Sometimes coaches are asked to support their coachees to talk through a 360* feedback experience that the coachee has had. This can be fiddly, as there is a lot of information to navigate, and that the coachee may feel sensitive about some of the feedback. The conversation can be done well, in a coaching style, and will allow the coachee to feel supported. Here are some thoughts to how to tackle this.
360* debrief – why may a coach be asked to help with this?
Generally 360* reviews are organised by organisations. HR or equivalent will carry them out, and typically they happen in one of two ways:
- As a periodic activity that everyone in a certain role will experience and receive OR
- For an individual, because of a concern, a performance or relationship issue, or another reason that has triggered the suggestion to do this
Sometimes coachees decide to organise their own 360*. It may be something that has come up in coaching that has made them decide that they’d like to obtain some feedback from colleagues, peers and reports.
Whichever the circumstances of the 360*, a coach may be invited to have a debrief session with the coachee, for one of two reasons:
- So that they can take out any learnings from the 360* and put them into action in their role
- So that they can talk through any worries or negative feelings that the 360* has provoked
In some ways it’s a bit of a poisoned chalice for the coach, as handling this sort of material isn’t necessarily what we do. But we can do a good job and be of service to our coachee.
Setting up the session – contracting and boundaries
Whether we are asked to have this session by the coachee, or by the organisation, we want to be clear on our role. We aren’t going to be providing feedback to the organisation, nor engaging with any of the parties involved. Our coachee is the person in focus and the person we will work with. If we need to have a conversation with the sponsor of the 360*, then we need to explain this. And we can reassure the coachee that we won’t be sharing any thoughts or coaching content with the organisation.
Planning the conversation – having the coachee be ready and prepared
There is a question as to whether we read or have access to the 360* information or not. My preference would be not to see it, but to let the coachee share as much or as little of it as they want to.
In advance of the session, we need to communicate with the coachee to let them know how the session will work. I would send them an email and would suggest:
- That they think of an outcome that they want to achieve from talking this through
- That they have read the 360* feedback in detail and have made notes about specific feedback they’ve had. And have noticed what they agree with and perhaps what they don’t agree with
- And that they ensure they have a conversation with their sponsor/the organisation so that they are clear on expectations about the 360*, and express any concerns that they may have
They may not do all of this, but at least we will have asked the questions and will have given them the chance to do a bit of pre-work.
Session explainer and outcomes for the coachee
When the session starts, the coachee may have some feelings – they may be nervous, anxious or stressed. They may be feeling excited and appreciative of the positive feedback they’ve had. We won’t know, until we ask! So it’s worth checking in on their feelings before we start.
As with all coaching, we want to establish a good outcome from the session. So asking the coachee what they want to achieve by talking their 360* through is important. This may not be clear at first for the coachee – they may not have thought about anything further than that they’ll be talking the 360* through. So you may need to ask this a couple of times:
- What outcome from the session and the discussion?
- What’s important about talking this through for you?
- What would you like to learn by talking this through?
Hearing the responses will give you a sense of what they’re looking for, and will give you the opportunity to see if they want to use this as a learning opportunity, an exploration of negative feelings, or anything else. For more prompts on this, take a look at our post on coaching: what questions to ask at each stage of the coaching session.
Review stage
Spend some time having your coachee share two things:
- The information in the 360*
- Their feelings about the information
A good starting point is to have them talk about all the positive aspects. All the feedback that they liked, that was positive, helpful and focussed for them.
And then to move on to feedback that may have been critical, challenging or harder to hear.
This could take quite some time, and there’s no point in trying to rush it. Often many side issues and thoughts are likely to emerge, which will be fine.
Agreeing stage – or otherwise
After reviewing the information, it’s helpful to ask the coachee to what extent they agree with the comments made in the 360*. Both the positive and critical comments. 360* feedback is subjective, and is only someone else’s opinion. It may be absolutely accurate, or wrong. The coachee may not agree with it (which doesn’t tell us whether it is accurate or not!).
If there is significant disagreement, do not worry. Use your good coaching as an opportunity to have them respond to and talk about what’s been shared with them. There are probably a couple of things that will happen:
- Your coachee will want to push back and complain about the inaccuracy of the comments
- Your coachee may accept some elements of what has been said, and reject other elements
It’s not our job to convince them that the comments are right. Nor is it our job to collude with them and agree that the comments are wrong. Some helpful things to do:
- Just listen and let them talk through all their thoughts and feelings
- If they do push back, or partially push back, have them explore the perception that the other person has. If someone says that our coachee is disorganised or ineffective, we can ask our coachee:
- What it feels like knowing someone has that impression of them.
- Even if they think it’s inaccurate, what could be the reason for them thinking this
This can be a fiddly stage and one where we don’t want to get trapped into trying to defend or critique those people who wrote the 360* feedback notes.
Change and action
Whatever the thoughts, feelings, resistance and worries that may have emerged during this debrief, it’s good to devote a decent amount of time to learning and change. Perhaps even more than in your standard coaching sessions. Spend some time helping them to:
- Identify some changes that they may want to make in their everyday practice and activities
- Identify if there are any topics that they want to spend more time working on, in future coaching sessions.
- Think about the learnings that they have taken from this 360* feedback
- Coming up with a specific action or set of steps.
Acknowledgement and bringing the session to a close.
This may well have been a very positive session. But it may have been a tough, challenging or upsetting one. Finish with a positive – perhaps asking them about a strength or a benefit they’ve had from talking this through. And share an acknowledgement and appreciation for the efforts they’ve made.
A few pitfalls to watch out for
I’ve alluded to these earlier in the article, so here is a summary of things that we want to look out for, and not get tripped up by:
- We aren’t the organisation’s representative, there to push through an agenda
- The feedback isn’t ours to defend, but to help the coachee make sense of it
- If we don’t agree with the feedback or think it’s too harsh, be mindful of offering our own thoughts, or rescuing the coachee
- Watch out for the pushback, and avoid getting into “yes but…” type of conversations
- If the coachee has a genuine complaint with the organisation, then it’s up to them if they want to take it up with them
It’s also worth having a read of our post on risks of coaching in organisations before going into this type of session – some of the boundary challenges there apply equally here.
Final words
I appreciate that I’ve written this as a bit of a gloomy article, full of potential pitfalls and negativity. But it can be a very positive thing, and coaches can help coachees to unlock all sorts of ideas and thoughts. The feedback may be the very thing they need to take their practice or their skills to the next level. So approach these conversations with an open mind – be ready for it to be challenging, but be open to it going really well!
Happy coaching.
Charlie
