360-Degree Appraisal

Decisions, decisions! Our lives are packed with them, from the small and commonplace, for example, what to wear, to the important, such as what 360-Degree appraisal initiatives to invest in.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. If people do not get satisfactory ratings, morale can decrease when 360 is linked to performance appraisal mode. But when 360 is used purely for development, low scores tend to be viewed as constructive feedback. 360 feedback surveys are a powerful tool and when used correctly, encourage employee growth. However, there is a lot to get right to deliver a successful 360 review. There are many challenges HR leaders face when implementing a 360 feedback cycle. 360 Feedback for non-managers is useful to help people be more effective in their current roles, and also to help them understand what areas they should focus on if they want to move into a management role. Safeguards help an organization prepare for and correct any errors that may occur during the 360 degree feedbackprocess. These process and technology safeguards must be in place and then evaluated for effectiveness for each use of the process. Because the 360 ratings are typically anonymous, people are often more candid than they would be if they were providing the feedback face-to-face. As a result, you can get a very clear sense of how others really perceive you. Is it really so critical to make sure people are OK – surely those who “need” 360 degree feedbackthe most are those who are going to be most upset and they should just get over it. Well, the answer to this is that it depends what your objectives are for 360 degree feedbackin the first place – if it is to support performance management of “problem” individuals then you are right to expect upsets and you will be prepared and happy to deal with them in the context of resolving the whole issue. Feedback from peers not only boosts their morale but also helps employees and their managers work better. As different teams receive feedback from others in the organization, they start building trust and are more likely to meet their mutual goals. The feedback increases the frequency of communication within the team, ultimately leading to an increase in overall performance. If individuals don’t possess emotional quotient in addition to job specific-skills, they would not be able to unleash their potential. Using 360 surveys for appraisal ignores the fact that subordinates and peers may be unwilling to give accurate feedback when they believe it will be used for administrative purposes (pay, promotion, and so forth). Raters say they would change the scores they gave if they thought the feedback results were to be used for administrative purposes. There is additional empirical support for this argument in the literature but this issue is far from resolved, and the defining studies have not been done. Something to bear in mind when you’re the subject in a 360 degree appraisal is that you don’t have to agree with all feedback. There’s no right or wrong and everything is open to your interpretation. Organisations should avoid fear based responses when coming to terms with 360 degree feedback in the workplace.Acknowledge And Celebrate HonestyIncorporating 360-degree feedback into your organization should take time, thought, and proper organization, and the outcomes you expect should be linked to your strategic business goals. If your business is ready, here’s how to get it prepared for 360-degree feedback processes. For any message to be received with openness the recipient needs to feel safe. If fear kicks in then a range of different hormonal and emotional responses are likely to follow. These may feel like they lead you to safety but they are not conducive to constructive and responsible action! In order to deliver data safely you need to protect others’ privacy as much as possible and give them control over the process. You need to make sure they can speak and you can listen to what they have to say. You need to make sure they feel safe. Make sure both of you are totally comfortable in a 360 degree feedbacksession, swap business cards, ensure phones are off, a clock is visible to you, that you have your notebook out and pen at the ready. You will have a nice colour-bound copy of their report there to present to them. They may have nothing or they may have brought a fully marked-up or highlighted copy of their report and they may have a notebook. Check you both have the drink you need and settle in gently, building rapport as you go. Because trust in how the data in a 360 degree program are used can be an issue for managers and raters alike, some organizations are beginning to find that it may be a mistake to initiate a 360-degree process for performance appraisal in an organization in which 360 tools do not have a history of being used for development. Make sure you get partners fully on board with how you really want the 360 degree feedbackto go, as they could end up being loud voices making a stand for a roll-out that looks very different from your vision. You may want to look for opportunities to educate and share latest thinking with these key leaders. You can source useful webinars or workshops for them or bring in consultants to run briefing sessions positioned as consultation exercises. People need to feel in control of their destiny – that is why a clear understanding of 360 feedback software is important to any forward thinking organisation.360-degree feedback can be a way to build a competitive advantage, it can also, among other things, lead to an increase in satisfaction and engagement and a decrease in turnover in the team. 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. Personal development is the main outcome of a 360-degree feedback process. Ideally, participants create a development plan based on their feedback. Leaders typically possess a natural element of drive and ambition or they wouldn’t be where they are. Most leaders have some level of self-awareness regarding their strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate leadership behavior. Once the 360 degree review is complete, the development plan should be created for each of the participants based on the feedback reviews received through 360-degree evaluation. It is important to develop an actionable plan which will help to improve the employee. The areas where the improvement is required should be identified as key areas based on which training programs, workshops, coaching, conferences, or mentoring should be arranged for the employee. Self-reflection is a rare activity for managers. The relentless pace at which most managers operate leaves little room for reflection. The process of reflection allows one to momentarily suspend the intense flow of new information to the brain. This enhances the processing of existing information, thereby better preparing the person to handle the demands of the rapidly changing environment. The specificity/anonymity conundrum takes another turn when the idea of what is 360 degree feedback is involved.The Value Of Multiple PerspectivesMany organizations use an online survey method for their 360 degree reviews in order to interact with the employee and enable them to provide performance feedback. The online survey instrument is very useful in collecting feedback and providing a clear understanding of employees’ performance. In most cases, supervisor ratings, as opposed to other sources, are not confidential. In other words, the feedback recipient is aware of the ratings given by the supervisor because these ratings are not aggregated with other raters, as is the case with peer, subordinate, or customer ratings. As a result, supervisors must be prepared to defend their ratings to subordinates. This may make the ratings less reliable or more one-sided than ratings derived from a group of raters. Employees gain control and understanding of their productivity through 360-degree feedback, improving performance over time in a number of ways. They become aware of blind spots and hidden strengths which leads to greater self-awareness and accountability. Prevailing thought says that 360-degree feedback and performance appraisals should not be linked. If it is linked to compensation decisions, it may lose its power as a tool for development. The thinking is that when compensation is the outcome, individuals will quickly learn how to play the game of “I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine.” When an employee knows they are getting 360 degree feedbackfrom multiple sources, and don’t see the process as biased, they are more likely to take the learnings of the feedback process and implement them in their working life. Evaluating 360 degree feedback system can uncover issues that may be affecting employee performance.As part of the 360-degree feedback process, you need to determine the core objectives you want to achieve. Typically this process should focus on an employee’s personal and professional development, with the aim of helping them achieve goals related to these concerns. When we only have the perspective of leaders and managers, we only see half the story. Co-workers highlight problems underlying poor teamwork in the company. Maybe environmental factors, such as inadequate communication channels, are hampering collaboration? 360 degree feedbackprovides a valuable source of developmental and appraisal information for employees, but the substantial benefits are available only if the predictable objections are anticipated and addressed. Project administrators and the design team should anticipate a blizzard of employee concerns and criticisms and be ready to respond to them effectively. The verdict on 360 degree feedbackremains to be decided. Organizations and researchers will continue to study the impact of 360 degree feedback. The findings presented in this chapter indicate that 360 degree feedbackhas a measurable impact on the fairness of the performance assessment process. It seems to offer an equitable and useful development and assessment process for all organization members. Some important things to keep in mind while designing a 360 feedback process are to assess factors like team maturity, trust levels, commitment, and stability prior to launch, take stock of the positive or negative implications these might have for feedback. Researching 360 appraisal is known to the best first step in determining your requirements and brushing up on your understanding in this area.Communicating Standards Through Performance DimensionsA comprehensive performance management suite allows users to add a scoring template of their own. This makes it easy to tailor the ratings to suit the specific requirements of the 360-degree feedback program. Ideally, 360 degree reports for individual leaders should be fairly easy to understand. But in some circumstances, it may be helpful to have a trained coach walk the leader through the results. That may be especially true if the survey was only used for a small group of leaders, or was designed to address sensitive feedback about a leader’s behavior. There are different methods for creating a 360 degree competency model, and each of them has its own pros and cons. You can use ready-made competency models that can be found on the Internet, work with consultants, or develop a competence model on your own. Whatever method you use, choose such competencies and indicators that are important and can be applied by review participants in their work. Indicators’ phrasing and their value should be clear to reviewers. Discover supplementary information regarding 360-Degree appraisal initiatives in this NHS page.Related Articles:Background Insight About 360 degree assessment technologiesMore Background Insight On 360-Degree review expectationsMore Background Insight With Regard To 360 degree review applicationsBackground Insight With Regard To 360 feedback processesAdditional Insight On 360 degree feedback projects