360 degree feedback mechanisms are growing in use. Here Sonia Bicknell shows how to make the best of such mechanisms, and how to implement them effectively. Such processes, she argues, can cost a great deal in time and emotional energy, but when used effectively, they can yield rich rewards both to organisations and the people working in them.
Becoming a manager means embarking upon a road of continuous learning, no matter how competent you are. Learning is inherent in the nature of the managerial task. Not only do the people managed keep changing, but inevitably, organisations keep moving the goal posts. Priorities change. Is the main thrust contribution to the bottom line? Creating a motivated team? Harnessing the creative potential within your team? Keeping costs to a minimum? Whatever the goal posts, in all the years of management research and study one simple truth emerges: managers have to seek to get the best from their team. To do this they often have to adopt multiple strategies to reflect the diversity of their team. This is easier said than done. How often do you hear managers say: ‘My life would be much easier if there were no people, and I could just get on with my job.’ What they forget is that the people are their job.
So how do you begin to measure managerial success?
In order for any person to learn they require feedback on how well they are doing. Take golf for example, a game that has tested many people’s patience, especially mine! First of all, you learn how to grip the golf club, next how to swing at the ball in order to gain greatest accuracy and distance. As a learner, firstly, you get immediate feedback about your golf swing from the feel of the swing itself: you can hear and feel a good swing. Secondly, you look at the distance and accuracy of your effort, did it go in the direction you wanted it to? Did it go far enough? This will get you so far, but to truly improve and get the most out of your game you have to bring in a second party – an instructor. They will observe your efforts on the tee and give you some idea of where you may be going wrong. You can also pick up tips from the people you choose to play a round with – they are in the best position to observe your effectiveness as a golfer. If mastering the swing isn’t enough you have to adapt that swing to every hole you play in order to get the best result.
In many ways, the management task can be compared to that of the golfer. Just as the golfer has to master the swing for each of the holes, so the manager has to adapt their management skills to each different team member to bring the best out in them. As a manager you never stop learning since there are always a myriad of possible choices. However, whilst it would be normal for the golfer to seek out advice and feedback from time to time on the basic swing and on how they are performing at each of the 18 holes, the manager may forget to seek out and assimilate feedback from those who are on the receiving end – be they customers, peers, or team members. This probably means that true learning is rarely taking place.
This is the essence of 360 degree feedback mechanisms. A manager needs feedback from those around him/her in order to see what things they are doing right or wrong. In order to improve and continue to be effective as a manager, one must continue to listen, learn and adapt.
There are a variety of names given to the 360 degree process – multi-rater assessment, multi-source assessment, full circle appraisal, 360 degree feedback.
The common factor across them all is that rather than information about an individual being collected from one source alone (the manager), instead feedback is sought from a number of key internal and even external customers.
FIGURE 1
A recent study profiled the usage of 360 degree systems within medium and large companies. They found that 50% of companies were using a ••• degree process and 74% of the current users were planning to expand the usage in the near future. 34% of non-users were introducing a 360 degree feedback process before the year 2000. The growing sophistication in the design of computerized 360 degree processes means that problems in time and complexity of administration are minimised, suggesting that their use will certainly burgeon in the future.
Benefits of 360 degree process
Why is it popular? What does it add over and above the normal appraisal process? Both individuals and organisations can benefit from the process as Table 1 shows.
Preparing the organisation for 360 degree processes
Before preparing the organisation, bear in mind the implementation mantra:
360 degree assessment is a process and not an event
360 degree assessment is not a once a year experience but an ongoing process which allows people to accumulate evidence and evaluate behaviour on a continual basis in order to learn and therefore change behaviour.
Further, 360 degree assessment is not a neutral process and it is likely to be perceived as a threat to many individuals who have not encountered it before. It is therefore critical that when designing and implementing a ••• degree process that a number of key steps are taken to lower the risk of rejection.
Assess organisational readiness – do we or don’t we?
Some organisations will be more receptive to ••• degree feedback than others.
In order to assess your readiness as an organisation ask the following:
- What do we have in place already? How far is it from the concept of 360 degree assessment? Can we make the jump?
- What kind of culture do we have?
- Are we open?
- Do we have a tendency to blame?
- Are we providing each other with constructive feedback already?
- Do we have a fear of making mistakes?
- Is personal/individual development a priority?
The answers to these questions will help an organisation assess the level of
diffculty they will encounter in implementing a 360 degree feedback process
and whether it is feasible for them to try at present.
Benefits for the organisation
- Ensures that managers relate more effectively with internal and external customers, since they are likely to be thinking about their behaviours.
- Helps develop a culture of giving and receiving feedback related specifically to organisational aims.
- The aggregated data from the 360 assessment can help develop strategic development activities.
- This allows the organisation to not only respond to the individual data but also take a holistic approachthrough pulling all employee data together to give an organisation
focus to development.
- Enables the organisation to look not only at development needs but wasted potential that could be utilised on cross-organisation projects or within another role
(internal recruitment).
- If customers are involved, and the process is well-managed, it can lead to distinct improvements in customer/organisation relations.
Benefits for the individual
- Perception is reality, and the ••• degree process is the perfect opportunity for an individual to look at themselves through the eyes of the people they work with
in order to gain an accurate reflection of their abilities and behaviours.
- Managers do not always have opportunities to observe the behaviour of their team, so
observations from those who actually work with the individual are invaluable.
- The involvement of other people in assessing performance should contribute to a more rounded picture of performance.
- The process offers the individual the opportunity to concentrate on particular areas of their behaviour.
- For example, it may be interesting to look at your subordinate/team members’ perceptions of your leadership capabilities, or your manager’s perception of the way
in which you deliver.
- Feedback from a manager can be overlooked, justified and explained away but feedback from five of your colleagues and team is harder to run from!
- Produces a more realistic sense of personal strengths and weaknesses
- Individuals take more personal responsibility for their development and they have a
regular measure of their progress.
Table 1
For example, introducing 360 degree feedback in a strong blame culture will not be a positive experience for those involved and could be perceived as a legitimate vehicle for blame, or put another way, ‘another stick to beat us with’. If personal development is the lowest priority within the organisation then the 360 degree feedback process will be a very hollow initiative indeed! These are just a couple of examples where the culture of an organisation can block successful implementation.
Understand and communicate the purpose of the 360 degree process and sell the key benefits
Firstly, you have to be clear about the purpose of the 360 degree process. Are you assessing performance or development need? Once you have made the decision it must be communicated clearly throughout the organisation and an effort be made to sell the benefits of the process to all the parties involved. The aim is to generate real interest and enthusiasm among key decision makers and participants by:
- demonstrating the links between the 360 degree feedback process and business objectives
- clearly specifying the time involvement and benefits to individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole
Select the right 360 process tool
You have a choice of three options here:
Many 360 tools exist that will gather data concerning generic management behaviour such as management of meetings, communication skills and so on. These offer feedback to participants about their general management behaviour when carrying out their role, but do not deal with any behaviour that is specifically required in the organisation. The link between these off-the-shelf instruments and specific business objectives is not so clear and this can create hostility. Since the 360 process is time-consuming, many managers may question its value. If an off-the-shelf choice is taken, then the links between feedback, individual performance and the performance of the company must be made.
Another option is to develop a simple questionnaire that asks questions about the manager’s behaviour that is related specifically to the organisation. This allows the organisation to put its stamp on the process and to ensure that the tool reflects specific organisational priorities and captures what is unique about the organisation.
- 360 degree competency assessment
A further step beyond the tailored questionnaire is to take a competency-based approach to 360 degree feedback and utilise the organisation’s behavioural competency framework.
The competence approach to the 360 degree process has three distinct advantages. Firstly, participants are familiar with the language that they are using to assess themselves and others. Secondly, they can see the link between organisation objectives and the 360 degree assessment process since the competency framework encapsulates organisation priorities.
This gives credence to the process, making it a central rather than marginal activity. Finally, the use of behavioural statements from the competency framework focuses the assessors on concrete behaviours that have been identified by the organisation as critical to its success.
Assess the skill levels within the organisation
People need to be trained in the art of giving and receiving feedback in order to fully capitalise upon the 360 degree process. A key message within the training is that people are looking at behaviour, how others act in the workplace and not personal comments. It is diffcult if the feedback is that, for example, you are thoughtless in your attitude. When? What did you do? What did they see that made them draw this conclusion? A few clear behavioural examples would be much more helpful such as:
- You don’t acknowledge people around the office
- You never inquire after someone’s well being after they return from illness
- You will not address people’s obvious discomfort in meetings
Keep people focused on presenting behavioural evidence for all feedback. Feedback is often marginalised into one of two ends of the spectrum – the blame/excessive criticism or bland/unproductive. Simple guidelines and a well designed 360 degree feedback process will prevent this.
Pilot the process
Before launching the 360 degree process throughout the organisation, it is critical that it is piloted within a specific directorate, department or team. This allows you to iron out any glitches and make alterations that will ensure a smoother implementation at the organisational level.
Launching the 360 degree process
Once you have assessed your readiness and established that the process will work you are ready to launch it organisation-wide. There are a number of implementation questions which need to be answered:
- Who will choose the assessors/contributors?
- How many assessors/contributors will each person have?
- What training do your people need in giving and receiving feedback?
- How frequently will you review learning, bearing in mind that this is more than a once yearly event?
- Does the information remain with the individual or will it be aggregated for an organisational analysis?
All these issues need to be discussed at length prior to the launch. However,
the process stages will broadly remain the same, and can be seen below.
DIAGRAM
Each individual receives a report, the nature of which will depend upon the particular 360 degree feedback tool used. ER Consultants have helped a number of our clients to adopt the competency-based 360 degree assessment process. This style of feedback is very structured and provides each manager with an in-depth competency profile and commentary which identifies their strengths and development needs in relation to the key managerial competencies. The additional advantage of this approach is that individual data can be aggregated across the organisation to identify organisational development needs and track competency development and the effectiveness of training and development interventions.
Embarking upon a 360 degree process will never be easy, but that is part of its power. We all have harsh lessons to learn when we decide to take a look at ourselves through someone else’s eyes, but this is also a strong motivator for us to change and improve. If created and managed effectively the process can be enlightening and catalytic. The proof of the 360 pudding is in the behavioural change. When the manager observed as remote takes time to talk informally to their team, you know that it is having an effect. To take our original golfing analogy, if managers listen to other people’s feedback, internal and external to the organisation, and adjust their ‘swing’ accordingly, they will reap the rewards, improve their ‘managerial game’ and may spend less time in the bunker.
ER Consultants have experience and expertise in the design and implementation of 360 degree feedback mechanisms and have particular specialist knowledge around 360 degree competency-based assessment processes.
For further information, please contact Sonia Bicknell:
E sonia.bicknell@erconsultants.co.uk
T +44 (0)1223 315944
