The 360° Process

The following is a high-level overview of the 360-degree feedback survey process. This advice is based on years of experience…

Planning

As with any project, good planning is essential for a successful 360 feedback survey. The first step is to clearly identify the goal of this survey and how it fits with other HR programs already in place. Whether the survey is used for performance management or for employee development, 360 feedback surveys are always of a sensitive nature and may face internal resistance from participants. Early support and buy-in from higher management is a key success factors. Other considerations at this stage include:

• Have a follow-up plan before you start:
• Make sure that « debriefing » is in place to explain the feedback report and to help identify growth areas – this can be done individually or in a group. If well planned, both cases work well.
• Once participants receive their report and do their action plan, make you’re your support programs are adequate – think training, coaching, motivating
• Make available resources known in terms of persons, budget, programs
• Identify the ratees, or the persons who will be evaluated
• Decide how the raters will be assigned. They can either be assigned by the manager of the ratee, by the human resources consultant, by the ratees themselves, or through a combination of these.
• Decide the project duration and general workflow.
• Decide the confidentiality and privacy issues. Who will have access to the reports and why.
• Design a communication plan. It is extremely important to explain the project to all participants. This should be communicated by various means and over an extended period of time. The communication plan must initially explain:
• What are the objectives of the project
• How the process will be conducted and what will be required of each participant
• The privacy and confidentiality policies

Designing the competency model and the survey

Constructing an effective 360 feedback survey is a task better left to someone with the appropriate expertise. There are ready-to-use surveys that can fit your objectives but depending on [the specifics of your project], it might be necessary to develop a customized survey. In the case of a 360 feedback survey, this involves the selection of appropriate competency models, the formulation of the questions and the types of answer scales to be used. Principles of clarity and brevity are critical both in layout and content, for example you should avoid double-barreled and non-behavioral questions that lead to ambiguous responses. It is also important not to overwhelm the respondents with more questions than what is strictly necessary. Usually, longer surveys do not translate to more or better feedback, they simply lead to lower participation rates.

• Make sure that the competency models are consistent with the long-term strategic goals of the organization. Organizational objectives must drive the competency model. The competencies to be evaluated must be relevant to the organization and appropriate to the position of the person being evaluated. Each type of position being evaluated usually requires its own competency model which means that different surveys have to be developed within the same project.
• Make sure that all competencies are recognized and understood by all employees.
• In parallel, plan for the content of the report (individual and group reports are available with uVox)

Project Deployment

At this step, it is crucial to have a technology platform in place that will support the entire project and facilitate its administration. Ease of use and ease of deployment are critical elements of success. The ability to manage email communications and to monitor the participation rate is equally important. The main steps in the deployment phase are:

• Send email invitations to all participants.
• Send email reminders to laggards
• Establish start and finish dates for every activity
• Notify participants of their participation rate
• Send reports
• Debriefing and action plans

Ideally, and if the project is on a large scale, it is recommended to conduct a pilot project that will allow for adjustments before full deployment.

Report Generation

The report templates should have been decided on at the survey design stage. Clarity and brevity are once again critical. It is recommended to have debriefing sessions to explain the reports to participants but they should be able to understand the basics of it by themselves. 360 feedback reports should include normalized results for each question and clearly compare the self answers to those of the different categories of raters. Reports can also include some statistics, although it is not advisable to go beyond basic descriptive statistics. Special emphasis should be placed on highlighting the main development opportunities and strengths of the employee.

Reports should be produced and delivered as soon as possible once the evaluation period has ended. It is also possible to produce aggregate reports for any given group. This can be useful for managers to identify any general development needs and to track the group’s progress over time.

Debriefing and follow-up

When the results of a 360 feedback survey are correctly interpreted, the understanding of how others perceive us can be a potent driver for positive individual change. There is however a strong chance that individuals by themselves misinterpret the feedback they receive or reject its validity for any number of reasons (but mainly if it conflicts with their self-perceptions) or simply decide that follow-up action is not necessary.

Most of the value of conducting a 360 feedback survey hinges on the impact the exercise will have in improving targeted competencies of the subjects. This is only possible if subjects are provided with help to interpret the results they get and to devise an appropriate follow-up plan. The debriefing process can offer group sessions and/or one-on-one meetings. Ideally every subject should be debriefed by a specialist and should also have an action-planning meeting with their manager. The managers need to be trained so that they can help their employees draft a development plan that is consistent with the organizational objectives and the individual’s development areas. By helping the employee devise a development plan, the manager is committing to the plan and to providing the necessary support.