Last month we looked at how companies can use 360 feedback to gather performance and developmental insight on their employees. We discussed what to have in place for a successful process: Ensure executive support and participation, clearly articulate the intent and timing of the process, and train people to use the system and the information you receive from a 360 review. This month, we take a deeper look into the 360 feedback summary and what to consider when reviewing the personal data.
For many, the sheer amount of data a 360 feedback summary provides creates anxiety. The 360 review provides the employee with a picture of their performance from many different perspectives. With many perspectives, feedback can vary a lot. In fact, it can seem inconsistent and hard to decipher. In Part One of this 360 Feedback Series, let’s take a look at why feedback varies and what you can do to gain clear insight into what the 360 feedback is telling you.
Why are there differences?
People tend to go into a 360 review thinking about what is important to them. They also bring a unique perspective cleaned from the different things they’ve done with the person being reviewed. A few common themes you may see in responders are:
- Peers tend to focus on teamwork, communication skills, attendance in meetings, and participation. This group brings a unique perspective because they have the most frequent interactions with you and can provide insights into the highs and lows of your work habits and interaction over a period of time.
- Managers tend to focus on the actual contents of their employee’s job description and provide competency-based feedback. Their feedback typically takes into account direct examples and will be more formal in nature like they were completing an annual review.
- Direct reports often provide bland feedback, out of fear their manager will figure out who offered criticism and “retaliate” for telling the truth about something that isn’t working well. In a truly trusting organization, this is really where many managers who are open to feedback will learn a lot about who they are and how to better themselves personally and professionally. It is critical to ensure that all direct reports are invited to participate, whether or not they choose to is a personal preference. This shows employees their opinion matters and lets them know that all feedback gather is appreciated and equally important.
- Other Internal Customers tend to focus on respect and timeliness. They may not have a direct understanding of the responsibilities and expectations of your day to day job, but they know a lot about how you treat others, your communication style and whether or not everything is “always a fire drill” to get it completed.
- External Customers tend to focus on customer service, timeliness, accountability and drive for completion. For many, the jump to including external feedback will be a phase two approach to collecting 360 feedback. It is important to understand what our internal stakeholder is feeling first and set a clear baseline of expectations on how feedback will be used. Once established, external feedback can add an additional perspective to “what the other’s truly” see. It is very difficult to gauge how well an individual performs or behaves on every communication with an external party unless there is an issue which causes an escalation or we receive a nice referral message at the completion of the project. Allowing 360 feedback into the continuous process, give us a glimpse into what really happens during regular interaction in a structured form.
It is important to understand that feedback should vary. That’s the whole point of the 360 – to gather input from multiple perspectives. It is the only way to make sure that the employee truly can learn about who they are and how they act around all the people they interact with on a daily basis. The key is to find common themes and trends that may emerge in the myriad of data.
In Part two of Demystifying the 360 Feedback Summary, we will take a look at a solid approach for an employee to begin reviewing the 360 feedback summary.