Talent 360
Receiving constructive, evidential feedback from those you work with is one of the most efficient ways to improve performance and provide a focus for personal development.
Head Light Communications offers feedback sessions with skilled occupational psychologists, and feedback training and coaching for your managers.
A sample outline of the programme for a 360 degree review programme would be:
- Principles, purpose and benefits of 360-degree feedback
- The 360 degree feedback process
- Understanding the competencies used in the review
- Interpreting the report
Facilitating the feedback discussion - Giving and receiving feedback
Planning for personal development
The initial session is typically followed up by further 1-on-1 or small group coaching sessions.
The JoHari Window was developed in the 1950s by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham whilst researching group dynamics. It is also referred to as a 'disclosure/feedback model of self awareness'.
Extract from a Talent 360 personal report comparing ratings by reviewer group, showing the degree of consensus and identifying reviewer groups that are in the ‘best’ position to observe the behaviour (eye symbol).
Most organisations seek to provide this type of feedback to their staff through a performance and development review process personal development planning and through coaching/mentoring programmes.
The way feedback is provided to participants is recognised as a critical factor affecting the value the participants, and the organisation, can derive from such processes, however recent research in the UK (HR workbench, 2005) revealed that as many as 20% of organisations using 360 degree review for these purposes do not offer formal feedback sessions with someone with the specific skills to interpret 360 degree review feedback and provide feedback.
This raises concerns that the participants are more likely to misinterpret or over-interpret the feedback and fail to build constructively on the information available to them. For example it is common for individuals to focus on gaps and deficiencies, rather than being able to identify underlying themes and ways they could build on their strengths and the on the strengths of others around them.
Personal reports often run to many pages and contain a huge amount of information, often both numeric data and free text. It is easy to be overwhelmed and to miss key information. It is also common for individuals to focus on negative feedback.
A review session with a suitably qualified person can help an individual apply a structured approach to studying and interpreting the feedback and a sense of perspective when considering whether feedback is genuine or not. The ‘JoHari Window¹’ is an example of such an approach.
Using the ‘JoHari Window’ you place bits of feedback (comments or competency ratings) in one of four boxes, depending on how you and others viewed this particular aspect. By categorising the feedback in this way it is easier to identify what you should do in response to the feedback and themes arising, allowing you to prepare a highly focussed and achievable development plan. For example you can think of ways you could plan to use your ‘Clear Strengths’ more often, in more situations or how they could support you developing your weaker areas, or trying to understand why others are not be seeing your ‘Hidden Talents' and what you could do to change their perceptions.
A feedback session with a skilled facilitator can help an individual interpret the differences in opinion expressed by different reviewer groups as each reviewer group will have different perceptions of the behaviour and may be affected in different ways by changes in behaviour.
It can also help an individual evaluate the impact of changes in behaviours over time by comparing current ratings with past results, and put current performance into context with standards and expectations of performance by comparing results with reference groups.
Improving the quality of how feedback is provided makes a significant impact on the value individuals and the organisation derive from. It also demonstrates organisational commitment to personal development, which is an important factor in retaining high potential staff.
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