“Remember, half the people you know are below average.” -Unknown Coaches, consultants, and organizations might prefer to use one type of standardized score over another in feedback reports. For example, z-scores often result in scores that are negative if they are below the mean, which could create an emotional reaction on the part of participants […]

“Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.” -Mary Schmich Differences between raters on 360-degree feedback assessments are common, and research suggests that the different rater groups are often only moderately associated with each other (Nowack, 1992). However, these meaningful rater group differences might also be a point of […]

“If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” -Catherine Aird Generally, 360-degree feedback processes, in order to be effective, depend on the participant, the coach, and organizational factors to support the receptivity, acceptance, and leveraging of feedback for enhanced insight and behavior change.  When the organizational […]

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as is what direction we are moving.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes When we think of revisiting the implementation of 360s, we want to consider the time needed to make meaningful behavior change, and for that change to be seen by others. We recommend […]

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” -Wayne Gretsky A fundamental issue that comes up in practice has to do what to do once 360-degree feedback has been implemented. How do we maximize the use 360s to ensure our client’s behavior change? Organizations that implement a systemic approach to talent development with support […]

 “Culture is a framework in which we communicate.” -Stephen Roberts  There is increasing use of 360-degree feedback in different cultures and countries, as multi-national companies use it throughout their organizations. Differences in 360-degree feedback rating and interpretation should be expected to some degree in other cultures. Some dimensions that appear to be important include individualism […]

 “The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.” -Thomas Monson An interesting study by Robert Hooijberg and colleagues, looked at what makes coaching effective, surveyed 232 managers from diverse organizations (Hooijberg, & Lane, 2009) ((Hooijberg, R. & Lane, N. (2009). The five-factor model […]

The reality is that not all organizations are “ready” for 360-degree feedback. All too often it gets introduced in the middle of a very large organizational change (e.g., merger or acquisition) or some other untimely organization-wide event. When 360s are implemented at a time when organizations are not ready, more harm than benefit may be […]

“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” -Japanese Proverb “Best practices” in using 360-degree feedback suggest that having someone debrief the report is important to manage potential negative emotions surrounding the data, increase the understanding of rater differences, and facilitate developmental planning (Nowack, 2005). However, the process […]