Throughout recent decades, there have been many research studies aimed at either proving the value of conducting 360 degree performance appraisals, or refuting the advantages.
Arguments Regarding the Benefits of 360 Degree Performance Appraisals
Done well, 360 degree performance appraisals can provide safe, confidential and very useful information to better teams. They can provide really good insight as to the health of an organization that may be close to impossible to get through other forms of communicating. Open-door policies are only beneficial if the leader is truly open to feedback, and if the employees are open to providing it. Any leaders in traditionally top-down style of organizations don’t really want feedback, and are afraid of what they might hear from subordinates. Additionally, peers are often reluctant to provide any constructive criticism without a specific venue meant to solicit it.
360 degree performance appraisals can promote discussions that otherwise don’t often take place. They also can help an organization look more closely at processes versus just the tasks.
If administered properly with the essential follow-up, 360 degree appraisals provide key performance indicators (KPIs) for individuals to use to help them measure their own performance. The leader can use KPI measurement as a way to quantify performance, and both the employee and the leader can use the KPIs as a tool for accountability knowing that they will be reviewed during the appraisal.
In a white paper regarding 360 degree feedback researchers London and Beatty argue that acquiring feedback from multiple constituencies within an organization can provide it with such a wealth of information that it could use that information to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, if done well.
An article published by the American Psychological Association, however, states the importance of conducting these surveys well or the results could very well be employee disengagement and a slide in productive performance.
Potential Benefits to the Organization:
- 360 degree performance evaluations can reinforce to all levels of the organization the importance of feedback.
- If tied to compensation, they can help allocate financial resources based directly on performance
- They can help leaders know strengths and weaknesses of departments. This, in turn, can provide opportunities to align training resources where they are most needed.
- They can help to determine interests of team members for future leadership opportunities.
Potential Benefits to Employees:
- Employees can gain a deeper understanding about their own strengths and weaknesses on a team.
- 360 evaluations can help employees understand their own need areas or areas of potential growth that they may not see independently.
- They can enable employees to see how their self evaluation aligns with the assessment of them by others.
Potential Benefits to Leader:
- 360 performance appraisals can enable the leader to get genuine feedback about themselves that they may not otherwise get. (Many leaders don’t solicit feedback from their employees; many may solicit feedback, but it’s done in such a way that employees don’t want to provide authentic feedback for fear of retribution.)
- They spread the feedback among a number of people so that feedback does not come to the employee solely from their leader; it avoids strictly top-down feedback.
- This type of feedback can help the leader to get a more accurate picture of each employee’s strengths and weaknesses on the team since other team members provide feedback on each other.
Potential Benefits to a Team:
- Team memers can receive candid feedback about how they add value to their team, as well as ways that they can provide more support to their team.
- The team may collectively realize each others’ strengths enabling them to capitalize on those strengths in a more cohesive way.
Potential Disadvantages of 360 Degree Appraisals
- Can be problematic if not administered well, and if the administrator doesn’t maintain confidentiality and use tact
- Can become personal with raters using the survey as a way to hurt others, recipients of the feedback taking the feedback personally, or both
- Is more time-intensive than traditional performance assessments since the rating of each individual is done by many people
What Are the Steps to a 360 Degree Feedback Process?
360 degree performance evaluations can have different steps depending upon how they are administered. Most 360 degree appraisals consist of a self-evaluation, their leader’s evaluation, evaluations of subordinates, and evaluations of peers. In customer-focused organizations, where employees frequently interact with customers outside the organization, the 360 degree appraisal may also solicit feedback from them, as well. A good cross-section of people are used to evaluate each individual, with the administrator disseminating the surveys to the appropriate individuals and receiving the completed surveys within a specified time period. The administrator then compiles the information and provides it to each employee rated and their superior.
For the 360 degree appraisal format to be a useful tool, several things need to be present:
- A person should be selected to curate the information and present it back to participants in a confidential, unbiased and tactful manner.
- Objective performance indicators should be used. These should have been pre-determined and be well-known KPIs to the individuals being rated
- The process should be communicated clearly, and the importance of authentic feedback should be stressed and understood by participants
- The process should be simple.
- The commitment by leadership should be made that tools will be made available for employees to strengthen their need areas, and employees should be committed to using the tools to improve where needed.
- Follow up
While the set-up and administration of a 360 evaluation must be done properly, it’s arguable that one of the most important aspects to it being beneficial is this follow up.
In an article by Harvard Business Review entitled, “Getting 360 Degree Reviews Right,” they point out that companies who do a good job of implementing 360 degree evaluations tend to focus on individuals’ strengths. While weaknesses do surface, the primary intent is to discover strengths. They also say that these companies typically prepare and present a final report to associates showing how each participant in the survey stacks up against those in the top 25%, which they say elevates everyone’s aspirations to excel. (1)
Summary
Since the first 360 degree performance apprails were conducted, there have been proponents, as well as those who believe that they are ultimately not beneficial, or even harmful to the long-term health of an organization.
If you were to just look at information being power, it clearly makes sense to gather as much information as possible regarding the performance of one of the single greatest assets of any organization — its people. And, while a multi-dimensional view of the performance of its people provide great insight, how the process is set up, how it’s conducted, and how the results are analyzed and provided is paramount to any 360 degree evaluation program.
Feedback is just that; it’s what is done with it that can make all the difference.
“Feedback is a gift. Ideas are the currency of our next success. Let
people see you value both feedback and ideas.”
Jim Trinka and Les Wallace
“By creating a feedback culture within your office, you ensure that people continue to learn, grow, and challenge themselves.”
Neil Blumenthal