Leveraging

the Impact of

360-Degree Feedback

Leveraging the Impact of 360-Degree Feedback, Second Edition

Copyright © 2020 by Center for Creative Leadership

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Second Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-8835-5

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-8836-2

IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-8837-9

Digital audio ISBN 978-1-5230-8838-6

2020-1

Book producer: Westchester Publishing Services

Cover and text designer: Kim Scott, Bumpy Design

Contents

Foreword by Cynthia D. McCauley

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

Purposes and Uses of 360-Degree Feedback

CHAPTER 2

Using 360-Degree Feedback for Talent Management

CHAPTER 3

Characteristics of the 360-Degree-Feedback Process

CHAPTER 4

Implementing 360-Degree Feedback

CHAPTER 5

Facilitating 360-Degree Feedback

CHAPTER 6

Factors Affecting the Validity of 360-Degree Feedback

CHAPTER 7

Avoiding Common Pitfalls of 360-Degree Feedback

CHAPTER 8

The Future of 360-Degree Feedback

Appendix A: Benchmarks® for Managers™ Orientation Template

Appendix B: Benchmarks® for Managers™ Feedback Workshop Template

Glossary

References

Recommended Resources

Acknowledgments

Index

About the Authors

About the Center for Creative Leadership

About the Center for Creative Leadership’s Assessment Certification Workshop

Foreword

Feedback as an essential element for leader development is deeply rooted at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). Early architects of our leader development programs were big proponents of experiential training in which individuals were observed and given feedback. The Situation-Behavior-Impact framework for providing actionable feedback to others is a staple across our leader development portfolio. Way back in 1978, CCL published its first review of available instruments for providing systematic feedback to managers, which at that time was primarily upward feedback from employees to bosses. Thus, it should be no surprise that CCL has been at the forefront of research, design, and delivery of 360-degree feedback.

Today, 360 feedback is a well-known and often used tool for development. It has the potential to provide a unique level of clarity about one’s strengths and areas for development and to motivate efforts to change and grow. Yet implementing 360 feedback in an organization is complex. There are numerous design choices to make, trade-offs to consider, details to pay attention to, pitfalls to avoid, and people to have on board. Doing it right has its payoffs: a process that generates credible feedback and encourages participants to change troublesome behaviors, develop new skills, or strengthen critical relationships.

I can’t think of a better trio of colleagues—John Fleenor, Sylvester Taylor, and Craig Chappelow—to advise and guide your efforts to implement an impactful 360-degree feedback process. Together they bring deep knowledge of 360 feedback research, expertise in feedback instrument design, and years of experience in both facilitating feedback sessions with individuals and helping organizations design and improve their overall 360 feedback processes. And all this put together in a practical, straightforward guide.

In this second edition of the book, you can anticipate being treated to the latest insights and experiences from the field. For example, integrated talent management processes are the expectation these days. What role does 360 feedback play in talent management? And digital transformation is on every organization’s radar. How will leader assessment and feedback take advantage of all this new and powerful technology? Just when we thought we had our arms around 360 feedback, we are being pulled in new directions, and there’s more to discover.

Cynthia D. McCauley

Senior Fellow

Introduction

For today’s organization, creating and maintaining a high-performing culture is a critical concern. For organizations striving to maintain these cultures, providing accurate and relevant feedback to leaders is a key issue. The most valuable tool for providing feedback to leaders is 360-degree feedback. Known also as multirater or multisource feedback, 360 feedback has become one of the most significant innovations in the leadership development field (Chappelow, 2004). It has been called one of the most notable management innovations in recent times (Atwater and Waldman, 1998). Since the late 1980s, 360 feedback has gained increasing acceptance and significance in organizations (Dutton, 2019; Silzer and Church, 2009).

About This Book

As one of the original architects of 360 feedback during the mid-1970s, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has made significant contributions to its theory and practice. The approach wasn’t known as 360 feedback back then, but since that time, CCL has provided 360 feedback for over 1.2 million participants involving over 10 million raters. The guidance in this book draws on the lessons learned through research and practice at CCL, who has partnered with thousands of clients to deploy 360 feedback processes in their organizations, both large and small, around the world.

This publication represents the second edition of Leveraging the Impact of 360-Degree Feedback (Fleenor, Taylor, and Chappelow, 2008). It presents an updated perspective of CCL’s vision of how to successfully implement a 360 process in an organization. While there are other successful methods for implementing 360 feedback, we will focus on how to optimize 360 feedback when used for leadership development purposes. The recommendations in this book provide guidance based on CCL’s research and practice and the experience of our clients.

The second edition of Leveraging the Impact of 360-Degree Feedback is designed to update advances in the field during the past 10 years. In addition to revising the treatment of each topic in the chapters, we have added four new chapters: Using 360-Degree Feedback for Talent Management, Factors Affecting the Validity of 360-Degree Feedback, Avoiding Common Pitfalls of 360-Degree Feedback, and a dedicated chapter on the Future of Leader Assessment, which is a current stream of research at CCL.

Despite the popularity of 360 feedback, research has generally lagged behind practice—there has not been a great deal of recent research focusing on the complex process of implementing 360 feedback (Church et al., 2019a). Many of the relevant studies were published during the heyday of 360 research during the 1990s. This book relies heavily on this research to support its conclusions; however, there are still some areas of 360 feedback that have not been extensively researched. In these cases, we will provide what we believe are best practices based on CCL’s experience.

There is also little agreement in the literature on the terminology used in 360-degree feedback (also referred to as multisource feedback). For simplicity’s sake, in this book, we generally refer to it as 360 feedback. The individual being assessed is the participant. The participant selects several coworkers (called raters) to participate in the feedback process. These coworkers often include peers and direct reports. The participant’s direct boss is referred to as the manager. Other raters can include higher-level managers, clients, and family members.

This book is targeted toward internal and external organizational consultants who are considering the implementation or expansion of 360 feedback in their organization’s leadership development or talent management initiatives. It reveals what CCL has learned about 360 feedback since pioneering this practice in the 1970s. For example,

It should not be implemented as a stand-alone event. In addition to the assessment, there must be developmental planning and follow-up.

Management support is critical for a 360 process and for persuading participants to set specific development goals.

The 360 feedback process works best if it begins with top leadership (e.g., the chief executive officer [CEO]) and then cascades through the organization.

A flawed administration of a 360 feedback process can be fatal to future administrations.

The timing of the 360 process should consider organizational realities that could reduce its impact.

How to Use This Book

First and foremost, you can use this book to ensure 360 feedback will be successful in your organization. It contains step-by-step recommendations for successful implementation based on best practices that CCL has observed and tested over the years. Much of the guidance is grounded in research that provides a solid foundation on how 360 works. This research is cited throughout the book so you can broaden your understanding of this essential development tool.

For a recent, more comprehensive review of the literature on 360 feedback, you can consult The Handbook of Strategic 360 Feedback (Church et al., 2019a). The References and Additional Resources listed at the end of this book provide more in-depth treatment of various issues in 360 feedback. Additionally, there is a glossary that defines commonly used terms in 360-degree feedback.

How This Book Is Organized

The book is organized into eight chapters. Chapter 1 describes the purposes and uses of 360-degree feedback, how it works, why it is needed, the importance of multiple perspectives, and the role of 360 feedback in developing leaders for organizational roles. In chapter 2, we discuss the use of 360 feedback for talent management purposes, including competency modeling.

Chapter 3 outlines the key features of a 360 feedback process and presents a model of the characteristics of 360 feedback highlighting the nature and quality of the feedback provided to participants and their organizations. Chapter 4 deals with implementing a 360-degree feedback process, including clarifying the need, checking to see that your organization is ready, the differences between standard and customized instruments, how to prepare participants and raters, and how to collect the data.

Chapter 5 describes how to facilitate the feedback and deals with issues such as setting the context, working in one-on-one sessions, and the agreement between self- and others’ ratings. In chapter 6, we cover the factors that affect the validity of a 360 process and how to improve it. Chapter 7 focuses on the reasons why 360 feedback processes fail and how to prevent them. And in chapter 8, we discuss the future of leader assessment, focusing on the use of advanced technology for assessment and feedback.

Additional Resources in This Book

Throughout the book we include worksheets, checklists, and other tools to use or adapt in planning and implementing a 360 process in your organization. In addition to the list of the references we cite in this book, we include a list of recommended resources that provide a broader, deeper examination of 360 feedback.

As discussed, the primary purpose of this book is to provide a game plan for implementing a successful 360 process in your organization. We have tried to include all of the critical information needed to accomplish this.