1. What are the most common
applications of 360-degree feedback?
2. How is 360-degree feedback
used to develop leadership skills?
3. How is 360-degree feedback
used in executive coaching?
4. How is 360-degree feedback
used to develop teams?
5. How is 360-degree feedback
used to develop administrative support personnel?
6. How is 360-degree feedback
used for individual development?
7. How is 360-degree feedback
used to accelerate the development of core competencies?
8. How is 360-degree feedback
used to assess training needs?
9. How is 360-degree feedback
used to measure the impact of training?
10. How is 360-degree
feedback used to survey team effectiveness?
11. How is 360-degree
feedback used to survey customer satisfaction?
12. How is 360-degree
feedback used to survey organizational climate?
13. How is 360-degree
feedback used in educational institutions?
14. Should 360-degree
feedback be used for compensation, downsizing, succession
planning and other selection decisions?
1.
What are the most common applications of 360-degree feedback?
360-degree feedback technology is still evolving. The software
and web services that help organizations administer 360 feedback
continues to advance in capability. The increased flexibility
of these systems lets people use 360 in new ways. The most
common applications ten years ago aren’t the most common
applications today.
360-degree feedback was developed to collect and report information
about aspects of performance that are otherwise hard to measure.
Twenty years ago, the most common application was executive
coaching. That's because most of the surveys then addressed
executive-level management and leadership. They were expensive,
because they were paper-based and had to be scored by an external
service. Today, programs like 20/20 Insight GOLD is so easy-to-use,
flexible and affordable that it can be used by any organization
with all employees. The most common applications today are
probably team leader development and team member development.
If, like 20/20 Insight, the system is a customizable survey
platform, a variety of uses are possible.
• Executive coaching
• Team leader development
• Team member development
• Instructor development
• Administrative staff development
• Competency development
• Skill assessment
• Performance management
Flexible 360-degree feedback systems may be used for individual
feedback or organizational surveys. Here are some common organizational
applications:
• Needs assessment
• Evaluation of training
• Team effectiveness surveys
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Organizational climate surveys
Perhaps the most exciting future application is getting a
variety of input from many sources. There's a lot more to feedback
in the workplace than getting a standard set of ratings every
year or so. A highly customizable multi-source feedback platform
can coordinate nearly any kind of text-based feedback. If the
program makes it is easy for individuals to ask for input,
people can get information about a wide variety of things that
help support solutions and decisions:
• Facts
• Opinions
• Suggestions
• Ideas
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
2.
How is 360-degree feedback used to develop leadership skills?
A critical component of leadership development is feedback
about leadership competencies. Just as the most meaningful
measure of good customer service is feedback from the customer,
feedback to a leader can show how to be a better leader. There
are seven key steps in this process.
1. Identify competencies
Determining the key behaviors related to leadership.
Competencies for leaders include such abilities as influencing
others, modeling organizational values and creating a vision.
Some key behavior areas that support these competencies include
giving feedback, establishing performance objectives and resolving
conflict. The 20/20 Insight Survey Library has comprehensive
sets of standard leadership behaviors.
2. Design an assessment
Many off-the-shelf surveys measure key leadership
behaviors. Some of these permit on-site customization. Using
comprehensive skills sets as a start point, compile a brief
questionnaire that will diagnose the developing leader’s
skills. Valid these survey items through a review of managers
familiar with the position.
3. Conduct the survey
Brief the individuals to be rated as well as those
who will be doing the rating. Manage issues involving confidentiality
and attribution, and coordinate the logistics of the process.
4. Interpret feedback
Decide whether one-on-one or group sessions would
be more effective. Help participants work through denial towards
recognition and acceptance, and help them discuss the feedback
with their raters.
5. Create development plans
Have leaders create their own follow-up development
plans based on the results of the 360-degree feedback process.
6. Coordinate development programs
A variety of media, assignments, coaches and other
resources may be needed to support participants' individualized
development plans. Participants should be told about available
learning resources, including courses, if necessary. The best
teacher is experience. Leaders should have opportunities to
discuss success and frustrations with mentors or coaches.
7. Reassess
A pre-determined period of time after the initial
assessment, administer the 360 feedback survey again with the
same raters. Do a gap analysis on the difference between the
first and second ratings. Facilitate a discussion around the
gaps and revise the individual learning plans to focus on needs
going forward.
Building leadership development around 360-degree feedback
gives precise, credible information about strengths and areas
needing further development. It typically triggers extra motivation
within the learner. It gives the developing leader a sense
of control over his or her own destiny.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
3.
How is 360-degree feedback used in executive coaching?
Executive coaching is only as good as what is known about
the effectiveness of the executive. Most coaching in the executive
suite aims to enhance two things:
• Effective action in the present
• The executive's ability to learn from feedback and experience
Because most aspects of an executive's leadership and learning
are hard to measure, 360-degree feedback is a powerful method
for collecting and analyzing information. Other methods include
direct observation, interviews with the executive and written
transcripts of actual conversations or events. Gaps between
an executive's self-perception and the perceptions of others,
often called blind spots, are among the most important and
difficult feedback to accept. Good 360 data help the learning
process by giving a quantitative comparison between an executive's
own perceptions and those of others. Using this kind of data
can dramatically enhance executive coaching.
Like everyone, executives are often unaware of the impact
their actions have on others. Yet more than most, what they
do and say on a regular basis drives organizational performance.
Good 360 feedback gives executives a clear snapshot of the
consequences of their actions, which helps them think about
how to change behavior.
Using 360 to coach executives can go beyond giving individual
feedback. Here are four situations:
Helping the top executive get better results
The focus is on better business results, the executive’s
own development or relations with the executive team. When
it's lonely at the top, a coach often helps the executive get
valid data to address specific issues. 360 feedback is a versatile
tool:
• Assessing needs for leadership development
• Obtaining data about customer service and customer satisfaction
• Organization climate surveys before, during and after change
Responding to pressure to improve
The focus is to improve the executive’s effectiveness
in a current role. When there's pressure to improve, a coach
helps an executive become more effective quickly:
• Assessment—to discover strengths, weaknesses,
blind spots and problems
• Coaching—to show priority areas for improvement and motivate improvement
• Competency development—to help them understand expectations and
plan for their development
Grooming people for advancement
The focus is to prepare the executive for a future
leadership role. The coach helps prepare gifted people for
these roles and to enhance their learning agility:
• Assessment—to determine which growth areas
will assure success in the future
• Coaching—to show priority areas for improvement and motivate improvement
• Competency development—to define future roles and make a plan to
improve skills and prepare
Sharpening executive skills
The focus for this coaching is to sharpen an executive’s
skills for a current project or task:
• Assessment—to determine which areas to focus
on
• Coaching—to how to sharpen particular skills
• Competency development—to show the standard and define how to improve
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
4.
How is 360-degree feedback used to develop teams?
360-degree feedback is a powerful way to measure team performance.
It can help team members identify areas to improve the team.
Consolidated individual scores can say a lot about team skills,
abilities and job competencies. 360 can also give feedback
about the team itself, based on impressions collected from
team members, peers, supervisors and customers.
Team process
Organizations typically put more emphasis on group
results than group process. Rewards should be based on results.
But results are influenced by many factors, and one of these
is team process—how a team gets work done. Team process
includes workflow, participation level, interpersonal communication,
mutual influence, trust and commitment. Team members need to
examine how all of these elements are working and how to improve
them. There’s no better way to get objective data about
these factors than 360-degree feedback.
Creating cross-functional project teams
A multi-source feedback system can help integrate
cross-functional teams. It's possible to define a team's key
skills and behaviors and then select people from different
areas, obtaining information about candidates from supervisors,
peers and subordinates. Or if nobody can satisfy certain skill
requirements, team members can focus on developing these areas.
People selected for the team will have a set of skills and
behaviors that can be used for future performance benchmarks,
gathered from the points of view of stakeholders who interact
with them during the project.
Evolving leadership roles
Empowered teams eventually take on many of the responsibilities
traditionally reserved for managers or supervisors. These include
assigning tasks, scheduling work, ensuring quality and reviewing
performance. As a team assumes more activities, the leaders
role changes. One of the major changes is his or her responsibility
to coach and advise team members. This means new skills to
provide appropriate support and guidance for the team. Multi-source
feedback can help the leader grow into new roles and responsibilities.
Self-development for high-performing teams
Team leaders typically find it hard to assess team
member performance, because they have a wide span of control.
How can one person assess so many? 360 is an effective answer.
The members of a team can assess each other based on their
perceptions. This supports the leader’s ongoing evaluations.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
5.
How is 360-degree feedback used to develop administrative support
personnel?
Unless they ask for it, most administrative support personnel
receive performance evaluation from one person—their
direct supervisor—once a year. 360-degree (multi-source)
feedback can be given any time. It's ideal for administrative
personnel because they often support many people, and they
perform a diversity of tasks. 360 can be used several ways
to develop administrative personnel.
Performance feedback
360-degree feedback gives administrative personnel
a snapshot of their current work habits. The feedback data
clearly identifies strengths and areas for growth. This tool
is particularly suited to administrative staff because they
can get input from everyone they support, instead of receiving
just their manager. Information about strengths and areas of
growth can inform improvement plans and determine training
needs.
Competencies
Establishing competencies for administrative personnel is a challenging task.
Administrative staff perform a wide variety of tasks using multiple skills
to perform each task. A standard survey, such as the Administrative Skill
survey used by 20/20® Insight GOLD, can help you define key performance
elements.
Needs assessment
When administered to secretaries and administrative
staff before training programs are designed, consolidated individual
data will highlight areas with the lowest scores, showing where
training programs are needed.
Pre-training assessment
360 feedback can be administered to secretaries and
administrative staff before training. Individual feedback reports
can show where they need to improve most. Individuals can put
emphasis on those areas during training and development.
Post-training evaluation
Training attendees who get a second round of feedback
several months after training can gauge how much they’ve
improved. Make sure they are rated in the same areas before
and after training. Comparing the scores will indicate the
value of the training and where more training is needed.
Professional Development Plans
Writing and monitoring professional development plans
is new to many administrative staff. The feedback they receive
will help them set professional development goals.
Career Development
Based on the strengths identified from 360 feedback,
administrative personnel may want to pursue a position that
would provide the best opportunity to use their talents.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
6.
How is 360-degree feedback used for individual development?
The term “360-degree feedback” comes from the
analogy to a compass: a circle with 360 points of reference
used to monitor direction. Like a compass, 360-degree feedback
gets information from many sources; it's a navigational tool
that lets you know when you’re on course. Its purpose
is to hold up a mirror to individual performance, which provides
a road map for individual development. It's best used to get
objective data about aspects of work that are otherwise hard
to quantify. Typically, these areas involve interpersonal skills,
a huge dimension of performance. When used appropriately, the
feedback can accelerate learning and empower people to self-directed
learning.
Providing current performance data
The strength of 360-degree feedback is its ability to answer the question, "How
am I doing?" Whether for a stock clerk or a CEO, 360 feedback identifies
both current strengths and where people are off course. The feedback can come
from many perspectives: boss, coworkers, direct reports and customers. People
need to know:
• Are they competent to achieve the results for which
they are accountable?
• Are they facilitating rather than obstructing the achievement of these
results?
• Can they adapt to a continuously changing environment?
Indicating where improvement is needed
A good 360 system will quickly sort and display highest and lowest scores.
Even better systems give specific recommendations on how to improve in these
areas. The best systems, such as 20/20 Insight GOLD, not only allow you to
create the competencies to fit your organization's needs but also tailor
developmental recommendations to include cross referencing of in-house or
preferred training events. Some 360 systems help an individual create a clear,
specific developmental plan.
Staying current
360 can be used to identify and measure competencies people need in order to
stay current in their jobs and industries. Flexible 360 systems allow you
to continually survey customers and other stakeholders about their needs.
This information can be used to refine business strategies, which in turn
can indicate new skills and competencies needed by employees. Measuring against
these new competencies keeps skills relevant and sharp, increasing their
value to the organization.
Developing skills for future roles
What happens when people have mastered the skills of their current position?
Again, a flexible 360 system will allow you to create a new set of skills
and competencies based on potential future positions. Individuals can then
assess their level of proficiency in these new areas. The results will let
them create a plan to guide them in developing desired competencies. For
example, people who are coming close to mastery in their technical area may
be considered for supervisory or project team leadership. 360 can be used
to assess and develop they need before they are put into the job.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
7.
How is 360-degree feedback used to accelerate the development
of core competencies?
Why it’s important to develop of core competencies as
quickly as possible
Improving the quality of performance may be a matter of competition and survival.
An organization needs to attract and keep people who can provide leadership
and create high levels of performance. Identifying core competencies is the
first step to assessing and developing them. It sends a message that your organization
is thinking strategically, because initially it has to articulate corporate
goals and objectives.
Also, it's important to use the most efficient processes possible.
Competencies should not be developed in isolation. In order
to develop competencies that are aligned with employee requirements,
customer values, supplier capabilities, and stakeholder expectations,
the process should involve these constituencies.
How to identify mission-critical competencies
Align competencies with the business strategy. Create measurable skill areas
to be assessed for each specific job classification, to include job skills,
abilities, observable behaviors, habits and practices. Establish benchmarks
by matching these competencies to your high-potential employees. Confirm
fits and identify gaps with all employees. Competencies that match strategy
and are ranked high on the benchmark are competencies central to your firm's
success and growth.
Managing the process
Once this is achieved, measure the right things. Create well-written, locally
validated survey items. Make sure people are skilled at giving constructive
feedback. Be ready to support development planning and training solutions.
Link the outcomes to corporate strategies. Get professional assistance from
an external consultant if you need it.
The best tools to assess core competencies
360-degree feedback is the best tool to establish the baseline dimensions which
represent the overall core competencies at a corporate level, as well as
within each job classification. It greatly compresses the time involved because
it uses computer programs to collect and organize input from all constituencies.
After you determine the competencies and their importance, use a customizable
program such as 20/20 Insight, which can assess multiple scales simultaneously,
i.e. scales that rank agreement, frequency and importance.
Using 360-degree feedback to assess core competencies
• Assess corporate competencies
• Assess individual competencies
• Determine the required competencies for competing in the future
• Design the competency criteria
• Develop competency benchmarks
• Complete a gap analysis
• Identify solutions, resource requirements and implementation steps for
closing these gaps
• Create individual development plans that focus on developing core competencies.
Expected results using 360
• Identified areas of strength and opportunities for
development
• Action plans
• Increased organizational capability, commitment, and performance
• Sustainable competitive advantage
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
8.
How is 360-degree feedback used to assess training needs?
One of the critical functions of training and development
professionals, especially instructional designers, is to determine
what training an organization needs. The information obtained
from organizational analysis (strategy, goals, climate, interrelationships,
work processes and systems), task analysis (knowledge, skills
and abilities required in a job), and person analysis (knowledge,
skills and abilities people currently have), is collectively
known as "front-end" analysis or needs assessment.
It takes a lot of data to find out what instruction is needed.
Today's 360 tools can make data collection and analysis quicker,
more accurate and more reliable. The goal is to focus training
resources on correcting low levels of performance.
Best practices typically follow this process:
1. Begin with 360-degree feedback. Use interviews with key
managers to identify core competencies. Focus on where the
organization is headed and the competencies needed by people
to help the organization get there. Give a draft list of
behaviors to selected managers to identify the key competencies,
which will serve as a base list for review by the full management
team.
2. Once competencies are identified, enter them into a customizable
360-degree feedback platform such 20/20 Insight to create
a survey with a scale to measure the degree of importance
of each of the competencies. Be sure to include at least
four or five competencies that are crucial to performing
a job successfully.
3. Create and distribute the survey to the management team.
Their responses will identify the most important of these
competencies.
4. Use the refined competency lists to create new surveys
to assess current skill levels of individuals within the
organization.
5. Collect and aggregate the survey data from the individual
assessments.
6. Compare trends. You may notice that only a small group
of individuals need help on a particular competency, or you
may notice that most of the target audience needs to improve
a particular competency.
7. Recommend training initiatives to improve skill levels
of the appropriate target audiences. For example, if you
focus on supervisors, when you combine individual scores,
you might see low scores in the category "Resolving
Conflict," a critical category. Depending on the number
of supervisors with low scores in this category (and other
trends), you might recommend a seminar on conflict resolution.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
9.
How is 360-degree feedback used to measure the impact of training?
In training and development there are four levels of evaluation.
They measure these things:
1. How the participants felt about the training experience
2. Knowledge gained from the course materials
3. Performance improvement as the result of training
4. Business results
A 1996 industry study by Training Magazine reported that the
number of organizations that do “level four” evaluations
ranges from 30% to 59%. According to a 1996 study of industries
with 100 or more employees, 65% use level three methods to
evaluate training for half of their courses.
360-degree feedback is best used with level three evaluation.
360 is the most straightforward way to get these measurements,
and it can actually simplify the process.
How do you do it?
The way to measure changes in behavior is to administer
a behavior-based 360-degree feedback survey before and after
the training. Assess behavior, conduct the training, and after
a reasonable period of time measure the same behaviors again.
Construct the survey to match key components of the anticipated
training. The survey needs to measure what the training will
teach, and the training should be linked to business results.
The second survey will let you compare behavior assessed in
the initial survey with the same departments and groups.
If you aren't sure about what training to give, first construct
the survey to identify training needs. The largest gaps will
indicate opportunities for development; create training around
those needs. Study aggregate group feedback to determine high-priority
needs. Look at department needs rather than individual needs.
When should the post-assessment be scheduled?
Allow enough time for participants to put their newly
learned skills to work on the job. Waiting too long can allow
other factors in the environment to contribute to behavior
change. Three to six months may be adequate, although each
situation is unique. Frequency of skill use contributes to
the time between 360 surveys; for skills used more frequently,
the time before the next survey may be shorter.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.
How is 360-degree feedback used to survey team effectiveness?
360-degree feedback is used primarily for individual assessment.
Just as an individual exhibits observable behaviors, so does
a team. Essentially the same process is used to give feedback
to a team. In this case, a collection of individuals will be
rated by its members and others.
Appropriateness
A team should have substantial history in the workplace.
Less mature teams may benefit more from visioning, role definition
and "get-to-know-you" interventions. Here are some
considerations:
• How long has the team worked together? Do team members
know each other well?
• Have there been recent changes in team environment, goals, tasks or processes?
• Are members willing to share honest opinions in a forum such as a focus
group, or do they need an anonymous format like 360-degree feedback?
• Are the team and organization willing to address issues revealed in the
results?
• Do you have access to an easily customizable, automated survey administration
program, such as 20/20 Insight?
Participants
In addition to team members and the team leader,
the teams "customers" can provide valuable perspectives. "Customer" can
mean any individual or group that is regularly impacted by
the team’s performance. Upper-level managers can also
be included.
Survey considerations
Identify important team behaviors and construct a
focused survey that is ideally between 20 and 25 items in length.
Although you may want to assess every facet of team effectiveness,
long surveys tire respondents, reducing the quality of responses.
Keys to success
Involve team members in survey development to get
their buy-in. Avoid especially busy periods when conducting
the assessment.
Sharing the results
To promote honesty, respondents should know before
the survey how the results will be used and who will see their
ratings and comments.
Using the data
Multi-source feedback to the team can be used to:
• Identify training needs
• Identify the stage of a team’s development
• Measure team growth with a follow-up survey months later
• Aid in development planning
• Assess teamwork and other aspects of team culture
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
11.
How is 360-degree feedback used to survey customer satisfaction?
If the 360-degree feedback program is a flexible platform
for assessment, such as 20/20 Insight GOLD, it can collect
feedback from customers of a supplier as easily as it can collect
feedback from coworkers about an individual performer. It can
produce reliable data easier and faster than questionnaires
and face-to-face interviews.
About customer satisfaction
Perceptions can be collected from internal and external
customers of groups such as procurement, engineering, accounting
and shipping. Information about customer satisfaction can focus
on products or services. The information can address interaction
skills, technical knowledge and customer service attitudes.
Getting information from customers
Obtaining information about customer preferences
and expectations has never been easy. 360 can simplify it.
First, develop an inventory about customer expectations of
products and services. Next, identify customers who interact
with service providers. These individuals can be asked for
their impressions about response time, shipping accuracy, complaints,
guarantees, and a variety of customer issues. 360 can also
be used to gather information from focus groups, using the
same process.
Internal customer-supplier chain
Excellent service to external customers usually depends
on a web of internal customer-supplier relationships. Each
area must understand what its customers want. These expectations
can be defined and observable behaviors can be included in
a multi-source feedback inventory. Using 360 this way can do
much to promote an internal customer service attitude.
Developing suppliers
Another application of 360 is measuring the service
performance of suppliers. As indicated above, expected performance
is defined and included in a multi-source inventory. The supplier
receives feedback from customers and identifies areas to improve.
This application is gaining a lot of interest in procurement,
where suppliers interact with a variety of users.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
12.
How is 360-degree feedback used to survey organizational climate?
Employee attitude surveys and opinion surveys were the first
forms of multi-rater feedback. The obvious difference between
these assessments and what we call 360-degre feedback is that
360 typically assesses a single individual, while climate surveys
assess an organization. Here are some typical applications:
• Internal customer. A group gets feedback about how
it serves other departments.
• Team check-up. Members rate the team on issues such as meeting effectiveness,
support, recognition, goals, role clarity, ground rules, and team interaction.
• Attitude survey. Employees indicate how they perceive their environment.
• 360 readiness. Stakeholders give opinions about the organization’s
readiness to use 360 feedback.
• Corporate values. People rate how well the organization lives up to its
values.
What tool to use?
Most 360-degree feedback programs aren’t designed
to assess organizational climate. If an organization needs
complex data breakouts, demographic correlations and descriptive
statistics, there are programs designed to do this. For example,
if you need to know how women under age 35 with more than 5
years of service rated certain aspects of the organization,
your need is complex. However, when requirements for organizational
feedback aren’t complex, a flexible 360-feedback platform
such as 20/20 Insight GOLD may be used at much less expense.
Surveying the organization
A flexible 360 program can asses an organization
as easily as assessing an individual. Administrators simply
set up the desired items, scales, types of feedback providers
and report formats. Instead of observable behaviors, survey
items related to organizational culture and climate (e.g.,
the benefits package) are entered. Instead of an individual,
the organization or part of the organization is the subject
of the assessment.
Surveying elements within an organization
A 360 program can assess departments or groups within
the organization, then aggregate the data to give a picture
of the organization. If you want to know the opinions of significant
groups of people, such as first-line supervisors, simply identify
these people as a rater group. Using 20/20 Insight or comparable
state-of-the art program, a wealth of data can be obtained
for a remarkably small investment.
Multiple 360 as an organizational climate assessment
Yet another approach is to have employees rate levels
of management, then aggregate the data. For example, an organization
may want to create an environment built on shared values. If
these values can be defined through specific behaviors, often
called "walking the talk," a 360-degree feedback
process can identify specific leadership groups as subjects.
A summary or roll-up report from various departments will give
a picture of how the climate is perceived.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
13.
How is 360-degree feedback used in educational institutions?
There are two main ways to use 360-degree feedback in educational
institutions:
• Performance feedback to faculty and administrative
staff
• Evaluating educational content or curriculum
360 may be used in all types of educational institutions:
pre-school, elementary, high school and university. The competencies
for success at the various levels are different. For example,
the competencies needed by teachers in middle schools are different
from those needed by college professors. To illustrate, this
article will focus on the use of 360 tools at the college level.
Colleges and universities seek ways to assess the effectiveness
of deans, department chairs, administrative staff, faculty,
counselors, and courses.
Customizable feedback technology such as 20/20 Insight GOLD
can let a college or university create and distribute surveys
over a network or in kiosks located around the campus directly
to students, staff, and faculty.
To evaluate content, surveys can be customized and targeted:
e.g., giving students majoring in "International Finance
and Banking" access to survey questions related to "International
Finance and Banking."
Timely and confidential assessment of staff, faculty, and
counselor performance use the same technology. This can include
feedback from students, graduate assistants, peers, department
chairs, and the dean. It’s important to adapt the 360
process to the internal political climate of the institution.
The dean or department chair can assemble stakeholders in a
meeting to identify core competencies.
Assessment areas may include teaching skills, contribution
to department, research activities, outside activities, service
to the school or profession, and peer or department chair observation.
Competencies are then presented to the faculty for review and
comment. This could be done in a meeting where professors can
react to the list and reach consensus on the competencies needed
to be successful.
Desired competencies and scales are then entered into the 360 software. A customizable
system such as 20/20 Insight GOLD will be needed. If subjects are professors,
include at least four or five competencies related to effective instruction.
Next, distribute surveys to respondents: staff, faculty or students who interact
with professors, using the computer network or kiosks. Once completed, retrieve
the data from the surveys, print reports and deliver them to feedback recipients,
who can analyze the feedback and discuss development priorities with their
supervisors.
This objective and confidential process can be adjusted to
the needs of any department. Competencies can be reviewed periodically
to ensure they are current. With this kind of tool, peer reviews
and student evaluations can easily be administered annually.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
14.
Should 360-degree feedback be used for compensation, downsizing,
succession planning and other selection decisions?
360-degree feedback should not be used to inform compensation
or selection decisions. There are several reasons why feedback
for development must be kept separate from performance appraisal
for administrative decisions regarding pay, promotion or lay-off.
The information from 360-degree feedback is uniquely
useful for self-development and not suited for administrative
decisions.
The subjective nature of 360-degree feedback is what
makes it valuable for development. It shows feedback recipients
how their work practices affect different groups of observers.
Understanding others' perceptions helps recipients become more
effective with different groups of co-workers. What this information
doesn’t provide is objective data about actual work outcomes
and results. It ‘s not the fact-based, verifiable data
required for compensation and selection decisions.
Performance appraisal raters need to be accountable;
360 respondents need to be anonymous.
Performance appraisals linked to compensation or selection must be legally
defensible. This means that the organizations must be able to show that ratings
were derived from concrete, objective, verifiable performance data. This in
turn requires that the raters can be identified with the ratings they provide.
Supervisors and team leaders are traditionally accountable for how well they
determine performance ratings for administrative purposes. The value of 360
feedback, on the other hand, depends respondents being anonymous. If respondents
can be sure that their feedback can’t be traced back to them individually,
they’re more likely to provide the candid feedback that is essential
for the recipients' self-development.
Feedback for development must be confidential; data
for administrative decisions cannot be.
There are two basic reasons for keeping 360 feedback data in the hands of the
recipient. First, people who receive feedback are more able to consider it
objectively if they don’t have to worry about how it makes them look
to others. Also, co-workers are more likely to provide candid feedback to the
individual if they don't have to worry that the information will affect that
person's standing in the organization.
Logistics may make the use of 360 feedback impractical
for compensation decisions.
Annual salary adjustments are often made for all employees at the same time.
Organizations that have tried to use 360 feedback as the basis for compensation
have found that productivity grinds to a halt while people are busy filling
out multiple questionnaires about their co-workers to meet a common salary
review deadline.
Using a 360 assessment for personnel or compensation
decisions can render the system unusable for development.
When a 360 process are connected to personnel or
compensation decisions, it inevitably becomes emotional, political
and disruptive. If management tries to 360 feedback for development
after using a 360 feedback process for administrative decisions,
people are unlikely to trust that the data from one process
will be kept confidential when the data from the previous process
was not.
Copyright © 2004 Performance Support
Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
