360 degrees of development

360 degree feedback is a popular leadership development tool, but can meet with mixed reactions internally. Larissa Bannister reports on how to get the most out of 360s and investigate how they can help create a culture of openness within your organisation

How do your senior executives manage their development? Do they operate in a vacuum or do they get honest input from others on skills or behaviours they need to work on? How would you feel if your staff told you what they really think of you?

The concept of 360 degree feedback is not a new one. US companies like General Electric were using it as early as the 1970s, and a recent study by business consultancy Gen Group found that 57 per cent of Australia’s top 100 companies use 360 degree feedback in some form.

The bad news is that not all of these companies view 360s as being of significant benefit. According to Gen Group managing director Ryk Bliszczyk, “the responses we got were highly variable. There was no consistent endorsement – in fact the most common rating was only ‘moderately satisfied’.

“We found that some companies were making up their own assessments; others were using consultants – there was no common way to conduct them,” he adds. “So under the circumstances it is not surprising that the levels of satisfaction varied. Success depends on the people managing the survey.”

Some of the negative responses may have come about because the tool was not being used correctly. According to Bliszczyk, 40 per cent of those companies utilising 360s do so for performance appraisals rather than for development purposes. But most commentators agree that people should not be penalised as a result of an assessment of this kind. “Companies should not withhold bonuses on 360 results, which focus on leadership competencies – they should be helping their executives improve,” Bliszczyk comments.

360 degree assessments are particularly useful when it comes to the development of leaders. A typical 360 will involve self-assessment and assessment by a manager, by direct reports and by peers – those in similar roles within the organisation – on a range of pre-determined criteria. The results are then fed back to the participant either by their manager or by an HR professional.

The practice of 360 degree assessment

Gemma Summers is project manager for the NSW Health Department’s executive development support centre (EDSC). The EDSC is designed to focus on executive development of senior staff across all health sectors and uses 360 degree assessment as one of many assessment tools.

“It’s an excellent tool for leadership development,” Summers says of 360. “Lots of people don’t get any surprises as a result of it, which is good, and those who do can initiate discussion around the issues that come up.”

The results of the 360 are given in a private feedback session run by external consultants, after which the participants talk with their managers. “Follow-up is important,” says Summers. “We look at ways to address the issues that come up, by providing coaching, for example.”

NSW Health uses an online 360 process, which Summers recommends. “It’s easy to operate – you can tick the boxes and then a report is generated, there’s no manual computation involved. We also feel that using consultants makes the process easier and cleaner in terms of conflict of interest and confidentiality.”

The confidentiality issue is an important one and is the reason why assessments of this kind are sometimes viewed with mistrust. “The results are in written form and so are on the record – people can be concerned about the effect they might have on their future advancement, particularly if someone in their team has a destructive attitude,” Summers says.

Lend Lease has been employing 360 assessments for years and has developed its own in-house tool, says Asia Pacific HR manager Beth Winchester. “It takes a robust culture for 360s to work,” she comments. “People have to trust the process enough that they feel comfortable with telling the truth but as time goes on, people do become more comfortable with it.”

Cisco HR manager Stephanie Ladas says that maintaining anonymity is extremely important. Cisco has developed its own leadership development 360 degree feedback tool, which generally takes about six weeks to administer from start to finish. “With the exception of the feedback that managers provide to their direct reports, all feedback is combined so that individual responses are aggregated and cannot be viewed [separately],” Ladas explains.

Five years ago, Lend Lease developed a leadership capability framework to focus on succession planning and high potential employees. The questions included in the 360 are based around the framework, which in turn focuses on the type of qualities that the company needs its leaders to have.

Every employee who participates (generally senior executives from the CEO down to regional management teams) is rated on the same criteria. “We originally had three different question models but I found that really offered no benefit – the one tier model works well,” says Winchester.

Results are discussed with the participant’s manager. “Some managers are good at delivering the feedback and others are not so good,” she comments. “We give coaching on how to pick the themes out of the results and drill down to work out what areas need development.

“It’s one of the great development tools,” Winchester adds. “It’s simple to do but really powerful at providing insights. It’s also important to do the same test throughout your career so you can track progress. For example, one year I had feedback from my team that I came across as being cold and calculating. It was a year in which I had lots of tough decisions to make and we had a lot of exits which was why that came across. If I’d got the same feedback the following year then it would have been time to start worrying.”

The Western Australian Department of Health runs a three-year population health training program for public health employees, including doctors. Part of the process involves 360 degree assessment with assessors nominated by the participants themselves. Jason Micallef, the program coordinator, says that many of the participants are not used to being assessed at all, particularly on competency-based frameworks, but that although some are reluctant initially they tend to be enthusiastic once the assessment has been completed.

WA Health’s program differs from many others in that it measures technical competencies as well as leadership and management behaviours. Micallef says the program is flexible and can be adapted to individual needs and changes to general requirements – for example, he is planning to nominate assessors himself in the future rather than allowing participants to choose who is involved.

“We compare the results to analyse how they rate themselves against how others see them,” he says. “We can then arrange training programs to address areas they need to work on. After one year we have another meeting to look at what progress has been made.”

Micallef says the questions used are of prime importance. “You need to make sure you’re measuring the right thing and that the questions are in line with your strategic objectives. These can change – I’m looking at including more leadership as well as technical competencies.”

The WA Health program was developed by Lucy Bertoli, senior policy officer for workforce policy and standards. “360s can be very enlightening for those involved,” she says. “It’s not always bad news – people often find out that they are in fact strong in areas where they thought they had some weakness.

“If the facilitation is trustworthy and anonymity is maintained then people can be honest, often for the first time,” she adds. “It’s the best way for participants to get objective, comprehensive feedback on their performance.”

She says it is important that participants have ownership of the tool. “We leave it to them what they do with the results, although I do advise them to go to their mentor and discuss them.”

Ownership by HR staff is important too. “I have also run 360 degree assessments on an organisation-wide basis, for which we used external consultants. Some employees found that quite daunting and I found that I didn’t appreciate the benefits as much as when I was administering the project myself,” she says.

According to Glenys Drew, senior HR advisor for organisational development at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 360 degree feedback can do more than just aid leadership development. “It can really change the culture of an organisation,” she says. “It creates a culture where accountability is increased, as is the level of discussion and frankness about behaviours. There is more receptivity to feedback and people become prepared to talk frankly without fear.”

Drew says the QUT tool is “squarely for development purposes”. All senior managers at the university undertake the leadership profile once every two years after which Drew works with them on plans of action. “It’s important to concentrate on the positives as well as the negatives and ensure people congratulate themselves for their good behaviours as well as address weaker areas,” she says.

Drew says the tool can also be useful in measuring team performance, as individual results can be aggregated to assess the performance of a complete team. It’s an easy tool to sell internally, she adds. “Leaders see the feedback as so useful because it enables them to use the limited time they have for their own development to work on areas where it’s really needed. It’s so well embedded now in our culture that often the leader of a senior team will contact me saying it’s time for the team to take the assessment even before we’ve sent out the [two-yearly] reminder.”