Raters may be uncomfortable about sitting down with the recipient and talking about the anonymous feedback they gave. However, it is important to inform all those involved, right at the beginning of the 360-degree process, that sharing and clarifying feedback are important parts of the follow-up process. Raters should be made aware that people may come back to them with general questions, once they have received their feedback. To allay their anxieties, it should be made clear to them—and to the recipients—that the discussion is supposed to focus not on their specific responses but on their reaction to the recipient’s analysis (did he or she “get it”?) and on themes that are unclear. One tip: ensure that the sharing and clarifying session will not be used as an opportunity to identify or to get even with people who have given surprising or critical feedback.

The session may be conducted in a group or with each respondent individually. Some people feel that one-on-one meetings allow people to speak more freely. Others believe a group setting makes people more comfortable and encourages discussion. We believe the feedback recipient is in the best position to determine which approach will yield the best results with the individuals he or she chose as raters.

Whether the feedback is shared in a group or one-on-one, we strongly recommend that the recipient not share the entire report. One manager we worked with decided to copy his twenty-five-page report and send it to his colleagues with a cover note asking for their reactions. As he tells it, one colleague threw it out without even looking at it; one said he’d prefer to have a meeting; the third sent it back with a note that read, “You are in desperate need of help—good luck!”

The closest analogy we can think of is inviting friends over to see slides of your vacation. You find the slides fascinating and want to show every mountain, tree, and bird to relive your experiences. For your friends, however, the evening amounts to a tedious walk through a series of meaningless scenes. The same is true with feedback reports. We suggest, therefore, that people share only the main messages and themes they got out of the data, in order to test whether or not they “got it.”

To illustrate the value of these sharing and clarifying meetings, let us consider the following example, taken from a feedback recipient’s actual experience. This manager’s respondents indicated that informing behaviors were used frequently, but they also recommended that these behaviors be used more.

At first, such a response appears contradictory—how much more can someone use a behavior that is already employed frequently? At the sharing and clarifying meeting, however, the manager learned that the weekly reports she had decided not to circulate because people were complaining about being overloaded with paper were the very documents they most wanted to see. She also discovered that people were actually pleased with the frequency and content of her informing behaviors but wanted to send a strong message to keep on that way, especially since the organization was undergoing major changes.

Probably the best way to make recipients feel comfortable about a sharing and clarifying meeting is to provide them with suggestions for making the meeting successful and give them an opportunity to rehearse what they will say. During our 360-degree feedback workshops, after managers have analyzed and consolidated their feedback and identified preliminary strengths and weaknesses, we provide a set of action steps for an effective sharing and clarifying meeting. These steps include:

After reviewing the action steps, participants are shown a video model of an effective sharing and clarifying meeting, one that leads to a better understanding of the feedback without making people uncomfortable or violating the confidentiality agreement.

Participants have an opportunity to think through and develop a plan for their sharing and clarifying meeting. A worksheet like the one shown in Resource C provides people with guidelines and a framework for planning the meeting.

With their meeting plans in hand, participants are given an opportunity to rehearse what they will say and how they will say it.

If a person is quite sure he or she understands the feedback and knows how it should be incorporated into a development plan, is a follow-up meeting still necessary? The answer is “yes.” Clarifying the feedback is not the only purpose of the meeting. The input of others can be very useful to determine the specific actions that would be most appropriate to address development needs or to help monitor progress. The sharing and clarifying meeting is an ideal time to ask for additional input and assistance from direct reports, peers, and bosses. This will also build the commitment of the raters to both the feedback process and the individual’s development goals.

Right after people leave a feedback session or workshop, they usually have a high level of commitment to sharing the feedback and putting together their development plans. However, the meeting back at the office often does not occur immediately, and some of that enthusiasm may be lost or dissipated when the pressures and responsibilities of the job once again come to the forefront. The help of a human resource professional, boss, or mentor may be required to refocus the manager on the follow-up meeting. Acting as coaches, they can remind the recipient of the objectives of the follow-up meeting and offer advice on how to conduct it.