At this point in the process, people may be seeing themselves in ways they never have before. Whatever their new image of themselves, they must now use the insight they have gained to plan for their own development. In our experience, this is a critical juncture in the 360-degree process. If participants do not take meaningful steps to translate their feedback into action within two weeks of leaving the work session, they will probably never do so.

A study lead by Dr. Gary Yukl, a noted writer and researcher in the area of leadership development, found that follow-up activities make a critical contribution to achieving positive change in behavior as a result of participating in a 360 feedback process. In his study, managers who received training when they received their 360 followed up by coaching demonstrated more significant behavior change when measured by a post-360 test than mangers who just received the feedback or managers who received the feedback and training but not the follow up coaching.¹

The importance of follow-up activities is supported by our own 2008 survey of 225 line managers and eighty-one HR professionals. We found that three factors impacted a line manager’s perception of the value of multi-rater feedback to the business: “people provide honest feedback,” “the feedback helped me understand how others perceive me,” and “the organization does a good job of following up to ensure managers apply their learning.” As a matter of fact, 69 percent of line managers said they made changes after receiving their feedback. When we looked at what differentiated the HR professionals who were most satisfied with their 360 process, we found that those who were most satisfied reported that their organization did a good job of following up after the 360 process.

In this chapter, we will examine follow-up activities that occur after the data have been analyzed and interpreted. Some of these activities begin during the work session and are completed by recipients when they return to their jobs. These include consolidating the feedback, identifying strengths and preliminary development targets, and holding meetings with raters to share results and clarify next steps. Other follow-up activities are the primary responsibility of the individual, with the support of the manager and coach. Such activities include final identification of strengths and development targets, deciding on strategies for change, preparing and using a development plan, and linking the feedback to formal human resource systems within the organization.