the way someone behaves at work.  People get it, and we’ve really enjoyed helping people to see the opportunities presented by their feedback, even when it comes as a surprise.

What, for you, has been significant in moving 360 degree feedback forwards?  What’s shaped the way you have feedback conversations with individuals?

360 is still an enormously popular and valuable tool, but we need to keep finding ways to make the feedback more useful, more meaningful, more engaging and more understandable to those on the receiving end.  Let’s keep innovating and changing people’s lives.

You may like to read more about PAPU-NANU in our article below.