ED: Before we look at the detail of this process let’s first cover why we are suggesting 360 at all: As the first stage of the LDP, it is the gateway to the whole process of personal insight and development Embedding the Leadership Profile – as Alan has just said, focusing on achieving the right kind of leadership is vital to the organisation right now. By feeding back to people about themselves, using the Leadership Profile, connects the Profile to themselves. It makes it personal and tangible. It is right for the LSC now because the culture is ready for it – incl. support from the Exec Board. One of the things of strategic importance is the skill of observing people, and feeding back. Not only is that the content of 360 °, it is also the process . As a practice it has high return for relatively low investment of time and resource.
ED: There is a danger in seeing 360 as a definitive measure of someone’s performance and/or potential - how ever it is just one angle on these – so what is it, and what is it not? It really is a mirror. It is how people see you, so it has an intrinsic truth to it. People feeding back is a real contribution to you. All sort of reactions can be expected – emotional, logical, resistance, defensiveness, interest, excitement… But it is not the absolute truth. And it is not setting boundaries about what you might be able to be in the future. Understanding your potential to be different better is the role of the development centre, which puts you in new situations and then looks at how you respond. Here, our focus is the development of self-awareness, creating commitment & clarity about change.
As individuals, the participants can help by taking these actions on… Examples here e.g sharing feedback with own team in a positive way. “ Thank you for your feedback, I’m working through it…” [whatever the feedback is] “ Here’s my feedback, tell me more…” If it is seen to make a difference, respect and enthusiasm grows. If not, the process comes to be seen as irrelevant or a sham. Point about stories ‘getting around’!