Standing at a crossroads and determining which way to travel is a metaphor for life. Its also apt when describing how to select the best 360 degree appraisal instruments. Hopefully this guide will assist you in finding your way. Assumptions can be questioned and challenged. You are operating the way you are based on the current assumptions you have right now. It is useful to remember that it all always makes sense. You can encourage a shift in assumptions by all manner of means – with new data, new opinions, new benchmarks, new experts or simply a new way of seeing the way it is. If anyone is missed out of the 360 process, it means the process is no longer 360 degrees. It also means that you can miss out on vital information that can help the employee receive a proper appraisal about their performance. All the external development support available to the employee by the organization will be insufficient unless individual employees take ownership of their 360 degree feedbackand development. That is, to own their assessment is to accept the feedback results and to feel committed to using them to guide their development and performance improvement. Then, the organization's 360-degree feedback process is theirs to use as a means of empowerment and self-determination. We recommend a strengths-based approach to development where the primary focus is on an individual’s natural strengths rather than areas that do not come most naturally. Focusing coaching on only developmental areas will give only incremental results while focusing on people’s natural talents can provide exponential growth. Like any other major change, senior leadership support accelerates the adoption of the 360 degree feedbackprocess. The leadership team may be the first or an early group to receive behavior feedback. Many organizations pilot a 360 degree feedbackproject with a group of fifty to one hundred participants who are not part of the top management group. After the pilot test, the communications, training, and process actions can be refined to fit the needs of employees and management better. There are many ways 360-degree feedback can add value to organizations and their development. Examples include facilitating organizational transformations, helping with strategic integration and alignment, making performance management more relevant to new organizational complexities, creating mechanisms for integrating multiple constituencies' inputs, establishing cultures for continuous learning, undergirding the organization's leadership assessment and development programs, and aggregating data across individuals as part of an organizational needs assessment process and ongoing monitoring. Aim for a private space in for a 360 degree feedbacksession, such as a meeting room or someone’s office, reasonably convenient for them but not too close to their work colleagues. Avoid meeting rooms that are too large or imposing and also those that have glass walls so that there really is no privacy. Hotel receptions and cafes can work if busy and anonymous enough but a meeting room is very much better. Companies use 360s across larger portions of the company as part of their talent management process. They might conduct a 360 for each of their leaders every year or two, ensuring leaders get the feedback they need. Or, some companies use it to kick off insight at the beginning of a learning journey or leadership development program. They might even assess different sections of the company at different times. By bringing in key stakeholders who have a relationship with the employee and by making it anonymous, the 360 degree process allows the whole process to be an open evaluation of areas which can be improved and which are working very well. It’s extremely important for managers to avoid nagging or micro-managing when it comes to people’s progress, a manager’s role is to be supportive as opposed to adding pressure. When they notice improvement, they should offer employee recognition and reinforcement so people understand they are on the right path. People need to feel in control of their destiny - that is why a clear understanding of 360 appraisal is important to any forward thinking organisation. Effective Human Resources Are Crucial The use of 360s has become so pervasive these days that if your company is not currently using one, it might feel as if you’re missing out. But if you don’t make a strategic decision about what you want to accomplish with 360 feedback, you won’t know if your investment made any difference. Listening is the key skill to apply to negative comments in a 360 degree feedbacksession as well as confirming what you feel and see. Try asking questions such as, “Do you have any idea where this high expectation of yourself has come from? ” or stating, “This idea of being liked has clearly worked very well for you up to now”. Key is to highlight that, whatever they have been saying and doing, it has been for a very good reason and has been working for them. If it had not been working then, quite simply, they would have done things differently. This way you can allow them to get to be OK with how it has been and at the same time allow them to see that things might be different in the future. 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. Just as individuals need to understand how they are perceived by others, collectives need outside perspectives on themselves as groups. As 360-degree feedback to individuals can promote greater understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, multiple-source feedback about the group as a whole can help group members better understand themselves as a group and the impact they have on their constituencies. We view this application to be potentially valuable on two levels: (1) groups within organizations receive feedback from raters outside the group, and (2) the organization itself receives feedback from multiple perspectivesgroups both within and outside the organizational boundaries. Performance coaching is a useful developmental application since feedback targeted on behavioral competencies or job skills helps each associate build an intelligent action plan based on the information. The 360 degree feedbackprocess creates credible behavior feedback that can be used in lieu of a performance coach to target action planning. Analysis and decision making become easier when an understanding of what is 360 degree feedback is woven into the organisational fabric. Survey questions looking for 360-degree feedback can give managers deep insight into how employees work. Areas of inquiry include employee communication, leadership, teamwork, and conflict resolution abilities. One of the key components of 360 degree feedbackis that it takes multiple different perspectives and viewpoints. Particularly for smaller organizations this may cause some problems, as it will be more difficult to gather a full 360 degree view. Various 360 degree feedbackapplications such as job analysis may use a scale such as importance. An importance rating examines the relative criticality of each competency. Such projects often analyze the most critical competencies or success factors for each job or job family. The resulting prioritization of competencies for each job provides useful information for selection decisions. Some organizations have adopted 360 degree feedbackbecause it seems to be the logical next step from their current practice with organization surveys, a customer feedback process, or peer or upward appraisals. A few organizations were using all these lines of practice when 360 degree feedbackwas initiated, so many employees viewed the process more as an incremental development than a revolutionary change. According to goal-setting theory, the best goals (that is, those that best motivate and direct behaviors) are specific, difficult, and attainable. Certainly, most 360-degree feedback contains enough information for managers to choose goals that meet these criteria. Supporting the big vision encompassing 360 degree feedback system will lead to untold career development initiatives. Clarifying The Key Messages The experience of 360 feedback is fulfilling and satisfying, even cleansing, unless there is fear entering the process, in which case there can be a confusing mix of emotions and misgivings about the process. There is the phenomenon of “reviewers’ regret” which 360 project management teams have observed as some reviewers phone to ask if they can adjust their feedback now they have slept on it. The goal of 360 surveys is to help employees understand how their work, skills, and behaviors affect people of all levels at their organization. 360 surveys can offer a comprehensive view of performance, and more importantly, identify areas for improvement. Readers of the 360 degree feedbackwill be wanting and waiting to find out where they did worst so you may as well give them the answer sooner rather than later. [I remember inventing the term “lowlights” for this section after a trip to the hairdresser!] If you want a positive feel then you need to list fewer lowlights than highlights. The appropriate numbers could then be five highlights and four lowlights for a 50-item survey, seven highlights and five lowlights for a 90-item survey. This trick gives a positive feel regardless of the level of ratings. The 360 degree feedbacksession is a place for acknowledgment, confirming your own experience of them, questioning what you see and hear. You need to be fully present and OK while this is going on so that this will be what you give them – a sense that it is OK to feel and think whatever they are experiencing. 360 degree feedback can identify when an employee is considering leaving, and allow managers to take steps to improve the situation. 360 degree feedback tends to improve employee performance and enables large companies to have more productive, engaged workforces. Keeping up with the latest developments regarding 360 feedback software is a pre-cursor to Increased employee motivation and building the link between performance and rewards. By increasing the number of evaluations to offer a more balanced and comprehensive view, the 360 degree feedbackprocess improves the quality of performance measures. Because the feedback providers are those with whom the employee interacts regularly at work, their assessments are reliable, valid, and credible. This knowledge network of coworkers, who have firsthand experience with the employee, offers insight about work behaviors that a supervisor may not be able to observe. Employees can develop professionally and personally with a greater understanding of their strengths and weaknesses through 360 degree feedback. It helps solidify the idea between employee recruitment and retention with a commitment to employee development. Because it is a transparent tool, it encourages an open culture that values feedback. There are many definitions of competencies, but since the context of 360-degree feedback is important to us, we can stop at the following definition: competency is a set of skills, abilities, personal characteristics, and behaviors that help achieve the desired results. When done properly, 360 is highly effective as a development tool. The feedback process gives people an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback to a coworker that they might otherwise be uncomfortable giving. Feedback recipients gain insight into how others perceive them and have an opportunity to adjust behaviors and develop skills that will enable them to excel at their jobs. Looking at a 360 degree feedbackreport via the differences of the reviewer groups can prove very interesting. If your report is carefully designed you will see on one page how the different categories are working and what the patterns are. What you are looking for is the typical pattern. Is there one category of reviewer that gives higher ratings throughout? Which category is rating lowest? Where are the patterns similar? Where are they different? Organisations should avoid fear based responses when coming to terms with 360 degree feedback in the workplace. Should You Implement 360 Feedback On Your Team? With traditional 360-degree feedback applications, individuals tend to interpret their results in relative isolation-either by themselves or with a feedback specialist. The development of a learning culture can be supported by expanding this interpretative process to include all members of a work group. Instead of each individual trying to make sense of his or her feedback in isolation, the group is involved in interpreting the feedback and taking action that supports development as a result of the feedback. Such a process promotes collective learning about each person's strengths and weaknesses as a group member. If employers want to see changes, they must do their part to help employees stay accountable. Leaders should periodically review their employees’ progress during the six- to 12-month time frame. Employees can ask questions, and managers can offer guidance and coaching. Nasty politics can become apparent and play out in a 360 degree feedbackprocess. This requires management and mediation once again. In these instances 360 degree feedbackacts as a catalyst to show the worst of what is really going on. This can be ugly to deal with and not to be considered by the fainthearted. If you suspect nasty politics at a certain level, you might want to take on dealing with this first before using 360 degree feedback. 360 degree feedbackdoes not make the sorting of politics easier; it is that politics makes 360 harder. Check out further details appertaining to 360 degree appraisal instruments on this NHS page. Related Articles: More Background Information With Regard To 360-Degree appraisal applications More Background Information On 360 degree evaluation software systems Extra Insight On 360 feedback tools More Background Findings With Regard To 360 degree feedback instruments Additional Findings On 360 review performance dimensions More Findings On 360-Degree appraisal instruments Supplementary Insight On 360 appraisal software systems