Insights from Engagedly’s State of AI in HRM, 2nd Edition Survey.
360 degree feedback, also sometimes referred to as multirater feedback, is a process where everyone the employee has worked with provides feedback for the employee. In this process, feedback is not only collected from the managers but several stakeholders such as direct reports, peers, senior leadership, customers, vendors, etc. It presents an overall clear picture of an employee’s performance, behavioural skills, and competency.
When 360 degree feedback is implemented correctly it helps in overall development of the employee. It aids in identifying the training and development needs of the employee, improves self-awareness, enhances employee engagement, productivity, and retention.
But considering the number of people involved and the amount of data that needs to be collected and analyzed, it becomes a very complex process to manage. It becomes a tedious job for many organizations to implement it successfully until the end, even after starting it in their organization.
Here are some tips which you can use to conduct a 360 degree feedback process seamlessly in your organization.
The 360 degree feedback process is a time-intensive one for everyone. Depending on your budget and company-size, it is essential to plan a 360 degree feedback process well in advance. Pre-determining the number of times the process needs to be carried out, determining the people to be involved in the process, and the team to be involved in analysis and follow-up after the process, will help in running the 360-degree feedback process smoothly.
360 degree feedback is still a relatively new feedback process, so many people are not aware of it. Communicate in detail about how the process will be conducted and how the results would be used, so that employees have a clarity of it. Appropriate training should be imparted to the employees on providing constructive feedback through the multirater surveys. The training should be provided before starting with the 360 degree feedback process.
Also Read: How do you prepare your team for a 360 degree review process
Before rolling out the 360 degree feedback process throughout the organization, test it on a small pilot group of users. Try to identify the problems which the pilot group faces so that they can be resolved in the root itself before the whole organization becomes part of the process, and it becomes difficult to eliminate the problem. Request them for comments on the process regarding missing or confusing points.
Since a number of people are involved in a 360 feedback process, unlike the one-to-one feedback process, it is important to select the raters involved carefully. The raters should be selected based on the regular interaction of the employee with the raters. Feedback providers may include direct-reports, peers, managers, and even customers. The list of raters can be reviewed by the team-lead or the manager to whom the employee reports to. This minimizes the chances of adding an unwanted person to the list.
While designing your 360 degree feedback survey make sure it is clear as well as short. If it is too long then readers might be simply bored and will provide a rating randomly which might harm the process. A shorter survey will result in more accurate ratings. On the other hand, make sure the survey is clear to understand by the raters. Anything ambiguous, the raters will get confused and will provide random ratings. There should be one-dimensional answers and no question should lead to two possible answers.
Also Read: Framing the Right Questions to ask in a 360 Feedback Review Form
While selecting a 360 degree feedback software make sure you keep certain points in mind while doing so. It should be simple and easy to use with little or no training. If required, trial versions can be tried online before zeroing down on one. The 360 feedback software should be easily customizable depending upon the needs of your organization. Security is one more key aspect that has to be kept in mind while selecting your software since it has lots of sensitive and confidential data, and if leaked can go wrong hands. Lastly, the software should have a good customer support team to help you when in a problem.
Engagedly’s 360 Degree Feedback tool comes to your rescue. It is easy to use, can be customized easily and is fully automated.
Also Read: 7 Essential Features of a 360 degree feedback tool
Make the 360 degree feedback process a regular activity in your organization, if not monthly, then at least quarterly. The process would be of no use if it is conducted yearly or once in two years. Conducting frequent 360 degree feedback activity will help us identify gaps easily and therefore identify the training and development needs of the employees. Conducting this frequently will help the old and even the new employees of the organization to get familiar with the process.
After the 360 degree feedback process has been completed and the report has been provided to the employees, the skills and gaps are identified and discussed with the employees. The next step is to act upon and address the gaps. For example, an employee might lack team-working skills. So part of the action plan should be taking up courses or training programs on team-building.
So what are you waiting for? Follow the tips and have an impeccable 360-degree feedback process in place at your organization. Let us know in comments if you have any more tips to improve the 360 degree feedback process.
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