General advice

UVox is built on many years of experience designing and deploying 360 feedback surveys: the technology supports the industry’s best practices. However not all aspects of 360 feedback surveys depend on a solid system platform: management project practices and experience play a crucial role in the project’s success. The following practical advice will help you avoid the most common pitfalls.

• Make sure that the competency model is 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 the questions appropriate to the position of the person being evaluated. Specific questions assessing a dimension can be targeted to a certain group of employees while others will be addressed to the whole organization, thus, allowing a basis for a global perspective. Yes, different surveys are often developed within the same project.
• Make sure that all competencies are recognized and understood by all employees.
• Higher management buy-in is key for these types of projects.
• Make sure that the 360 feedback survey is coordinated with other HR programs within the organization, such as:
• Training programs: seminars, lectures, readings, workshops, …
• Performance management program
• Motivation programs
• Coaching and mentoring programs
• Conducting a pilot project will allow you to adjust any aspect of the questionnaire or competency model that may not be perfectly clear:
• Make sure that the pilot project is carried on with a group that is representative of the organization if possible. The pilot project’s participants could become the program’s champions
• It is recommended to conduct a focus group with the pilot project participants to identify areas of improvement
• 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
• Plan for coaching for the months following the evaluation
• Identify available training and development resources.