Making good decisions about 360 assessment performance dimensions requires us to even out the supposedly opposite forces of emotion and rationality. We must be able to predict the future, correctly perceive the present situation, have insight into the minds of others and deal with ambiguity. If the 360 degree feedbackreceived is negative, it can create a lot of resentment on the team, where the receiver is angry at their colleagues or customers, inducing emotions like fear and anger. To prevent this from happening, you can teach your employees about constructive feedback. This will help your employees to turn a negative comment into an actionnable statement and will be much more beneficial for the concerned employee and your team in the long run. When implementing a 360 feedback process, organisations should help everyone involved understand how important the process is for general development and individual improvement. Mention and stress upon the anonymity associated with it and that the feedback provided are only on the basis of workplace behavior. Before launching a 360 degree review, train managers how to read 360-degree feedback results of their subordinates and make a further plan of actions for their development and train reviewers to give constructive feedback. It is tempting to think that you can use the summary charts to interpret a 360 degree feedbackreport – in fact sometimes that is all you have. This can look like it is painting a very clear picture of how good the data is overall and how it varies across the model – the weakest and the strongest competency. However, the validity of such interpretation is totally dependent on the quality and integrity of the 360 degree feedbackinstrument. Any intervention needs commitment and buy-in and cannot work without it, so how do you get the support you need? Critical here is knowing that you will get the support and a solution that will work if you design it with your stakeholders. Having an idea of coworker perception through 360 degree feedbackhelps employees understand how others view their work. A chance for innovation and continuous learning, team feedback is just as crucial as feedback from a leader. The fundamental objective of gathering 360-degree feedback is to make a better-informed decision regarding employee performance and development. This feedback provides the necessary context for understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and how well they work with colleagues. It also flags any problems which need addressing that are otherwise overlooked during the traditional manager-to-peer feedback process. Before using a 360-degree feedback instrument internationally, a first step would be to sit down with knowledgeable company insiders in the country and discuss the concept of multi-rater feedback and development. The 360-degree process needs to be perceived as valid, accurate, and legitimate for the feedback to be meaningful. If you are clear what your purpose and vision is for your 360 degree feedbackthen you will likely know what will be the best “feel” and what the key messages should be. Take time to consider this strategically – just like with a business brand – and the detail will follow easily. The most compelling argument for the use of 360 degree feedbackfor performance applications is that many organizations are planning to use the process for performance management. Making sense of 360 degree feedback system eventually allows for personal and organisational performance development. The End Of Entitlement The type of questions featured in 360-degree feedback will vary depending on the roles and responsibilities of the employee in question, and the aspect of development the feedback relates to. Questions regarding the performance of a new hire who has reached the end of his or her probationary period will be significantly different to the questions asked relating to a long-term employee reaching their annual appraisal. People tend to be quite candid when they provide input to colleagues, whether the information is to be used developmentally or for performance. If an organization truly fears the loss of developmental feedback, a practical solution is to divide the survey into two partsone developmental and one evaluativeso respondents have an opportunity to provide feedback on some items that are only developmental (and are not shared with the supervisor). Gaining alignment about the timing and logistics of interview-based or online 360, including the list of participants, the questions that will be asked, and the confidentiality and reporting parameters can help set up the process for success. During a 360 degree project, organizations will find specific barriers to learning embedded in their systems and processes. By engaging learners and other stakeholders in dialogue, managers can identify those influences and manage them accordingly. For example, did the organization not "listen" when information on a potential organizational weakness came from an outside stakeholder? What blocked that information? And can a system be created to capture that information, no matter how dissonant, and give it the visibility it requires? A 360 process is a tough, hard-hitting intervention which forces employees to speak up where they are currently choosing not to. If participants (receivers of a 360 degree feedbackreport) are open to this feedback then they can end up having mind-blowing insights and potentially the most useful and transformational experience of their career. Analysis and decision making become easier when an understanding of 360 degree feedback is woven into the organisational fabric. An aspect of 360 degree safety has to do with the impact of the instrument. Participants are frequently blindsided by what they learn. That is, they get data that come as a complete surprise to them-the areas where they rated themselves high are rated low by their subordinates, peers, or boss. Some people take their data more personally than others, but overall, 360-degree feedback is potent information. You have a number of factors to consider when gathering 360 degree feedback– how to time it avoiding holiday periods, how to pace it (in blocks or in one hit or on demand for instance), and how to ensure you maximise response rates. A key tip is to make sure there are real deadlines, as this way everyone will be working to a particular date and timeline. Anything non-real can slip all too easily. How many weeks do you give them to complete? How to monitor and manage their choice of reviewers? If you are clear there is commitment to the process then you will be able to work through these decisions and choices with your key stakeholders. Through 360-degree feedback, both the supervisor and employee realize what they need to contribute to the relationship in order for it to be productive and satisfying to both parties. Another important step is for the employee to be clear about who, in addition to the supervisor, the critical constituencies are. Most of the arguments against using 360 degree feedbackfor performance-affecting decisions tend to dissolve with experience. For other arguments, solutions are available. When 360 degree feedbackis used for performance management, feedback providers may avoid saying what needs to be heard, fearing the information may hurt someone's career. You can be clear under what conditions you will deliver 360 degree feedback. You can make a stand for having the appropriate level of support, commitment and investment. Looking into what is 360 degree feedback can be a time consuming process. Team Assessment With 360 degree projects, you need to have a vision of where you are going, what you would like it to look like. Bring it alive, translate it into a story. Imagine yourself going to work in, say, three years’ time, and paint the detailed picture of how it might be. What does it look like? Who is saying what? What is on the walls? What are you being measured on? What does it feel like? How excited/happy are you? Feel those feelings – this will all help make this happen. If reviewees have already participated in 360-degree reviews before, you can publish the results for them immediately after the review is over. When choosing a third-party service for organizing a 360-degree feedback review, check whether it is possible to publish the results for all reviewees at once or separately for each of them after the review ends. Face validity is a critical factor and perhaps the easiest to assess by HR – this can be checked by truly listening to the feedback from participants. Do they think this relevant to them and their jobs? Does this sound of interest? Is the language right for them? Does the whole look and feel inspire and motivate those you need to engage? The 360 degree process provides leaders and managers an opportunity to tap information from the organization that may otherwise not be shared with them for fear of reprisal. Employees may identify areas of concern and suggestions for improvement, which leaders can use to guide the organization more effectively. Acceptance of things the way they are is the route to happiness84 and satisfaction. Acceptance can lead you to see why things are the way they are. You might start to see the funny side of things. You can clearly see the consequences of how it is and can come to terms with this. You can start to see alternative strategies or you can be happy continuing exactly with how it is. You can see it as “perfect” – fine exactly as it is. This is a powerful and empowering position and can be your goal for your participants completing the 360 degree feedbacksurvey. Researching 360 feedback software is known to the best first step in determining your requirements and brushing up on your understanding in this area. In 360 degree feedback, research has shown that most people have a tendency to rate peers who are similar to themselves higher than peers who are dissimilar. Another finding is that high performers seem to be more discriminating than low performers toward peers. Additionally, peers may be reluctant to evaluate each other because such ratings may disturb a positive group climate. Peers often compete for promotions and may feel that they are evaluated against one another. The perceived competition among members of a peer group may affect their ratings of one another. You will have a range of different angles and perspectives coming through 360 degree feedbackand you can have comments that directly contradict each other. This does not mean you should discount them however. Each comment is valid, and if they are very different then this leads us to the question – “What is it you are doing that has these two individuals thinking so differently about you?” and at the same time you should definitely take care not to take one comment too seriously. The principle of triangulation of data applies here. Participants at a 360 degree feedbacksession will turn up open and truly ready to be coached and explore their data, or they won’t. They may start OK but react defensively to a low rating or a bit of open-text feedback. The transformation opportunity you have will not amount to much if they stay this way. Their hormones and brain habits will ensure that they only hear a bit of what you are saying and only see a bit of what the data is really saying. Individuals alter their self-image when they determine that the 360 degree feedbackdata tells them something new about themselves. In the process, the individual compares the information to a standard (for example, how he or she was rated previously, information about how others were rated, or information about organizational standards and expectations). This analysis suggests how the revised self-image can be used to establish goals for behavior change. 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. The specificity/anonymity conundrum takes another turn when the idea of 360 appraisal is involved. Personality Styles 360-degree feedback is a valuable addition to the overall practice of gathering feedback related to an employee’s performance and development. While manager-to-employee feedback is essential (and should be conducted as part of an ongoing process that includes real-time performance feedback), 360-degree feedback introduces additional information from peers which might otherwise be missed. 360 feedback was viewed as a possible cure. Human resources professionals could collate the perspectives of employees across a company on an individual’s performance – from their line manager, to their co-workers. This gave a kaleidoscope of different points of view – allowing HR to observe how teams worked together and what was standing in the way of high performance. A 360-degree feedback project on any level gathers a lot of data that has to be analyzed and translated into lucid terms in the form of a report. The final report delivered to a working individual is the most important part of getting the best out of the 360-degree feedback process. Find more insights appertaining to 360 assessment performance dimensions at this NHS entry. Related Articles: Extra Insight On 360 degree review initiatives Background Findings With Regard To 360-Degree appraisal objectives Additional Findings On 360-Degree evaluation applications Further Insight About 360-Degree appraisal applications Background Insight With Regard To 360 assessment systems Extra Findings With Regard To 360 evaluation technologies Extra Insight With Regard To 360 degree evaluation projects