We all have certain perceptions about our own capabilities and behaviours; those perceptions may not represent the whole picture because they are only seen from our own perspective. Using a structured 360 process can help because it gathers others’ views and perspectives in a way that may not otherwise be possible.

 It is called “360” because it draws on the perspectives of other people all around you, i.e. it goes ‘full circle’, eliciting the views of your manager, direct reports, peers and stakeholders – outlining the range of viewpoints about your behaviours and abilities.

The 360 process can be used to gain feedback on a variety of competencies, skills and behaviours. This opportunity to receive comprehensive feedback is a useful starting point for a leadership development programme. The tool we are using on SALP is the Emotional Intelligence and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI).

The Emotional Intelligence and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) survey is a 360-degree feedback tool that assesses the emotional intelligence of leaders, managers and critical professionals. Research suggests that the attributes that best distinguish high-performing leaders and professionals across industries and worldwide are not thinking skills or IQ, but emotional intelligence, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skills (Goleman, 2000).

The tool is designed to enable participants to get feedback from colleagues around these areas and support them in considering their own approaches and behaviours.

The ESCI tool comprises 2 sections, a scaled survey and a free-text section where the respondent can make personal observations.

We use an external company (Korn Ferry Hay Group) to administer the 360 ESCI surveys. Once the data is completed and processed, they will send a confidential report to the member of the People and Organisational Development team who will be running the feedback session. All results are completely confidential and will be securely processed by both the Korn Ferry Hay Group and the POD.

There is no requirement for the subject of the survey to share the results of the feedback with anyone else unless they choose to do so.

Responses to the survey section are presented collectively, with no individual identity linked to any score or comment.  The survey will not be processed unless there is a minimum of 2 respondents in each category to ensure that individual data cannot be identified. The exception to this is the person who line manages the survey subject, likely to be the only person in their category. The external company (Korn Ferry Hay Group) administer the 360 ESCI surveys. All results and comments are completely confidential and securely processed by the Korn Ferry Hay Group and the POD.

If you are the subject of the survey, once this exercise has begun, you will be sent an email from Korn Ferry Hay Group (as administrators of the 360 ESCI surveys) that will prompt you to complete your own ‘self’ survey and to nominate people to give you feedback.

In terms of who you should nominate to provide feedback, this is entirely up to you. Still, we would suggest that you nominate your line manager, at least three ‘Peers’ (people at the same level as you) and all of your ‘Direct Reports’, plus anyone else you think would be able to give you pertinent feedback in the ‘Other’ and ‘Client/Customer’* categories.

We would encourage you to try to include as broad a range of people as possible while also bearing in mind that people will need to know you reasonably well if they’re to be able to answer the questions posed on this survey, so you’ll need to have interacted with people on a number of occasions. The key thing to bear in mind is that these surveys are for your own development, and to get the most out of the process, you should select all of the people you have to work with regularly, even if you suspect that their feedback might be challenging.  

You nominate people simply by entering their names and email addresses onto the site and then clicking a ‘submit’ button – this automatically sends an email invitation out to each of those people inviting them to give you some feedback. It is advisable to brief these people beforehand to know to expect an email from Korn Ferry Hay Group. Let them know that you’ll be inviting them to contribute to your development by providing some online feedback and that they should expect to receive an email on this shortly.

Please note that we need at least 2 valid responses in the categories Direct Reports’, ‘Peers’, ‘Other’, ‘Client/Customer’*for data to be processed.

If there are under 2 responders in any category, that section of the survey will not be processed, as it could compromise responder confidentiality. We, therefore, recommend nominating 3-6 people in each category (except for the manager category, where only one response is generally expected).

*The ‘Client/Customer’ category name is generic to the survey and may be misleading in an Imperial context. Please consider this as a wider ‘stakeholder’ role – as someone interested in your work and may affect, or be affected by, your actions or behaviours.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact The POD Team.