Can do, can’t do, will do, won’t do Outcomes of a 360 feedback process
Article written by Arar Han on Fast Company
It’s hard to do well, and it’s time-consuming, but the 360 feedback process cannot be beaten when it comes to providing a broad spectrum of real feedback to your employees about how they show up to their managers, peers, and subordinates. In a recent experience, I delivered 360 results to the members of a small team and counseled them through their understandings. I took away the following. In hopes that they will be of support to you in coaching your employees to be their best, I offer four broad takeaways.
1. HIGH-PERFORMING EMPLOYEES ARE RARELY SURPRISED BY THEIR 360 RESULTS.
It should not be a surprise that people who are doing well at work know where they stand in the team and are at least somewhat aware of their developmental opportunities. These people are a joy to coach. When I work with high performers, I find that the 360 conversation can usefully fine-tune their knowledge of what the organization values and what they might try in order to enhance their effectiveness.
In one such conversation, we discussed how the person wants to be a better communicator and how others agreed, but the focus was slightly different. She thought she should write emails to cover all the same ground but in fewer words; others thought she should home in on the main thing and leave the rest unsaid. The difference is slight but significant, and she left with the confidence that she could try something new that might actually help her show up more effectively.
2. B-PLAYERS SHOW RELIEF AT THEIR 360s.
This classic Harvard Business Review piece from twenty years ago still resonates today: so-called B-players form the backbone of all organizations. They focus on doing a good job and being good citizens. They aren’t the A-players who are high-talent and high-potential but often difficult to manage. They aren’t the C-players who bog down the team by underperforming. They are about average and are glad to contribute.
In my experience, these conversations are the easiest. The person comes in with a natural sense of anticipation and anxiety about what feedback they will receive. They carefully listen to the results and sometimes ask questions to better understand what things mean. They are relieved to know that they are doing fine.
My role in these conversations is to encourage people to keep working hard and suggest some practical ways of improving how they show up to the team and how to drive better results.
In one conversation with a young employee, we discussed the concept of a professional identity and how that might differ a bit from one’s personal identity. This fellow was habitually a few minutes late to everything, whether at work or in his regular life. I posed a question of whether his professional self could aspire to be five minutes early, while his personal self could do whatever he wanted. He brightened at this; the company didn’t expect him to become a different person, but to adjust his behavior on this specific thing just in the context of work. He understood what the stakes were; that if he stopped being late, his co-workers would no longer have lingering doubts about his ability to meet deadlines.
3. THERE ARE ONLY TWO TYPES OF UNDERPERFORMERS: THE ‘CAN’T DOs’ AND THE ‘WON’T DOs.’
The can’t dos might be pleasant people who are bought into the culture and really want to do well. But they are missing some critical skill that, in spite of their best efforts, they cannot call upon. The won’t dos are often not lacking in talent, but for some reason, they cannot bring themselves to leverage their skills to do the thing that their job entails. The two share one thing: in a 360 feedback process, they are surprised by what their colleagues think of them.
4. IN MOST CASES, THE CAN’T DOs AND WON’T DOs WILL END UP LEAVING.
While I wish it weren’t so, most do not take the news of their low performance well and choose to find another place to call work. I understand. Receiving feedback is a difficult and emotional experience, even when it is positive. But when you hold up the mirror to someone and point out the blemishes, it can be difficult to recover from the hurt and pain that always causes.
Even when they choose to stay, turning around an underperforming person is difficult. In my experience, a true turnaround is only possible when the job responsibilities can be adjusted to better fit the person’s skills (can’t dos) or when the 360 serves as enough of a wake-up call for the person to start trying harder (won’t dos). While I always hope that people stay - both for the practical reason of not wanting to lose the investments the team has made in their growth and development, and for the feel-good resolution of the redemption story - I have come to accept that it might be simpler for team and person to break up and each move on.
No team is perfect. While 360 processes are notoriously time-consuming and can be fraught with challenging emotions, they can help make better teams and improve results. If done well, they help teams grow by positively reinforcing helpful behaviors, negatively reinforcing the opposite and identifying when the professional relationship is simply not working well and may need to end.
Good feedback is a gift that is hard to come by. I hope you will consider carefully gathering and generously sharing good feedback with the people on your teams.
