A core element of 360-degree feedback is confidentiality. Reviewers need to be able to deliver open, honest feedback without the concern that a close colleague or friend might be hurt or angered by the feedback. Organizations must decide whether to collect and score 360 degree data internally or externally; both methods have benefits and disadvantages. Preserving respondent anonymity often drives the decision for external scoring and reporting, because the raw data are not kept within the organization. Since someone outside the company takes on this administrative burden, only non-employees have access to the actual ratings. This not only improves anonymity but relieves supervisors or an internal process administrator of additional responsibilities. The drawback to external scoring is the substantial and recurring expense. Information that challenges our selfview is not easily accepted. The first step in changing our self-perception is the reception of disconfirming information. Managers who see themselves as great communicators will not necessarily alter their self-view at the first hint of their inability to conduct a productive meeting; only selected information will make its way through. 360 degree reviewers need to be brought into the project in the engaging stage and while their feedback is being requested. They might need to be encouraged, cajoled and thanked. They also need to be considered in the back-at-work stage once the 360 degree feedbackdata has been shared and processed by the focus. The ideal situation is that the focus returns to their reviewers and has conversations with each of them. Since 360 degree feedbackis done anonymously, it can be a great way to find out about your ‘blind spots’ (the differences between how you perceive yourself vs. how others perceive you) without adding strain to your professional relationships. Maybe the silly jokes you feel embarrassed about making every now and then are actually helping others go through their day with a smile on their faces. The 360 degree feedbackprocess builds a secure bedrock of improvements to employee performance from empowering their work ethic and sense of recognition to using insights gathered from the feedback reports to work towards sustainable goals, thus strengthening institutional bonds and leading to better customer satisfaction.
360-degree feedback adds value to organizations and their development because of the unique, facilitative role these systems can play vis-a-vis the following significant trends in organizations: moving from an inside-out to an outside-in orientation, the changing nature of work, and the changing role of management and leadership. Face validity is important in that it relates to the manager's first impression of the 360 degree instrument and, thus, can have a negative impact if it is lacking. High face validity means that the items make sense to people; behaviors seem relevant to leadership or management performance. However, most 360-degree instruments do not suffer from a lack of face validity because they are based on behaviors or skills that managers need, especially if the instruments have been developed from solid research and leadership theory. Decide in advance who gets access to 360-degree feedback results. If you are conducting a review for the first time, it is reasonable to provide access results only to administrators and managers of the reviewees once after the review is completed. Then managers publish results to reviewees before or during a special meeting for discussing the review. The use of 360-degree feedback requires much more from managers and other recipients of such feedback than if they were dealing only with feedback from their immediate supervisors. First of all, there is a great deal more information to interpret. Then, the ratings may be inconsistent, not because they are unreliable but because the manager has different roles and relationships with different constituencies. Also, the ratings are averaged by source (except for the supervisor), so the manager will have a picture of what subordinates or peers think on the average. Organisations should avoid fear based responses when coming to terms with 360 degree feedback system in the workplace.
Co-create The 360 Degree Feedback Instrument
360 degree feedbackshould be conducted every quarter and make up part of the overall appraisal process but shouldn’t be used to wholey measure performance. A 360 degree feedbackis about an individual’s competencies, therefore this is a tool to help both the manager and the employee assess their strengths and weaknesses which gives them the basis for development and that can be analysed over the period of a year and worked upon each quarter. 360 degree feedbacksystems must guarantee absolute anonymity to respondents and confidentiality to employees regarding their feedback, or the process will fail. A bank instituted a 360 degree feedbackprocess whereby the feedback providers confronted the employees directly in an open meeting. The results were highly inflated, and therefore useless, ratings for everyone and unhappy participants, who disliked the entire process. If a team member finds a piece of 360 degree feedbackunfair or unclear, managers might suggest they reach out to the feedback giver for clarification or even set up a meeting between the three of them to discuss it openly. Managers should encourage their team members to prepare open-ended questions ahead of time. The best practice for 360 feedback is to always give one positive for every negative. No-one can be a horrendous employee, otherwise you probably would have let them go a long time ago. So peers might think that they are arrogant or unfriendly but customers always like the level of customer service they get. These should be combined in their presentation. Sharing data themes and promoting others' involvement in interpreting the feedback not only gives a person insight to the meaning of the data but also enlists support from others for ongoing development efforts. In a culture that supports collective learning, there are systems and processes that allow for the more public sharing of data about individuals' strengths and weaknesses, for clarifying what the data mean, and for deciding what actions should be taken-by the individual and the collective. Supporting the big vision encompassing what is 360 degree feedback will lead to untold career development initiatives.
The goal of a 360-degree instrument is knowledge that leads to improvement. Through feedback, individuals receive data that can help them recognize areas in their behavior that need improvement, and this recognition can be focused through the selfmanagement model of feedback. A manager has to (1) accept that the feedback is accurate, (2) decide if the feedback is good or bad for him or her, and (3) conclude that these things are important-important enough to make a change over the long term. When the individual decides what changes need to be made, the next step is to decide how these changes will be made. The followup to the program must include concrete goals and a solid commitment to achieve them. Some people can be very negative about others in a 360 degree process and can hold on to damning opinions with great determination and significant impact on themselves and others around them. Some cultures seem to allow these attitudes to prevail, others do not give them any space. Once again, they are very challenging to deal with. Open conversations and tough mediation and coaching can make a difference though. Supporting the individual in being OK with others’ negative opinions is the usual strategy. 360 degree feedbackis used mostly as a development tool because it provides information about a subject's work competencies, behaviour and working relationships. It's also mainly used for individuals higher up in the organisation's hierarchy. A questionnaire used for 360 Degree Feedback typically contains items that are rated on a 4 to 7 point scale. These items may be developed to measure different dimensions of job performance (e.g., communication, teamwork, leadership, initiative, judgment, ...). Questionnaires also typically include one or more open-ended questions to solicit written feedback. Managers should utilize 360-degree reviews to uncover strengths and build employees up. Assembling the data and incorporating it into an empowering action plan can fuel employees’ motivation. Analysis and decision making become easier when an understanding of 360 feedback software is woven into the organisational fabric.
Exploring Possible Consequences
A 360-degree feedback system can be used as part of a more extensive performance management system. It is not advised, though, as this can erode trust between employees over time. 360 degree feedbackrecipients are confronted with two essential pieces of information: (1) others' perceptions of their effectiveness in relation to organizational standards and (2) their own perceptions of their effectiveness. Much of the impact of 360-degree feedback lies in the first element. Discovering what others think of them is often very difficult for feedback recipients to accept. The knowledge that others think positively (or negatively) about their abilities is very powerful. This impact is increased when the perception of others is different from self-perception. The more people have to read in your 360 feedback forms, the longer and harder the process and the more complaints you will get. We aim for four to seven words in a question. Avoid duplication – even repeating an interesting colourful word in a different item can feel like duplication to a reviewer so only use words like ‘external stakeholder’ once if you possibly can. Unlike conventional supervisor reviews or subordinate feedback, the 360 degree approach is more holistic. The multi-rater method of collecting feedback has several applications and formats. This chapter will offer detailed clarity across those parameters by delving deeper into the types of multi-rater surveys and their applications, benefits, etc. The use of multiple rating sources or perspectives is clearly a strength of 360-degree feedback, and the contributions of different perspectives are especially interesting. In the socially constructed world in which employees work, others' judgments about them (no matter how biased they may be) constitute an important reality. Nonetheless, a keen understanding of 360 appraisal can be seen to be a multifaceted challenge in any workplace.
Dealing with 360 feedback participant's questions is key – they will usually want to know the answer to the following questions: “How good is this?”, “Why are my reviewers rating me differently?”, “Who is right?”, “How does my 360 compare with others?” Then there is a heap of interpretation to work through where you are helping them get clear on what the data is really saying to them, what the reviewers’ views are, why they may differ, what the consequences are for them and others and finally what they should therefore do about it. Organization and administration of 360-degree feedback may take quite a lot of time and effort on the part of review organizers, even if they use special software. We recommend that you first conduct a review of a small group of people by using a special third-party service or a universal solution like Google Forms to determine how easy and convenient it will be to scale such a solution to a large group The 360 degree feedbackprocess can provide employers with an array of constructive feedback. Which means you can save yourself from creating thorough reports on an individual scale. As part of the 360 degree process, define the key competencies, values and behaviours you want to evaluate, whether these relate to organizational values or competencies specific to the employee’s role. Leadership competencies such as problem-solving and strategic thinking are other factors worth considering since these are universally positive traits to develop. An important aspect of 360 degree feedbackis to enhance understanding, during both the input and the output phases of the process. To enhance understanding, materials should be unambiguous in their instructions, in the items to which people will respond, in the way data are fed back, and in materials that help people take the information forward into the rest of their lives. Researching 360 degree feedback is known to the best first step in determining your requirements and brushing up on your understanding in this area.
Linking Performance And Rewards
In many organizations it would be foolish to suddenly mandate more sharing of 360-degree assessment information about individuals. A number of these organizations are still command-andcontrol environments where decisions are made at the top of the hierarchy and passed down with the expectation that employees will implement and not ask questions. Engaging a wide segment of the organization in collective learning would be a foreign concept. For the organization and the individual to maximize the effectiveness of implementing a 360 initiative, there needs to be a process for creating a development plan, as well as support and follow-through. Make sure participants know how to understand what their 360 results really mean and have a framework for setting and achieving development goals. If you seek authentic feedback, you must be transparent, respectful, and communicative when dealing with colleagues at all levels. As you plan to roll out your new feedback method, also have a strong communication plan in place. Administrative roles and processes should be made clear. Check out additional facts regarding 360 assessment applications in this NHS entry.
Related Articles:
Supplementary Findings On 360 feedback applications
More Information About 360 degree feedback processes
More Information With Regard To 360-Degree review processes
Additional Findings About 360-Degree appraisal instruments
Supplementary Insight On 360-Degree evaluation instruments
More Background Information With Regard To 360-Degree review software systems
Further Information With Regard To 360 degree evaluation software systems