360 Degree Feedback

Getting other people's feedback on how you behave is one of the most important ways leaders can develop their skills. 

At Management Futures, we have extensive experience in the design, administration and feedback of paper based and electronic 360 degree questionnaires.  Typically these questionnaires collate feedback from the manager, their supervisor, peers, reporting staff members, colleagues and customers.  A report is then compiled for the individual and is usually accompanied by coaching to help them identify the key messages, including the affirming ones, and build a development plan to work on the areas in which they are under-performing.

We have a range of standard questionnaires, based on well established management and leadership competencies and often develop bespoke instruments tailored to an organisation’s specific needs. The cost if the work is done online through our server is usually low – around £100 per person for a full analysis and report.

We also have a fuller version done entirely by personal interview and analysis which costs £3000 including feedback.

Our clients consistently tell us that this is the best-quality  feedback they have ever had.  The reports usually contain some significant surprises – eg that

• the client is taking for granted a strength or skill greatly valued by others
• other people are more annoyed than the client has realized by an acknowledged weakness
• your behaviour is actually minutely scrutinized by colleagues
• colleagues do not know what the client’s personal values are
• other people want to help – for instance where the client is evidently suffering high levels of personal stress
• the client is more popular than they realize.

The benefits are to set our more clearly than managers and leaders have usually seen them before what the choices are about how to behave as a manager, as perceived by others in the organisation and culture to which they belong

There is another major use of the 360 technique.  The Emotional Competence Inventory or ECI measures emotional intelligence, the ability to recognise and successfully manage emotions in yourself and others.  The ECI is based on Daniel Goleman’s original research and indicates that at the executive and professional level emotional intelligence “EQ” is a better predictor of success than cognitive intelligence or “IQ”. 

The ECI uses 360 degree feedback (both structured and freeform written comments) to assess a persons EQ, compared to a target group of successful leaders and managers.  Undertaking the ECI can help a person to identify current strengths and focus their development on the areas in which there is room for improvement.   ECI can give managers and leaders a framework and common language for enhancing the nature and quality of feedback in organisations.