A version of this article was first posted on LinkedIn in December of 2015  

The next presidential election is November 5, 2024. There are several steps between then and now. From January to June of 2024, states and parties hold presidential primaries and caucuses. From July to early September, parties hold nominating conventions to choose their presidential candidates. In September and October, candidates participate in presidential debates.  

It is well understood that 360 feedback provides an individual with the insight to build skills and add value to the organization, but what benefit can an organization derive from the broad use of 360 feedback? 

For decades now, I have conducted 360 feedback and coaching discussions with leaders at all levels, representing numerous companies, industries, and regions of the world. For the majority of these feedback/coaching discussions, I have worked with The PROFILOR® 360 assessment. I have also trained many HR teams in conducting feedback/coaching sessions, both in one-on-one and group format, using The PROFILOR®. In conducting these HR workshops, I have discovered that many teams have the same questions and concerns about conducting one-on-one feedback sessions. In this article, I will share more about the way a conversation should happen to facilitate the most productive and impactful feedback/coaching session. Future articles will provide additional information on conducting high-impact feedback/coaching sessions.

This job aid is designed specifically to help leaders and employees have strong and productive development discussions. It is meant to provide advice and guidance once the employee has completed The PROFILOR® feedback process, for three phases related to development discussions: preparing for the discussion, having the meeting, and following-up after the meeting. The following sections are organized according to these phases.

This Leader’s Guide is designed specifically to help leaders and employees have strong and productive development discussions, across time and on single occasions. Having these kinds of discussions help to ensure that the leader knows what is important to the employee’s engagement and feeling valued by the organization. They also help to ensure leaders and employees have the information they need to explore various career directions and opportunities for employees.

Part I of High-Impact 360 Feedback and Coaching focused on the development discussion. We also published a job aid that can be used as a guide for these discussions. Part II of our series on High-Impact 360 Feedback and Coaching focuses on how to create a robust action plan. The ideas that follow are useful whether or not a person has participated in a 360-feedback process. A 360-feedback process does, however, provide invaluable information for creating the strongest action plans. The following practices provide guidelines to follow for strong action plans: