Phil. 4:8 Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.
What is 360 Feedback?
360 Feedback refers to the method of getting feedback from multiple sources such as bosses, colleagues, direct reports, stakeholders, which is why it is also called multi-source feedback. In corporate practices, 360 feedback can be initiated for developmental purposes or for performance evaluation. The former focuses on growing the leader, while the latter is concerned about eliciting fair data for evaluating how well a leader has performed in specific functions.
What I do when I design 360 Feedback for my clients?
When I design 360 feedback tools (whether for growth or performance appraisal) for my clients, I must first tune the instrument to a common standard, a valid context, and a lived reality.
A common standard can be derived from some kind of written agreement on how to behave, such as a competency framework, or a mutually agreed performa. If such documents are not present or are not well-prescribed, then I first have to help the organisation achieve a common metric in this.
The next thing to do is to contextualise the tool. Because all behaviour is always enacted in context, the common standard isn’t so common after all. Rather, the common standard needs to be ‘interpreted’ in the context of one’s operating environment.
For example, when we expect leaders to be thorough, for the finance dept, it means being meticulous in adhering to standard finance protocols. For the strategy dept, it could mean exercising sound judgment so that all relevant considerations have been reasonably deliberated on without being crippled by analysis paralysis. And for the fast paced operations dept, it may mean relying on one’s experience to execute well so that the key pitfalls are avoided. Each dept relies on different ‘muscle’ to achieve the goal of being thorough. A good 360 feedback is designed such that the context is correctly accounted for to allow leaders to act on the feedback in the right manner.
Finally, the tool needs to accommodate the fact that the lived realities of leaders are highly personal and varied. Those closest to these leaders can best placed to point out blindspots in the leaders’ lived realities. A good 360 feedback will try to capture the idiosyncratic aspects of leaders, usually in the form of qualitative comments.
360 for the Christian – Does it matter?
What about for the Christian leader? Does a 360 feedback mean anything different than those conducted in the secular world? One may be tempted to say what the corporate offers is good enough, because there are corporate elements in God’s church. To this end, the process of 360 is similar in both – get feedback, dwell on the feedback trying to sift through perceptions that are noise and insights that are useful, and then formulate an action plan to correct oneself.
360 not as feedback but as an exercise in truth bearing
I would say that for the Christian leader, the entire endeavour of 360 feedback is about seeking the Truth, aligning oneself to the Truth, and walking in Truth. If in the previous sentence you replace Truth with Feedback, then you very quickly become a chameleon, untethered to an anchor. You may end up burning out trying to please everyone. This happens a lot in the corporate, which is why an executive coach is crucial to enable the leader to stay true to oneself.
Similarly for the Christian feedback provider, feedback can originate from different motivations. For example, it can come from expectations, i.e., “This is what I want from you because this is how I want to be led”. Or it can come from one’s lived realities, i.e,. “This is what I saw and experienced from you.” The former can quickly become noisy for the leader, because expectations are personal and what is ‘reasonable’ is subjective and idiosyncratic to each.
Whose standard for truth then?
For the Christian, Phil 4:8 is crucial. It sets the biblical standard (beginning with whatever is true), and describes the posture (dwell on these things). With these two anchors in place, the 360 instrument becomes an aid. Eventually, you may even outgrow this aid and devise your own system for seeking truth, aligning yourself to truth, walking in truth, and eventually equipping others to handle the truth.
The 360 feedback process for the Christian therefore begins with a desire for God’s truth. It expects to be plugged into an existing practice of seeking God’s truth in all that one does. It leverages on your current habit of aligning oneself to God’s truth in how one behaves. And it reinforces one’s ongoing obligation towards sanctification by providing information for one to respond to truth attained. God speaks, and He will speak through many, including what will be captured through the instrument. The Christian responsibility is to respond to Him when one hears His truth through the voices of others.
What about those who are not Christian?
What I have written in here is for the Christian leader and feedback providers. For those who do not subscribe to the Christian faith, I hope that the idea that feedback can be more than perceptual is helpful. It can also be an articulation of one’s lived realities.
A perception is an articulation of an impression, a subconscious, automatic judgment made of a situation. A perception says “You came across to me as trying too hard.” An articulation of lived realities reframes the same statement as “Just now when you interrupted me before I could finish articulating my question, it made me curious what was going on in your mind. Were you being rude, or eager to please, or something else?”
Finally, feedback is always a gift. A 360 tool is the bearer of many gifts. It provides an aid for gifting and gift-receiving. Should one ever receive a 360 invitation, I hope that this idea of gifting others and receiving gifts from others supersedes the anxiety of giving or receiving feedback.
