Outcomes From and Methods for Your 360 Feedback Process

Outcomes From and Methods for Your 360 Feedback ProcessOutcomes From and Methods for Your 360 Feedback Process360 Degree Feedback Process Recommended Methods One of the great debates about360-degree feedbackis how to collect the data, administer the chosen method of data collection, and provide feedback to the participants. If you are offering a 360-degree feedback process, the method you use to collect and share the information will make or break your process. There are several important questions to ask and answer regarding the method used to collect and providemulti-raterfeedback. Will your organization use an anonymously filled out instrument or promote face-to-face, or knownraterfeedback, or a combination of these actions?Who will select the raters? (This varies from one organization to another with most using a combination of employee selected raters and management selected raters.)How much training will raters receive about filling in the instrument and how to provide meaning ful feedback? They need to understand the powerful impact obtained when they use specific examples of employee behavior either functional or dysfunctional behavior. What code of conduct regarding feedback given will the organization espouse? Think of words such as honest, truthful, professional, kind, respectful, caring, and genuinely interested as words to describe the tenor of the feedback. The 360 Degree Feedback Process Overview fruchtwein organizations opt for an anonymously filled out 360-degree feedback document. The collected data is then tabulated in a confidential manner. Then, the results of the 360-degree feedback are shared with the person whose skills and performance were rated. The individuals boss is often part of this meeting so he or she can supportaction planningand development. Occasionally, organizations set up facilitated meetings to share the 360-degree feedback results with the person whose performance was rated. If the employee is a manager, for best res ults, the manager needs to then share and discuss the results with his or her team. These meetings can be facilitated or not. The best method depends on the relationship the employees of the department have developed with each other over time. The 360-degree feedback process steps are detailedin360 Degree Feedback The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Selection of Raters in 360 Degree Feedback Jai Ghorpade, a professor of management in the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University says that involving multiple constituents broadens the scope of information that is gathered. However, a mere increase in the scope of information may not necessarily yield data that are more accurate, impartial, and competent than those provided by the individual manager Consequently, it is important that organizations allow employee input into theraterselection process. Perhaps the employee selects several peers, customers, direct reports and knowledgeable coworkers. Then the manage r selects several more. The manager of the employee and the employee who is receiving feedback should always fill out the 360-degree instrument. The individuals rating of her own performance is important for later comparison with theratergroups feedback. And, the bosss feedback is important, too, especially since, in most instruments, the feedback of the direct manager is not averaged with the rest of the feedback from other raters. Rather, it receives its own column and stands out. In developing your 360-degree feedback process, a shared process of selecting raters is always recommended. Additional Recommendations for Successful 360 Degree Feedback These points will help you make the methods you use to administer your 360-degree feedback process most effective. All employees need training in the following and more. understanding that the process is confidential, and the meaning of this confidentiality,goals of the 360-degreefeedback process,methods used in administering the pro cess,understanding and filling out the instrument,what the organization will do with the data collected, andexpectations of the employees involved in the process.Instruments that allow for examples and comments about each question are preferred. This allows the person who is the subject of the feedback to better understand his or her ratings. In an organization with aculture that promotesfeedback, openness, and trust, please consider opposing secret surveys. It is strongly recommended that organizations that introduce 360 feedback, aim over time, for a completely open process. This, of course, requires the work on the culture and climate described inhow to change your culture. Outcomes From Your 360 Feedback Depend on Your Stated Goals The outcomes you experience from your 360 feedback process are dependent on the decisions you make about the goals you want to achieve. The most important outcome of the 360-degree feedback process is personal and career development for the staff person whose skills and performance are rated. And, these decisions have sparked more debate in organizations about 360-degree feedback. You will experience more success with multi-rater feedback when the results do not impact the compensation of the person receiving feedback. If you require the feedback to impact the compensation, you set up several possible scenarios. People may be unwilling to give accurate feedback because they are concerned about the impact the feedback will have on raises. In a negative environment, or in an environment in which people compete for raises out of a limited pool of money, people might collude to assure that the individual receiving feedback is either eligible or ineligible for a raise. Employees are also always concerned, that on some subliminal level, the feedback will influence the managers opinion of the employees performance. Even if the feedback outcomes are not supposed to influence appraisals, raises, and promotions, employees believe that they do. Allow the Employee to Own the 360 Degree Feedback Data To counter these employee concerns, in organizations served, people overwhelmingly prefer that the individual owns the data from the 360-degree feedback. In this scenario, the individual shares the information with the teamberaterin as she chooses. The supervisor and other members of the organization have no access to the data. When the organization owns the data and the supervisor has access to the information, too often the feedback becomes directly or inadvertently, part of the individuals appraisal. This negates the developmental goals of the process. Few individuals will openly discuss the aspects of their work needing improvement when they believe the information will become part of an appraisal that has an impact on compensation. Feeling challenged by this recommendation about outcomes by individuals who ask why you would bother with the assessment if the supervisor has no access to the data? The best respon se is generally to say that if the supervisor is truly looking out for the development of the employee, the employee will share the data. In a performance management system, the employee uses the feedback to set up a performance developmental plan thus the supervisor indirectly has access to the information. In an environment of trust and cooperation, you can establish a norm that the employee shares the data with the supervisor.