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Four Things NOT To Do When Receiving 360 Feedback

By Jennifer Taylor In Business, Info Worth Sharing, Original Thoughts

Here on the Assessment+ blog – and on leadership development articles across the Internet – the prevailing theme is positive guidance: For example, the Top 5 Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset, or our 10 Best Tips for Providing 360 Feedback. We love providing tips on what to do to achieve what is on your action plan, gain the most value out of an assessment initiative, or simply improve the productivity of your day-to-day life.
 
So, we wanted to switch it up! Here is our first ever blog on what NOT to do when receiving 360 feedback – (and, of course, we’ll still throw in some “top tips” of what to do instead!):
 

1. 1. What Not to Do: Think you’re above receiving feedback.
      What to Do: Open yourself up to a 360! The biggest step you can take towards improving personally and professionally is opening yourself up to feedback – including criticism. As Bill Gates said, “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”

    

   2. What Not to Do: Accept the feedback and move on.
      What to Do: Act on it! When employees receiving feedback add Coaching and Action Planning to their overall 360 process, they are more than 3x as likely to show improvement over the subsequent 6 months!

    

   3. What Not to Do: Keep your goals and action planning to yourself.
      What to Do: Build in accountability! Roughly 92% of people don’t reach the goals they set each year. This is due to a variety of reasons, but two of the best tips we can offer to counter this statistic are:
       
      Document your goal, whether in hand-written on paper, typed up in a Word document or – better yet – using an online tool designed to help you keep your goals on your radar. Simply putting your goals in writing makes you automatically 80% more likely to accomplish them!
       
      Involve others in the process. Whether you share your Action Plan with your manager, check in on due dates with a leadership coach, or provide transparency on your progress with your Direct Reports, you’re adding in accountability that will make it much harder to give up!

    

   4. What Not to Do: Only focus on the negatives.
      What to Do: Leverage strengths. Sure, 360 feedback is an incredibly powerful tool to highlight the areas you should target for improvement. However, many forget that gaining insights into your strengths is also critical! By human nature, it’s easy to get bogged down in the constructive criticism and forget to focus on the positives. However, research shows that leveraging strengths results in more effective leadership than trying to improve in one specific area. Plus, employees who receive recognition of their strengths are over 300% more likely to be engaged at work!