When you are in a one-to-one 360 degree feedback debrief session,  the purpose is to explore the recipient's report, raise their self-awareness and have them accept what the feedback is saying; without these stages of awareness-building and acceptance, it is difficult to move onto setting development goals and action planning.

With this in mind, questions which help them reveal more about a situation from different perspectives are  invaluable; let's take an example of someone having feedback as being abrasive or brusque in their dealings with others.

The first question often to ask is 'Does this ring true for you?' or 'Do you recognise this in yourself?'; if the answer is 'Yes' then the line of questionning is different to that if they say 'No'.

Taking the former, your questions should then try to highlight the specific scenarios in which this behaviour occurs; asking 'Why do you behave like this?' can often make someone defensive and attempt to justify the behaviour i.e. 'It's not me, it's them'.

Far better to uncover what is happening before they decide to behave like that, because consciously or unconciously, there is a decision made to act one way or the other.

So, questions might be 'When do you notice this behaviour emerge? With particular people or in a particular situation? What do you believe about this person or situation? What are your expectations as you go into a particular situation? What about when you are not brusque or abrasive...what's dfifferent?

Such questions serve to help an individual become aware of the beliefs, values, assumptions, thinking and feelings which lead them to certain decisions and behaviours; with that knowledge, individuals are in a better place to make different choices & decisions next time.

John