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As a manager, have you ever wondered what your people really think of you? asks Peter Ward. Do they see you as the helpful, kind person you know yourself to be? Or do they see you as a demanding ogre? How do they want to be treated?
Managers who want answers to these questions now have available to them a modern, scientific and confidential way of finding out. For several years the technique of 360-degree feedback has been growing in popularity as a means of providing managers and others with personal feedback on their management style as seen by their colleagues ? and particularly the people on the receiving end. Starting some years ago in the major private sector companies, it has now spread through the private and public sectors and is becoming an accepted tool in the development of managers.

But what exactly does 360-degree feedback involve? First of all it does not measure how ?successful? managers are, or what they achieve. There are plenty of other ways of doing that. What it measures is how they got there ? in other words the skills and competencies they use in their jobs. It achieves this by asking people to comment on what they do and what they say. Some form of questionnaire usually does the collection of information. People are asked to rate their manager?s skills on a scale. They can often write their own comments too. The scores are averaged and the comments are kept anonymous, thus encouraging more openness and honesty. The processing of the information is usually done by an outside source and the report goes directly back to the manager.

Would it work in the arts world? Let?s see. Make no mistake; this technique is not just for mega-managers in charge of large corporations with budgets of millions. Professionals such as educationalists, advertising executives, engineers, social work managers, and consultants have benefited from the personalised feedback that this technique can provide. Recently, the Natural History Museum has started a project that includes 360-degree feedback for its managers. This is intended to find out whether people have the skills to enable the museum to achieve its ambitious business plan, enabling it to focus training and development where it is needed.

A basic tenet of 360-degree feedback is that there are elements to managers? jobs that are ?transferable?. In other words, despite differences of culture, environment, professional discipline, and seniority most managers employ basic skills that are common. Such activities might be managing and motivating people, communication, organising resources, using creativity and balancing stakeholders? needs. These would appear in any manager?s job, and are what 360-degree feedback measures.

Organisations have adopted this technique in a number of ways. These include:

? Management training. People receive their feedback at the start of the course to help them focus on their improvement needs

? Self-development. People get their feedback in a one-to-one situation and then plan their own development action accordingly

? Performance appraisal. Part of the regular performance review session

? Team building. Helping people to work better as a team, based on their feedback

Organisations that have used this technique regularly report a number of benefits:

? More accurate and compelling analysis of a manager?s development needs

? More credible information

? A better benchmark for measuring improvements

What of the risks? The two chief ones are that people say ?so what? In other words, the feedback has no meaning and does not stimulate change. People are occasionally so taken aback by the acuteness of the observations that they are tempted to deny it. In order to maximise the benefits The British Psychological Society and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development have produced a code of practice that practitioners should follow.


Peter Ward is a writer and international consultant on 360-degree feedback. His book ?360-Degree Feedback? was published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 1997. t: 01763 837111; e: pward@consultingtools.com; w: http://www.wdpconsulting.com