Developing your Leadership Pipeline
360 Feedback Surveys provide managers with valuable feedback from a variety of sources (most commonly, their direct reports, peers, and immediate manager) on important workplace behaviors or management competencies.
360 Feedback Surveys have been used for leadership development, and/or as an input for performance evaluation for more than 20 years. Despite their widespread use, we have seen multi-rater survey implementations that have not achieved hoped-for results because of a lack of communication with regards to project goals and objectives, poorly designed questionnaires, and limited post-survey coaching and guidance.
Our process for conducting 360 Feedback Surveys can help you avoid these problems.
Our Process
Clarifying Objectives
360 Feedback Surveys can be used for different objectives. Will the emphasis be on development, assessment, and/or succession planning?
The first step in the process, then, is to gain clarity and reach agreement as to the objectives of the project. This step typically includes dialogue with senior management and key HR leaders. Besides clarifying objectives, it’s also important to have a communication strategy, and project milestones, from project inception to post-survey facilitation.
Questionnaire Development
Questionnaire development can follow different paths depending on an organization’s prior experience with 360 Feedback Surveys.
The process may be as simple as uploading a questionnaire that has already been developed internally onto our on-line survey application. Other organizations may have already identified their competencies but need professional assistance in translating those competencies into concrete, verifiable statements that are anchored on a single behavior.
For some organizations, outside expertise may be needed in first identifying competencies. We can assist by conducting face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews and/or facilitated workshops to identify competency clusters. We will then draft the questionnaire based on the competencies that have been identified and validated.
Administration
Administering 360 Feedback Surveys can be time-consuming. This is particularly true when participants and raters are new to the process, and possibly reluctant to participate. Our approach to survey administration streamlines and facilitates this part of the process, and also allows HR to take a more active role, in cases where participants may have difficulty in nominating raters and/or completing the questionnaires.
Feedback & follow-up
A critical part of the process is the follow up coaching and feedback sessions. First-time feedback recipients benefit greatly from having an experienced coach or facilitator help them interpret the feedback and provide guidance. This part of the process can be facilitated through one-on-one sessions with our consultants, through a facilitated workshop, or via a train-the-trainer session to equip those in attendance with the skills necessary to interpret the report and give and receive feedback.