Leadership Qualities Framework 360 Feedback Tool Best Practice Guide for Facilitators 1
CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. TYPES OF FACILITATORS 3 3. FACILITATOR ROLE 3 4. LENGTH OF THE FEEDBACK SESSION 5 5. VERBATIM COMMENTS 5 6. CONFIDENTIALITY 6 7. DATA PROTECTION 7 8. COMMITMENT TO FEEDBACK SESSIONS 7 9. WHEN TO SAY NO TO A REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK 8 10. COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT LOCAL AREA ONCE TRAINED 8 11. LOCAL COORDINATORS 8 12. FACILITATOR NETWORKS 8 13. REVIEW OF FACILITATOR STATUS 9 14. SUPERVISION AND CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT 9 15. WEBSITE ACCESS FOR FACILITATOR S 10 16. FACILITATOR TRAINING 11 17. REGISTERING ON THE FACILITATOR DATABASE 12 18. INFORMING RIGHT MANAGEMENT ABOUT CASCADE TRAINING 14 19. RESPONSIBILITY FOR KEEPING RECORDS OF THOSE TRAINED 14 APPENDIX A - LEARNING LOG APPENDIX B - FACILITATOR EVALUATION FORM 2
1. INTRODUCTION This guide has been developed to support Facilitator s trained in the Right Management 360 Feedback tool. It outlines a number of processes and procedures that facilitators should be familiar with and suggests best practice for all facilitators using the LQF 360 tool. 2. TYPES OF FACILITATORS There are three types of facilitators. Accredited Facilitators are entitled to facilitate feedback sessions using the LQF 360 tool designed by Right Management. Accredited Trainers are entitled to train others in facilitation and facilitate feedback sessions using the LQF 360 tool. Principal Trainers. The Principal Trainer status is an extension of the Accredited Trainer role. Principal Trainers are entitled to provide refresher training and re-accredit any individuals who have been removed from the database due to inactivity. 3. FACILITATOR ROLE The facilitator role is extremely important to the 360 process, and needs to be carried out well to ensure that the participant gets the maximum out of the feedback. Effective facilitation of the feedback session will enable individuals to get the most out of this development opportunity. Agreeing to give feedback Before you agree to give feedback we recommend that you have a contracting conversation about the 360 tool and what the participant hopes to gain from using it. Areas to discuss could include the following: What has led you to use 360 now? Tell me about your current situation and how 360 fits? How have you prepared for 360 so far? How have you chosen and communicated with your raters? How have you used LQF in your preparation? What do you want from this process? What do you want from a facilitator? Responsibilities - the feedback meeting The level of trust established between the participant and feedback facilitator will influence the effectiveness of the process. This may be a challenge where 3
facilitators also work within the same organisation. The principle of the feedback session is that individuals can confidently offer and receive relevant and constructive feedback regardless of their position. As part of the contract with the participant feedback facilitator s will: Not disclose the specific content of feedback meetings to a third party without the participant s explicit consent. Secure a copy of the participant s feedback report and not allow access by a third party without the participant s explicit consent. Not take specific action on any issue raised in the feedback meeting without the participant s consent. Not use the feedback data to judge the participant. Not prescribe actions for the participant. The Structure of the Feedback Meeting The purpose of the feedback meeting is to: Enable the participant to understand their feedback report. Enable the participant to summarise the strengths and development themes that emerge from discussion of the report. To assist the participant in identifying areas to be taken forward in a personal development plan. (PDP) To achieve this, the facilitator and participant should work in partnership to reach understanding of: what the participant wants from their feedback report the Leadership Qualities Framework the format and data in the 360 report the participants perceptions of their strengths and needs against the framework and in the context of their current role as well as career and life aspirations gaps between self/others perception differences and similarities in responses from managers, peers and direct reports possible reasons for different perceptions qualities and behaviours in context using examples development themes At the end of the feedback meeting The facilitator will give the paper version of the feedback report to the participant and confirm that there is no other copy held. If appropriate agree a further date for an action planning meeting. 4
4. LENGTH OF THE FEEDBACK SESSION We recommend that you allow 2 hours for the feedback session. Best practice is to split the 2 hour session into 2 parts. An initial session of 20-30 minutes and a full session of 1½ - 2 hours. Where feasible schedule an initial 20-30 minute meeting with the participant to show them the report and outline how it is structured. Ask them to look at the report and identify the key areas that they wish to concentrate on. Leave the report with them and follow this initial meeting with the full feedback session the following day. This allows the participant some time to think about what they wish to get out of the session and will prepare them for the full feedback session. Additional action planning session Be prepared to offer a final action planning session with the participant after the feedback session. This may take place a few days or weeks after the feedback session and allows the participant to discuss their next development steps after the impact of the feedback session. Remember the feedback session may be quite intense, particularly if this is the first 360 assessment the participant has completed. It may surface some very personal issues and is therefore not always the appropriate time to look at further action planning. Coaching There are a number of accredited coaches on a coaching register held by the Institute for Innovation and Improvement. If an individual is interested in specific coaching to pursue a personal development issue following their feedback session you may want to suggest this as an option. Please note that coaches will charge for their services and therefore this may not be a viable option for all participants using the 360 feedback tool. For details of available coaches please see: www.executive.modern.nhs.uk and click on the coaching link. 5. VERBATIM COMMENTS Right Management cannot monitor language used in verbatim comments. Guidance on verbatim comments is available in the rater guidelines and also as the questionnaire is completed. If, in the unlikely event that you receive a report that has offensive or totally inappropriate comments that you feel you would have difficulty dealing with, it may be helpful to discuss your approach with your supervisor. You would need to ensure that confidentiality of the participant is maintained. 5
When dealing with any difficult verbatim comments it is worth considering offering to facilitate a meeting with the individual and their raters to further explore their relationship in a non threatening manner. This may help to resolve issues. Alternatively suggest that they may wish to discuss the matter with their manger, HR team or external mentor or coach. If you feel that it is wholly inappropriate for the participant to see these comments you would need to gain their written consent, along with the consent of the rater, before considering removing or masking these comments. You would also need to ensure that you are not contravening the data protection act in any way. Please note, Right Management cannot amend the electronic version of the report in any way. If you feel that you still cannot resolve the issue than you should approach the Institute for Innovation and Improvement to discuss a way forward. The Institute, in conjunction with Right Management, would need look at each report on a case by case basis and discuss the options for the way forward with you. Initial discussion In these cases it would not be appropriate to leave the report with the individual after having the initial discussion, as they will need support to discuss the implications of these verbatim comments. 6. CONFIDENTIALITY Feedback Session Pre-session, During and After the session The facilitator needs to handle the report prior to the feedback session in full confidence and should not share information with third parties. The feedback session is confidential and the facilitator should not feedback any information to a third party without the written consent from the participant. Professionalism also includes confidentiality being maintained internally within the NHS or within an external consultancy. Should the local coordinator happen to gain confidential information this must be kept confidential to them and not communicated to any third party. Report ownership The participant is the owner of the report. Should you wish to introduce any different practices, you need to seek written consent from the participant (e.g. keeping reports on corporate systems). 6
Any saved electronic reports will have to be deleted after the feedback session. The reports should be saved in a secure location and access should not be given to any third party. Supervision confidentiality issues Confidentiality should be maintained when bringing participant information into supervision (which is in itself confidential). Information which could lead to the identification of any individual participant needs to be withheld. In practice this always means that the individual s surname should be withheld, as should identifying job titles. 7. DATA PROTECTION Under the UK Data Protection Act 1998, where the feedback facilitator intends to keep notes on the content of the feedback session the individual participant s explicit consent must first be given. The fact that explicit consent has been given should be recorded by the feedback facilitator on the notes made. Notes kept by the feedback facilitator are at all times the responsibility of the facilitator to keep safe and confidential. Such notes should be kept under lock and key unless they are in transit. Notes on the content of feedback sessions should not allow the participant to be identifiable. This means that identifying information such as surname, address and specific job title should not be on the session notes and if in transit should not accompany them, unless such information is well disguised (e.g. in code). In order to facilitate confidentiality no notes on the content of feedback sessions or sensitive personal data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998 should be kept on IT systems. 8. COMMITMENT TO FEEDBACK SESSIONS By completing the facilitator training you are committing yourself to delivering feedback sessions. In order to become an accredited and certificated facilitator you must complete a minimum of 3 feedback sessions within the first 12 months of the training. If you do not meet this minimum level you may be removed from the Accredited Facilitator database. Following the first 3 feedback sessions, facilitators are required to undertake a minimum of 2 feedbacks per year in order to retain their place on the facilitator database. If this minimum requirement is not met, you will automatically be removed from the database and required to refresh your training. 7
9. WHEN TO SAY NO TO A REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK As a facilitator you are not obliged to give feedback to everyone who asks you to, but you need to complete a minimum number of sessions (outlined above). We recommend that you offer to deliver feedback across your SHA area. This encourages organisations to share their facilitator resource and also encourages facilitator networks. Please outline in your facilitator registration form whether you are only able to deliver feedback within your organisation. 10. COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT LOCAL AREA ONCE TRAINED All facilitators should liase with their SHA leadership lead to let them know how many facilitators are within their area. NHS facilitators should be committed to supporting their local area in the 360 process. In practice this could mean only within the organisation you work in, linking with neighbouring organisations or across the SHA area. Be prepared to discuss this with your SHA leadership lead, so they are aware of where you are prepared to deliver feedback. 11. LOCAL COORDINATORS We recommend that where possible a local co-ordinator is nominated to support the 360 process in organisations, particularly where large groups are going through the 360. Facilitators should identify if there is a local co-ordinator when they are approached to deliver the feedback, as the local co-ordinator may also support the arrangement of the feedback sessions. 12. FACILITATOR NETWORKS Facilitators are encouraged to set up local networks with other facilitators in their area, to discuss best practice and provide support to each other. This is supported by the facilitator/supervisor relationship and may be overseen by the SHA Leadership Lead. 8
13. REVIEW OF FACILITATOR STATUS Facilitators are expected to deliver 3 feedback sessions within the first year following the training and 2 feedbacks per year thereon in. Should facilitators experience difficulties in achieving this, they are required to write to Right Management 360Support.NHS@right.com explaining reasons for not meeting this requirement. Facilitators are advised to provide the following information: Reasons for not meeting the requirement Indication of when the requirement will be met Evidence of similar activities which require similar skills to providing 360 feedback e.g. providing feedback using other 360 tools, MRG, etc. Evidence of attendance at a LQF 360 Refresher Training Course 14. SUPERVISION AND CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT Roles and responsibilities Experienced facilitators and trainers should be prepared to supervise newly trained facilitators. The supervisor s role is to support a colleague facilitator through a learning and reflection process on the first three sessions after the training. The key purpose of this is: - to help the facilitator reflect on the key learning from the session what worked, did not work and how the learning will be applied in the next session - to discuss any challenges that the facilitator faced before or during the feedback session Confidentiality needs to be maintained and respected during the supervision process, as described above. Supervisors need to sign the learning logs to confirm that the discussion has taken place and that the reflection on learning has taken place. By signing the form, supervisors confirm that they were satisfied with the approach taken in handling the feedback session. Supervision does not need to take place face-to-face and can be conducted over the phone. Facilitator Evaluation Form You may wish to ask the participant to complete a Facilitator Evaluation Form (see Appendix B). The evaluation form need only be seen by you (the Facilitator) and should be used for your own personal development. You may also wish to use some of the feedback provided to contribute towards your learning logs. 9
Learning Logs Learning logs are provided during the training. They need to be completed, discussed with the supervisor and signed by the supervisor. Once completed they need to be sent to: NHS Administrator Right Management 3500 Solent Business Park Whitley, Fareham Hampshire PO15 7 AL See appendix A for a copy of the learning log. Certification Once the three learning logs have been completed and sent to Right Management a formal certificate of accreditation will be sent to the facilitator. 15. WEBSITE ACCESS FOR FACILITATORS Registration and Code Allocation Once you have completed the facilitator training course, and have completed and sent in your registration form to Right Management, your details will be entered onto the facilitator database found on the NHS Leadership Qualities Framework website. Right Management will issue you with a unique login name and password which will allow you access to the 360-degree website to view status reports. These codes will be emailed to you once your registration form has been received. Organising a Feedback Session When a participant selects you as their feedback facilitator, you will automatically receive an email with the name and contact details of that Participant. If a feedback date hasn t already been arranged, you are encouraged to contact the Participant yourself to organise a suitable time. Please allow approximately 7 weeks from initial contact to the feedback session. Checking Progress As a feedback facilitator, you are encouraged to check on the report status throughout the 360-degree feedback process. This can help when planning the timing of the feedback session. To check the report status, you will need to access the 360-degree website from a link on the NHS Leadership 10
Qualities website www.nhsleadershipqualities.nhs.uk and use the codes allocated to you by Right Management. Receiving the Report Right Management will send one bound, colour copy of the 360-degree feedback report directly to you approximately 6 weeks after the initial contact with the participant. In addition, they will also email a copy of the report to you. While the participant maintains full ownership of the report, you can use it to prepare for the feedback session. However, the report must be kept strictly confidential and must not be saved, copied or re-transmitted in any form without the explicit agreement of the participant. Please note that the participant will not have access to the report before the feedback session with you. Support If at any point throughout the process you require help with any of the above, please contact the Right Management Help Line on 0800 458 2053. Alternatively, please email the support line at 360Support.NHS@Right.com. 16. FACILITATOR TRAINING Accredited Facilitators Accredited Facilitators are certified to provide 1:1 feedback to participants only and are not entitled to train others in giving feedback, unless they have attended the Train the Trainer programme run by Right Management. Accredited Trainers / Facilitators Accredited trainers / facilitators are certified to provide 1:1 feedback to participants and to train others in giving feedback, following the training structure recommended by Right Management. However, they are not entitled to deliver Train-the-Trainer workshops. They will have access to Right Management training materials and will be required to sign an agreement that they will not give access to these materials to any other trainer who did not attend the Right Management Train-the- Trainer programme. They will also be required to sign the agreement that they will respect the Right Management copyright for the training materials and will not change them or use them for any purposes other than to train internal NHS staff (or in exceptional circumstances to train consultants who are working on specific NHS projects to give feedback only). They will not be 11
allowed to give access to these materials to any other third party or an external consultancy other than Right Management. Only internal NHS staff will be certified to become accredited trainers. External consultants to the NHS will not be given permission to train NHS staff on the NHS LQF 360 tool designed by Right Management or to use the Right Management materials for their commercial gains. Accredited trainers will be required to return all Right Management training materials given to them in the electronic format at the end of the contract for this project. Should they leave the NHS during the contract, they will be required to return all materials to Right Management and will not be allowed to take these with them to their new organisation. Equally, they are not entitled to pass on their status of Accredited Trainer or pass on facilitator training materials to any other colleague. Accredited Trainers are expected to: send updated lists of all trained people to Right Management at the end of every training course they run act as supervisors for those people who they have trained follow the training structure recommended by Right Management and deliver 1 ½ day facilitator training including the completion of the LQF 360 by training participants 17. REGISTERING ON THE FACILITATOR DATABASE All facilitators must agree to have their contact details on the Leadership Qualities Framework (LQF) website. On completion of training you will be asked to fill out a registration form supplying contact and professional details for the online database. The registration form should then be forwarded to Right Management by the facilitator themselves, signed by their Trainer. Facilitators will not be able to provide feedback until Right Management has received this form and their details have been uploaded onto the database. Accredited Trainers can download a copy of the registration form using their unique login codes via the website: www.nhsleadershipqualities.nhs.uk. Biographical details (examples) Facilitators will be asked to provide some details on their professional background for our online database. On the next page is an example of how this information will be displayed on the website and the kind of information that should be included. 12
Example of biographical details Biographical Information Brief professional history include overview of work experience and provide details of facilitating and coaching experience for example: - HR professional - private sector and NHS (CIPD 1988) - 10 years senior management experience, 3 years as Executive Director of Human Resources - Coaching for individuals at middle management and above - MTS Mentor (Advanced mentoring programme 2006) - Assessor for Gateway programme - Facilitation of groups (NHS Leadership centre Facilitation Skills 2006) - LQF Facilitator since 2003 - Myers Briggs (OPP) 2004 Training Experience (if applicable): Any experience of training that may provide further background to your role as LQF Facilitator for example: - Design and commission training and development on range of issues for all staff groups - Management skills trainer - LQF accredited facilitator and trainer accredited - Training the trainer for appraisal Other: Any further details or relevant information for example: General availability Periods of time unavailable Please note that this registration can be updated by contacting the NHS Administrator at 360Support.NHS@right.com 13
18. INFORMING RIGHT MANAGEMENT ABOUT CASCADE TRAINING Accredited Trainers have the responsibility to provide Right Management with details of all the facilitators they train by sending an email to Right Management listing the names of those trained and the dates of the training event. Accredited Trainers can download a registration form from the LQF website: www.nhsleadershipqualities.nhs.uk which needs to be completed by new facilitators and forwarded to the NHS Support Line by the trainer. Hard copies must be signed by both facilitator and trainer and sent to: NHS Administrator Right Management 3500 Solent Business Park Whitley, Fareham Hampshire PO15 7 AL Alternatively, trainers can forward completed forms by email to: 360Support.NHS@right.com. By sending through completed forms by email, trainers are confirming to Right Management that they have sought permission from the facilitator for their details to be registered onto the LQF public website. 19. RESPONSIBILITY FOR KEEPING RECORDS OF THOSE TRAINED Right Management host an online database of trained facilitators which can be accessed through the website: www.lqf360.institute.nhs.uk. It is the responsibility of trainers to inform Right Management when they cascade the training. It is the responsibility of each individual facilitator to inform Right Management of any changes to their details, by emailing 360Support.NHS@right.com. 14
APPENDIX A NHS LQF 360 DEGREE FEEDBACK TOOL LEARNING LOGS: FACILITATOR TRAINING 15
Learning Log F A C I L I T A T O R S N A M E : Date of Feedback: Background What worked well? 16
What did you find challenging? How did you deal with it? Key learning points: Facilitator s signature Date: Supervisor s comments: Supervisor s signature: Date: Please send 3 learning logs to: NHS Administrator, Right Management, 3500 Solent Business Park, Whiteley, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 7AL. Or Fax to: 01489 886910. 17
APPENDIX B NHS LQF 360 DEGREE FEEDBACK TOOL FACILITATOR EVALUATION FORM 18
Dear Colleague, We would like you to provide your Facilitator with feedback to help them develop their practice and approach. Your honest responses to the following questions would be greatly appreciated. Please complete the form below and return directly to your Feedback Facilitator. Facilitator Name: Date of LQF Feedback: 1. What did you want to gain from your LQF 360 feedback? 2. To what extent did your Facilitator help you achieve this? 3. Did your Facilitator explain the Leadership Qualities Framework and the feedback process in enough detail for you? 4. Is there anything else your Facilitator could have done in preparing you for the 360 process? 19
5. Please comment on the approach and usefulness of your feedback meeting. 6. Did your facilitator help you make the links between the LQF report feedback, your current role and personal development needs? Please explain. 7. What were the real strengths demonstrated by your facilitator? 8. Are there any areas where you think your facilitator might focus their own development for future sessions? Thank you for completing this evaluation. Please note this evaluation is not forwarded onto to any other party, but with your agreement may contribute to your Facilitator s personal development portfolio. Newly qualified Feedback Facilitators may also wish to use part of this feedback to contribute to their Learning Logs for accreditation purposes. 20