Instructions on how to help an employee develop a personal development plan and grow after getting a very negative or positive feedback report
A good 360° Feedback report will not make judgements on whether someone is 'good' or 'bad' but instead help them prioritize where they need to improve (Spidergap's 360° Feedback report being a good example!).
However, on very rare occasions, either:
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The feedback given can be so *negative*, that the employee feels overwhelmed by the amount they need to improve, or
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The feedback can be so *positive*, that the employee feels that there is very little they are being asked to improve upon.
This is normally because the vision of what the employee should be aiming for is not appropriate or in-line with what the employee wants to achieve. Here's how to deal with this:
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First re-emphasise the aim of the 360 feedback is to help them to create a personal development plan.
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Then, use the 'GROW' coaching model to help them to create their plan:
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(G) Goals: Ask questions that help the employee to define a vision for where they'd like to get to (e.g. 'Become a COO of a large organization' / 'Spend 50% of my time on research projects')
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(R) Reality: Ask questions to help the employee review where they are against their vision (based on their own view & their feedback report) to identify the gap
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(O) Options & Obstacles: Encourage the employee to identify what they could do to close these gaps and realize their vision, what obstacles stop them from achieving this, and how they could address these.
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(W) Will / way forward: Encourage the employee to pick the actions that will make a big difference to achieving their vision, break these down into tasks, and identify exactly when they will complete these.
Doing this will help the employee to realize that the vision that they were assessed against by the 360 feedback exercise was not in line with their own.
For example, colleagues may have provided feedback based on the employee holding their existing role, whereas the individual feels they have the potential to progress. Or, colleagues may have evaluated the employee based on becoming a manager, but the employee wants to perform a more academic / technical role in future.
As a result, they should then be able to develop a plan that suits them, based on their vision of their future.