Why do 360 interviews?

A 360 is a way to gather feedback about you and your performance, in order to give you a perspective from many angles. Feedback is gathered from a range of people in a variety of roles in the organization. This usually includes those who report to you, peers, your supervisor, and may also include other strategic relationships like customers and/or vendors.

Traditionally, a 360 is composed of a pre-defined set of questions or behaviors, often developed by the organization you work for. You are scored confidentially by each rater and the results are integrated into a report. While these multi-rater instruments can be very valuable, interviews by an objective, neutral third party are an even better way to get feedback that is highly relevant.

With 360 interviews, a skilled coach interviews the people who are most strategic to you, to your success, and to your development. After the interviewing is completed, the coach consolidates and delivers the information to you. When feedback is acquired and delivered in this way, it is usually very well received.

While conducting the interviews, your coach will be able to identify the relationship, organizational, and political dynamics that might otherwise remain hidden as well as to explore what individuals are really trying to communicate, which is often to general to make use of when obtained through quantitative surveys. This information can then be brought back to you in a way that allows you understand what is going on. It also becomes the basis for an action plan to address needed changes.

When others are interviewed regarding a leader, it sends a positive signal; that the leader is invested in his or her growth and cares about the opinion of the person being interviewed. Often the leader earns respect and is even admired for being so courageous.

How does the process work?

1. Working together with you and potentially with input from your manager and/or HR, we will select up to 10 key stakeholders including direct reports, peers and management with whom you work closely and are in a position to provide valuable feedback.

2. I will personally interview each of the key stakeholders using a core set of questions that we will develop and agree on together, with the possibility for input as well from those sponsoring the process if desired. 

3. I will analyze the input and share with you the relevant themes emerging from the interviews in a debrief session such that you can take what you are hearing on board and utilize it as the basis for actions and learning.

4. Typically, a 360 interview process will provide the greatest value if it is done in the context of a coaching process so that you can work with that same coach to leverage and build on your learnings.  I generally recommend that if a 360 is desired, it be conducted at the start of a coaching engagement although it is possible to include it later in the process.

Note: All the input will remain anonymous and the output of those interviews will only be shared with the client (not with the manager, HR, direct reports or peers).