verything you need to know about 360 degree feedback
Gossiping about a coworker is not going to help anyone. But doing it in an official way with proved instances can help the employee to improve his/her skills. You will have the credits of helping an employee with your review of his/her work performance and also behavior that is related to the job description.
Performance reviews are helpful but when it comes from only one person i.e., the manager, it could be a highly subjective review with chances of being authentic or not so true feedback. And especially if it is once in a year or six months, there will be no value attached to it. Therefore, performance reviews can be made objective and reliable through continuous check-ins and 360 degree feedback.
A 2015 report by Deloitte surveyed more than 3,300 business and HR leaders from 106 countries and concluded, “today’s job market is highly dynamic and transparent. High-potential young employees want regular feedback and career progression advice, not just “once and done” reviews.”
WHAT IS 360 DEGREE FEEDBACK?
360 degree feedback is nothing but a multi-rater feedback system that enables every employee, who interacts with the employee in question, to give a review of his/her performance. This mechanism gives a well-rounded view of how an employee does a job, which is not possible in a review that considers only the manager’s comments. The data collected through 360 degree feedback framework will help the employees to learn about their strengths and weaknesses. The major components of this method are,
1. Self Feedback
2. Peer feedback
3. Manager feedback
4. Direct reports’ feedback
A study suggests that around half of the employees believe that their co-workers know more than their managers about how their peers work.
Things You Need to be Careful About in 360 degree feedback Process
1. If anonymity is not guaranteed, employees will not give honest feedback about their peers.
2. You should make a deep research on who should be included and who should not be in the review process. Only if your company is clear about it, you will be able to eliminate the neutral feedback given by the employees because they do not know much about the peer in question.
3. You need to define your purpose of conducting the 360 degree feedback. Without purpose, all the effort and time that are put into conducting this process are futile.
4. No clear explanation about the feedback mechanism to the employees will lead to the failure of the process.
5. Follow-ups are important. Make the employees take action on the feedback received. Tailored development plans should be made.
6. The feedback is not for the managers to judge the employees. It is for the employees to improve.
7. Coupling 360 degree feedback with compensation. Make the purpose of the process as development and let the employees know the purpose.
8. Imitating the process flow of other companies. Every company needs its own plan depending upon its workflow, culture, employee size, and organizational structure. One size does not fit all.
9. Considering 360 degree feedback as the process only for the below-average performers. It is for everyone to perfect themselves.
