Where is accountability in the structure of your organization? To what extent are leaders held accountable for the way they do business? It is clear that leaders are accountable for performance measures. But can they also be held accountable for how they achieve those goals?
One of the main purposes of the 360 feedback process is to hold leaders accountable for their management style.
The feedback from the 360 assessment should be used as an accelerator for the manager's personal development.
An effective 360 feedback survey requires embedding personal responsibility and accountability for improvement into the process. This is done by ensuring confidentiality of personal feedback, sharing development plans and repeating this process regularly.
To ensure accountability, there is a level of confidentiality that must be promised to the leader. It may be more useful if some people in the organization know about the individual's feedback, but a high level of confidentiality increases trust and facilitates personal accountability.
The best way to achieve the highest accountability outcome from the report while assuring the leader participating in the assessment of the confidentiality of the process is to have a designated coach provide feedback on the initial results and share with the participant's manager the action plan that was inspired by the feedback in the report. Some leaders may voluntarily share information from the report they receive with the assessors and manager, which is preferable.
Once a development action plan is presented, those who are aware of the plan help the leader to follow up and implement it. In situations where those involved have a frayed relationship or are not development-oriented, the role of a neutral coach is crucial.
Constant Repetition is the final step in adding an element of accountability to a 360-degree feedback survey and to the work itself. If you plan to do the 360 only once, you risk breeding apathy and disinterest in the process. Leaders see the process as a temporary program that they can ignore once they have completed the first phase. When informed that 360s will be repeated every year, participants get the message that this is important for their success.