Reflecting On Your 360 Degree Feedback
It can be really hard to receive feedback. Not only can the less-than-flattering feedback have a negative impact on your self-esteem, but the glowing-all-over feedback can have the opposite effect by encouraging your ego to run amok. No matter how you react to feedback, it’s important to spend some time studying it and reflecting on your results before deciding to take action.
After seeing the results of hundreds of 360′s, I’ve never seen a perfect score. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen (let me know if you are someone who reached perfection; I’d love to interview you for a future post J). However, as perfect examples of human beings, leaders have both strengths and weaknesses that show up on 360′s. It’s a good thing to spend the time to put them both into perspective.
As you spend some time with your report (which I hope was artfully debriefed by a human resource professional, a consultant, or your executive coach), here are some questions to ask yourself to dig a little deeper into your reaction to the results (I suggest you spend some quiet time with a trusted advisor discussing these questions or journaling your responses on your own):
- What surprised me most about the feedback?
- What was I already aware of?
- What concerns me most?
- What am I most pleased with?
- What strengths showed up? What strengths do I want to explore further?
- What developmental areas showed up? Which developmental areas do I want to focus on?
- Who will support me in my development?
To keep you on track in your reflection, here are some things to be aware of:
The feedback you’ve received isn’t “the truth”: it is merely a collection of opinions from your stakeholders. Rather than truth, their perceptions (as seen through their life lens) have been captured.
You may accept or reject those perceptions: It is your decision and responsibility to decide whether you will accept and act on those perceptions. Choose carefully whether to act or not because there may be risk either way.
You can ask for more information: Because 360′s are “standardized”, it’s sometimes difficult to tell what behaviors you exhibit that resulted in the score for a particular competency (and behaviors, after all, are tangible things that you can change). For instance, if your results indicate that you aren’t inclusive, you might want to know what that means to your stakeholders. Ask them: “What behaviors do I exhibit that indicate to you that I’m not inclusive?”; and “What is one behavior that I can exhibit to be more inclusive?”.
Rather than receiving your 360 results and putting them away, spend some time reflecting. The next thing you’ll need to do is to begin an action plan based on your reflection.
Continue reading here: Professional Action Plan Example
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