How 360 reviews can improve your team
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As a business leader, one of your most important tasks is to continually improve your team so that it keeps getting stronger. But it’s not always obvious where improvement is needed. You are busy running the company, and don’t always know all the ins and outs of how any one employee performs on a day-to-day basis.
So, how do you uncover the things that need improving? One way is a tool called a “360 review”.
What is a 360 review?
A 360 review is a method for obtaining information about an employee’s performance. That information is gathered from varied points of view, hence the term “360”. Those viewpoints come from people who the employee has regular contact with. That means an employee’s:
Immediate manager
Immediate coworkers
Other colleagues/peers
Subordinates (if the employee is a manager/supervisor)
The information is obtained by having the above listed people complete a questionnaire about the employee. Typically, the information gathered will identify both strengths and weaknesses.
360s provide a well-rounded viewpoint, and often collect information that the employee’s manager may not have been aware of, information that can be used to help the employee grow and flourish.
What is the purpose of a 360?
The purpose of a 360 review is to gain a deeper understanding of your employee’s strengths and weaknesses. Knowing that can help you in several ways.
Weaknesses
By identifying an employee’s weaknesses, you are able to intervene, perhaps with extra training, or a meeting to clarify expectations. You may find out that there are personal issues affecting their performance. Or perhaps their performance is being affected by some process or person in the office, so you can uncover those factors and take action.
Strengths
Knowing your employee’s strengths helps you in several ways. First, you gain confidence knowing that they are performing well. Further, you can direct tasks to them for which you now know they are particularly suited. You can also draw on what you now know are their skills and abilities when you need an employee to train others. And, you can identify which employees have the required skills and knowledge when it comes time to promote.
Once a 360 is completed, the information is summarized and shared with the employee being rated. This is an opportunity for management to share information about what the employee is doing well (which is always nice to hear and helps build confidence and trust) and what they could improve on. This latter aspect can help the staff member become an even better employee, which is a win-win.
What does a 360 review look like?
On the surface, a 360 is quite straightforward. It is a written questionnaire (either hard copy or on the computer) and is usually fairly short—often only one page long. There are typically between 5 and 10 questions, some of which are answered with rating scales, other that are open ended. Each question is designed to obtain insight into either a strength or a weakness.
Here are a few sample questions.
What do you consider to be this employee’s greatest strength?
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “very poor” and 10 being “excellent”, how would you rate this employee’s ability to solve customer issues quickly and professionally?
Does this manager regularly include staff in decision making? Please explain your answer, use examples if you wish.
Best Practices
Now that you have an understanding of what a 360 review is, let’s look at some tips for doing them.
Do
Have a variety of employees in different jobs and at different levels complete the questionnaire.
When deciding who should complete the questionnaire, included those who interact with the employee frequently, and who have done so for an extended length of time (people who have an informed viewpoint).
Have someone who is knowledgeable about 360s design your questionnaire. You could perhaps assign one of your HR staff with the task of learning more about the tool, and how to design an effective one.
Make sure questions are specific, not general. For example, “Is this person a good manager?” is too vague, and everyone’s interpretation of what makes a good manager is different. Instead, ask about specific behaviours that indicate a person is a good manager, e.g. “Does this person include all staff in decision making? Or “Does this person treat all staff with respect?”
Keep the survey relatively short to ensure it is completed.
Do not allow the employee being rated to see the completed questionnaires. (They may recognize handwriting, or phrases used, and thereby be able to identify who wrote particular comments). Instead, summarize the results in your own words, and share that summary with the employee. (The summary is usually also shared with the employee’s boss.)
Maintain confidentiality and advertise that you will do so. Make it clear to the employee and the respondents that the information obtained will be used in aggregate form only, and that any original completed questionnaires will not be shared with the employee).
Do 360s yearly as part of your regular annual performance reviews. That way people are expecting them.
Communicate well in advance that you will be introducing 360 reviews. Also explain what they are, how they will be conducted, and how the information will be used.
Choose respondents that are diverse (different cultures, gender, creed). This helps you obtain well-rounded information (and their responses may help you uncover unfair treatment against certain groups).
Use the information obtained to guide and mentor the employee going forward.
Provide results in person.
Develop a plan with the employee for them to build on their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. Check in periodically to see how the plan is going.
Include a self-appraisal as well, one that the employe completes about themself. This will help you understand which of their strengths/weaknesses the employee is already aware of.
Find the root cause of shortcomings.
Don’t
If your business has only a small number of staff, make sure your summary is sufficiently general to ensure any individual comment cannot be identified as coming from any specific colleague. (Make sure your summary doesn’t give any possible hints as to who raised individual points.)
Don’t use this tool solely to find fault. You want to make sure the information you gather is balanced: find out the pros and the cons.
Don’t undertake 360s only for select employees. This can be seen as unfair, and will likely build mistrust.
Don’t ask for feedback from everyone (it will be too much information to process). Pick a few key people. (Aim for between 5-10). The exception is when the employee in question is a manager. In this case, you want to have each of his/her subordinates complete the 360 questionnaire, in addition to the standard variety of other employees. Another exception is for small companies. (You may need to include all employees to make sure you have a sufficient number of responses.)
Summary
360s are a great way to learn about your employees’ skills and knowledge, and to uncover any performance gaps that may exist. By leveraging those strengths, and helping employees improve upon weaknesses, you help build up your staff, as well as your company.
The main goal of a 360 review is twofold.
To help you support your employees, especially in improving any weaknesses;
To improve the overall performance of your team.
But they have other uses as well. They can be used to identify training needs, as a source of information to aid strategic planning, or to help make hiring/promoting/transfer decisions.
Overall, a 360 can be a very useful tool. However, it does take some time to develop and deliver, and some expertise in designing the questionnaire. That may be why we find many companies don’t use them. But they can be such a great source of information that we recommend you learn more about them and see if they may be something your company can benefit from using.
Peter
[ This article is intended as general information only and is not meant as professional advice. ]