360 feedback

[HOL2024]

AIBU to feel a little deflated at reading some of the feedback in my 360 review.

90% of it is great but just two comments that have thrown me. I guess it’s because I’m still new in the role 9 months and learning a different companies practices and who does what. so they things that have come up weren’t on my radar as things I should be doing.

Need to bounce up I guess and take it on board to better myself.

It’s hard isn’t it? I’ve been there and it can be very demotivating.

A couple of things that have helped me reframe things:

• look at feedback triggers. If the feedback has touched a nerve or something you have been thinking about yourself this can make it harder to hear.
• lots of people (especially women) focus on the negative feedback rather than the positive. Try to think about it this way - you have 90% positive feedback (which is great, congratulations) and a couple of areas to improve. This is a really really good place to start from and the only way is up. If you started at 100% good then the only way is the same or down.

The book “Thanks for the Feedback” was really useful reading if you can get hold of it.

Is it at least good and actionable feedback? Some people write stuff because they feel it can't all be positive, so will look to write anything to appear more balanced. But a 90% positive rate is pretty good, I'd say!

We get our 360 feedback on Monday. I'm anxious but also excited in equal measure.

Yes I guess there are some things that can be actionable. Some of it less so such as being confident but not having the right grasp of the information to back it up. Just comes across as if i act a little arrogant.

I suppose I’ll feel better about it tomorrow after a sleep.

I don't even know what 360 feedback means, but it is human nature to mostly ignore the 90% positive (well done OP!) and hone in on the two things that were brought up. Sounds like these comments were things you weren't 100% aware of, so naturally they would be flagged. You are still fairly new, so still learning. I wonder if anyone gets 100% positive comments? Sorry if I have shown my ignorance! I had to go over handwritten appraisal forms with my boss back in my day -Guessing similar idea?

Feedback should not only be positive otherwise how do you grow as a person? It should be respectful.

Remember that the purpose of 360 feedback is to use it constructively and work on your weaker areas - if it was wholly positive, it would be a waste of time! I'd say 90% good is a pretty decent report :)

I think you might want to have a think about why those two (and only two!) comments have bothered you so much. Do they relate to things that you actually thought you did well at? Or do they hit a nerve because you actually know those are your weak spots and you're sensitive about it? Or do you think they're just about things that are beyond your control (like lack of experience or something like that)? Was it because you think you know who they were from? Figuring out why you're so bothered by them should help you to see what (if anything) you need to do differently.

Some organisations have trained colleagues, ones who are neutral to you, who can go through your feedback with you and help you draw out the most useful points. If that's on offer, definitely take it.

As you might be able to tell, I've been through this many times and as I'm a fundamentally pessimistic person I always tend to focus on the tiny negatives too, so i do sympathise. But I also have learnt from my 360s (begrudged as I am to admit it).

What were the negatives? I've never had 360 feedback but I'm a lecturer and we get student evaluations. Some negative comments are helpful and allow us to evolve our methods the following year. Others are clearly overly personal or because students don't appreciate harder content or whatever. The nature of the feedback will help you decide how to handle it.

Remember, there is no one on this earth who is liked and respected by literally everyone they meet, everyone gets negative feedback from someone.