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Sometimes we don't see ourselves as clearly as others see us.

-360-degree feedback:
The process in which you evaluate yourself on a set of criteria, your manager evaluates you, as do your peers and direct reports. You receive a gap analysis between how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Effective 360-degree feedback processes also include develop planning and coaching sessions.

-How can you easily refer to ratees and raters:
The terms ratee (the person being evaluated) and rater (the person doing the rating) can be cumbersome. Team Builders Plus utilizes the word "subject" instead of "ratee" and "respondent" instead of "rater". This methodology is also easily transferable to other 360 processes where the subject is not a person but a thing, such as a organizational climate or customer satisfaction survey.

-Information to be gathered:
Knowledge - familiarity with job, industry, company
Skills - task proficiency
Behaviors - patterns in relating to the environment (energy, optimism)
NOT personality traits or styles

-Benefits of 360-degree feedback :

                                                    To the individual:
Perception is reality and this process helps individuals to understand how others perceive them
Uncover blind spots
Feedback is essential for learning
Individuals can better manage their own performance and careers
Quantifiable data on soft skills.

                                                   To the team:
Increases communication between team members
Higher levels of trust and better communication as individuals identify the causes of breakdowns
Better team environment as people discover how to treat others how they want to be treated
Supports teamwork by involving team members in the development process
Increased team effectiveness.

                                                 To the organization:
Reinforced corporate culture by linking survey items to organizational leadership competencies and company values
Better career development for employees
Promote from within
Improves customer service by having customers contribute to the evaluation process
Conduct relevant training.

-How has 360-degree feedback changed over the years:
Participants: Then: Executives Now: Individuals at all levels of organizations
Medium: Then: Paper or scan forms Now: Paperless, web-based surveys
Design: Then: Rigid, fixed surveys Now: Locally customized by the user organization
Feedback: Then: Numeric ratings only Now: Targeted comment provided for each survey item
Output: Then: Fixed reports Now: Design your own reports
Cost: Then: Expensive Now: Affordable

-How do you know if my organization is ready to conduct a 360-degree feedback:
By conducting a 360-readiness survey, you can determine if your organization is ready to conduct 360-degree feedback. The survey should include topics such as::
360 awareness - understanding of 360 and how it works
Support - belief that the organization and manager would support development processes
Feedback climate - I trust that the information would be used for development purposes and that people would be fair (belief in confidentiality and usage)
Openness - willingness to give and receive feedback.

-How is 360 different from personality or style assessment:
Styles tools measure traits or behavioral preferences, while 360 measures competence
Style explains how you are likely to behave, while 360 explains how you actually behave.

-How many companies are using 360:
While there’s no ‘master list’ or way to know for sure, given the anecdotal evidence gained through the many articles on 360 published over the years it would seem likely that by now nearly all Fortune 1000 companies have either already implemented a 360 process or plan to shortly. The increasing affordability of 360 has allowed many small to mid-size companies to undertake 360 for individuals and groups within their organizations. In fact, 360 has become so well established that often individuals in companies without a formal process in place will seek outside means to run 360 on themselves.

-How often should 360 be rolled out:
Given that people need time to make changes and then, it takes a little while before others perceive that change has taken place, we have found that six to twelve-month intervals are most appropriate. This allows people to create change and then get feedback on their progress so that they can develop next-level goals and action plans. However, some organizations prefer to conduct surveys of just ten to fifteen questions, focusing on a specific topic, such as Running Effective Meetings. These mini-360s are done monthly in conjunction with training on that topic.

-What are the criteria for selecting raters (respondents):
Length of time the respondent knows the subject
Amount of contact with subject
Understands the full nature of what the subject does
Select some individuals who work well with the subject and some who do not.

-In what media is 360-degree feedback conducted:
There are a variety of methods to gather data, including:
web-based survey, on-site assessments conducted on the organizations internal network, and paper surveys.

-Who gets a copy of the feedback report:
The subject is the only person who gets a copy of the report. The manager gets group and organizational data, but no individual data.
      While giving the data does increase accountability and allows the manager to quantifiably track progress, there are a variety of pitfalls to giving the manager a copy of the report, such as:
People will fear the process
Feedback comments will not be as constructive
Scores may be higher
Data can become a weapon, not a development tool
Manager may lack the ability to interpret the data appropriately
Manager may reprimand the employee for not doing well
Participants must share goals, not actual results. In this way, managers can act as ongoing coaches, guiding the individual to higher performance levels. When managers get the reports, they may act as judges, focusing on specific scores and comments and using them as a weapon during the perform review.

-How long should the survey be:
To ensure that people take an adequate time to consider each question and provide positive and constructive feedback, the survey should be contain as few questions as possible. If survey items are carefully researched to ensure relevance, the number of questions should not exceed 50.

-Is it necessary to customize the survey or are standard questionnaires acceptable:
A standard survey can be utilized effectively if all of the questions are relevant and all of the critical behavioral areas are included. On average, it takes one minute to answer each question and provide comments. If questions are not appropriate given the organization's culture or individual's role, the respondents waste much time. If someone is being rated by twelve people and five questions are not relevant, one hour of time is wasted. Now, consider a project in which 200 people are rated. A custom-designed survey will fit your needs and support the organizational culture and mission. Pre-work in designing an appropriate survey pays-off in the long run.

-How can I ensure confidentiality:
Confidentiality is important to both the subject and the respondents. If the subject is not guaranteed that the results will remain confidential, they will tend to feel anxiety about the purpose of the process and the use of the data. If the respondents are not guaranteed that their names will not appear on the report or be linked to specific comments or ratings, then they may not provide accurate responses and be completely open. To ensure confidentiality:
       Select a neutral administrator (e.g. an external consultant or human resources representative)
Print only one report per person
User-names & passwords should be required to access the survey and the response data should be encrypted
Ensure that online systems are encrypting the data and storing the results on a secure server
Should 360-degree feedback be linked to performance appraisals?
360-degree feedback and performance appraisals can complement each other, but should not be linked. If 360 is linked to compensation decisions, it loses its power as a development tool. When compensation is that outcome, individuals will quickly learn how to play the game, "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine." Further, if people do not get satisfactory ratings, morale can decrease when 360 is linked to performance appraisal mode, but low scores when 360 is used purely for development tend to be viewed as constructive feedback.

-How can you verify the validity and reliability of a 360 survey:
Questions about validity are most important with instruments that were developed in the tradition of psychological tests with the purpose of measuring things that cannot be observed directly, such as values, attitudes, styles and traits. 360-degree feedback survey items should always be based on concrete, observable behaviors.
         To establish face validity, show the survey to a representative group of people who will be giving and receiving feedback and ask the following questions:

Are the questions clear or ambiguous? (Have each person restate the questions to see if interpretation is consistent)
Are the questions relevant to the subject's job?
Are the major items addressed?
Just because a survey was validated in the context of another population, does not mean that it will be valid for your organization. For this reason, customizable assessment platforms are the way of the future, because they can be adjusted to align with local conditions.

-How do we write good questions for the 360 survey:
Did you begin each item with an ACTION VERB?
Does the item describe an OBSERVABLE behavior?
Does the item describe ONLY ONE behavior?
Is the item described in CLEAR LANGUAGE?
Is the item described as a POSITIVE, desired behavior?
Does the item describe an IMPORTANT behavior?
Does this item, taken together with all of the other items, SUFFICIENTLY DEFINE the category?

-What size scale should we use:
We have found that scales of five-points or less are too small to provide a clear delineation between core strengths and behavioral challenges.   Raters should have access to at least seven rating options, and a ten-point scale provides for an even greater spread of responses. Further, raters should be encouraged to utilize the entire range.

-How do you introduce 360-degree feedback to a potentially resistant organization:
Start at the top
Conduct a pilot
Directly address, up front, the issues that are at the source of the resistance
Focus on the benefits for the individual or group
Utilize an external consultant to minimize fears of confidentiality and inappropriate data usage.

-Is 360-degree feedback ever inappropriate:
Yes, when:
The person receiving feedback is too new to the group or organization
There are not enough respondents who truly understand the full scope of the individual's responsibilities
During a time of major change such as just before or after a merger or acquisition
In an environment where there is a high degree of mistrust.

Well this was the information about 360 degree feedback, if you wish to know about steps that form a representative yet comprehensive 360 process, do let us know, we can provide you the data collected from different sources.

Have a nice day.
Regards
Arvind
Helios Global Services