Customer Care
The care and support we offer our customers is entirely optional, but many of them value our help with advice, questionnaire design, training workshops, coaching resources, etc… Sometimes those seemingly peripheral things can be really important.
Here's an overview of our customer care. Please use the links on the left to find out more.
Thinking things through
There is no single best way to do 360 Feedback - best practice is what best fits your particular aims, resources and circumstance. Every successful 360 project does things its own unique way. If some expertise, ideas and tools might be useful to plan things, or as a check on the plans you have made, we will be very pleased to help.
Our advice is impartial - we've been known to recommend other solutions or not to do 360 at all. And, its expert advice. Perhaps a measure of our expertise is our many publications in People Management, Coaching at Work, Selection and Development Review….
There is no charge for help in thinking things through. Even if you're using use another provider, we welcome the opportunity to offer ideas and materials.
Questionnaire Design
At times an organisation's competency or leadership framework is easily developed into a clear, pertinent 360 questionnaire. But, sometimes a considerable degree of skill and knowledge is needed to rework behavioural indicators into good 360 questions. That might be a crucial step in a 360 project - a poorly designed questionnaire generates muddled feedback.
We've a great deal of experience and expertise to offer. We've designed great questionnaires for Boots, Standard Life, Skandia, Virgin Media, etc, etc… It's a very long list! And, our practical, helpful approach to questionnaire design has won acclaim in the HR press - ask us for a copy of our Selection and Development Review article.
Designing the questionnaire might take two or three days. Often, we will draft a questionnaire based on the customer's competencies/leadership framework, meet with the customer to review the draft, and then pilot the questionnaire with a few managers.
Training
A short workshop for HR professionals and Business Partners makes a big difference to how much, and how well, 360 tool is used. It enables HR to…
- Identify and take 360's applications - perhaps to assessment centres, leadership development, and performance review.
- Present and explain the 360 tool clearly to line managers, and address managers' questions and concerns.
- Set up and make best use of the tool's features, such as checks on questionnaire quality and comparisons with previous feedback.
- Make expert interpretations of 360 feedback report's; identifying individuals' strengths and development needs.
- Coach individuals through their 360 feedback and create practical, business-focused personal development plans.
Training for HR is often tailored to the customer's needs. For example, a workshop might include creating early successes with 360 or advanced coaching techniques.
Coaching Resources
360 Feedback only works well if people are helped to understand their reports and helped to create practical action plans. The academic research is conclusive about that. So, we work hard at supporting HR and line manager coaches with a comprehensive package of resources. It is a really important part of our customer care.
Central to "Coaching Resources" is a simple, step-by-step approach to using 360 Feedback to understand skills and devise a business-focused action plan. And, it works really well, even with managers who have modest coaching skills, perhaps, because there's lots of support for coaches. For example, there are extensive hints and tips on coaching, and hundreds of personal development suggestions.
In addition to free online resources, we also provide short 360 coaching skills workshops for many of our customers, including organisations using different providers’ 360 software. We've run very successful workshops for Alliance and Leicester, Dairy Crest, John Lewis, the National Housing Federation… They found a half day workshop gives managers the knowledge, tools and confidence to coach with 360 feedback, and do a great job.