Contents Welcome from The Aspen OD Team 2 Shameless Promotion of Aspen OD s 360 Degree Feedback Assessments sorry, we have to do it :-) 3 The WHOs of 360 Degree Feedback Assessments 4 The WHATs of 360 Degree Feedback Assessments 5 The WHYs of 360 Degree Feedback Assessments 6 The HOWs of 360 Degree Feedback Assessments 7 Success Factors for using 360 Degree Feedback Assessments 10
Dear Reader, Thank you for downloading this ebook from Aspen Organization Development Consulting (Aspen OD). 360 Degree Feedback Assessments are used by 90% of Fortune 500 companies, as well as at countless small and medium size businesses around the world. In most cases, these assessments can help to significantly improve employee performance. However, if a company does not administer them properly, 360 Degree Feedback Assessments can have a potentially negative impact on an organization. This ebook provides general information on 360 Degree Feedback Assessments, as well as best practices when implementing them into your company s training and development plans. We hope you find this free resource from Aspen OD useful in deciding whether 360 Degree Feedback Assessments are right for your company. Best regards, The Aspen OD Team Ben Nash, Partner Kevin Nash, Partner Aspen Organization Development Consulting specializes in providing clients with employee assessment, Evidence Based Executive Search, and Open Source LMS services. Our vision is to help organizations make the best hiring and employee development decisions by offering cost effective, high-quality, well-designed, and easy to understand Oragnization Development products and services.
Fully Managed 360 Degree Feedback Assessment Service From Aspen Organization Development Consulting Aspen Organization Development Consulting s 360 Degree Feedback Assessment service is the easiest way to provide your employees with confidential, anonymous feedback reports from the people they work with. Many companies will provide you with the tools to conduct your 360 Degree Feedback Assessments. However, with our fully managed service, there is no need to learn complicated software. Our experienced organization development consultants will do all the heavy-lifting for you, so you can focus on what matters managing your business! Client Testimonial: We have used the 360 assessments to support ongoing development for several team members. The process was simple and the content is comprehensive and effective for coaching and development for varied roles and responsibility levels. Very effective tool! Brandyn Plato, SPHR, HR Site Manager, Laerdal Medical Transparent and Affordable Pricing We strive to help organizations make the best employee development decisions. To do this, we offer our clients well-designed, easy-tounderstand, and cost effective employee assessments: Why Use Our Service? Built On Validated Competency Models Our 360 Degree Feedback Assessments use research-based competency models, which assesses candidates job related competencies, for example: team work, customer focus, coaching, coping with change, communication style, and problem solving. 100% Web Based Assessments Is your team spread out around the country or world? No problem! Our 360 Degree Feedback Assessments are 100% web based. All you need is an internet connection and they ll be able to complete the surveys. Contact us now to get more info on our 360 Degree Feedback Assessment Service: sales@apenod.com
The Who s, What s, Why s, and How s of 360 Degree Feedback Assessments Simply put, 360 Degree Feedback Assessments provide employees with confidential, anonymous feedback from the people they work with, including their managers, peers, direct reports, and in some cases, customers. In the process, between eight and twelve evaluators fill out an anonymous questionnaire and evaluate a subject (an employee). Evaluators rate the subject by responding to standardized questions, but also provide written comments. Subjects also fill out a self-rating survey. Once all the questionnaires have been completed, a report is generated that compares the feedback from the various rater groups and the subject s self-evaluation. So, WHO can benefit from a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment? Both managers and non-managers can gain valuable insights for their professional and personal development although strictly speaking, non-managers don t have direct reports so their feedback is not a full 360 degrees. Another use for 360 Degree Feedback Assessments is to evaluate the work of project teams in which various stakeholder groups (e.g. project sponsors, customers, vendors, team members, etc.) evaluate the project team s effectiveness.
WHAT are the benefits that managers, non-managers, and project teams get from a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment Report? Here is a short list of the benefits: Improved Feedback From More Sources, such as peers, staff, co-workers, and supervisors. It is important to understand how coworkers view their work. Team Development Team members can provide feedback and help the employee to be more accountable to the team for communication and performance. Organizational Needs Assessment 360 Degree Feedback Assessments help the company understand the need for understanding personal and organizational development. Mentoring Needs Assessment Peers and supervisors provide career and personal development information. Supervisor Risk Control Feedback from a broad number of individuals in a variety of interfacing positions can help manage problem employees, as well as to help to minimize discrimination based on race, age, and gender.
Training Needs Assessment Aggregation of employee information provides an encompassing view of a company s training needs. Training priorities, scheduling of classes, and performance goals can be clearly identified and measured. Interpersonal Skill Assessment In some cases, frontline employees struggle with meeting the needs of the customer and the needs of the company. Employees need the valuable feedback about the quality of service they provide and how they can improve their reliability, promptness, and quality of their services. These insights can then be incorporated into a developmental action plan that enables subjects to take the steps needed to attain the next level of performance. When considering the WHYS of 360 Degree Feedback Assessments, companies typically think about them in one of two ways: 1) A Development Tool to help managers, employees, and teams recognize their strengths and weaknesses and become more effective. When done properly, a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment is highly effective as a development tool. The feedback process gives people an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback to a
coworker that they might otherwise be uncomfortable giving. Feedback recipients gain insight into how others perceive them and have an opportunity to adjust behaviors and develop skills that will enable them to excel at their jobs. 2) A Performance Appraisal Tool to measure employee performance. When using a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment in this way, it is sometimes difficult to properly structure the process so that it creates an atmosphere of trust. The 360 Degree Feedback Assessment may focus on behaviors and competencies more than job requirements or performance objectives, and these are more appropriately addressed as part of an annual review and performance appraisal meeting between the employee and their manager. It can be beneficial to incorporate a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment into the performance appraisal or performance management process, but this should only be done with a clear understanding of how the feedback will be used. When considering HOW to use 360 Degree Feedback Assessments in the organization, managers are faced with a decision: should they purchase a standardized assessment with validated questions and benchmark data from other organizations or should they develop a customized 360 Degree Feedback Assessments
tailored to their specific requirements. Purchasing standardized 360 Degree Feedback Assessments is usually the best approach for smaller companies or companies that are new to using 360 Degree Feedback Assessments. Customized 360 Feedback Reports are generally more appropriate for larger organizations that have wellestablished leadership competency models and have the internal Human Resourses Management expertise to design and administer the assessments. Ultimately the best approach may be to combine aspects of both the purchase and build approaches and start with a standardized format but customize it over time as the organization gains experience with the use of the 360 Degree Feedback Assessment process. When designing a customized 360 Degree Feedback Assessment it is important for an organization to define what superior performance looks like. These are the competency related behaviors that are expected of employees that link to the organization s values, mission, and strategy. These behaviors may be different at differing levels of the organization. For example, the competency of Customer Focus may require different behaviors of a Customer Service Representative compared to a that of a Director of Customer Service position, so the 360 Degree Feedback Assessment may differ somewhat by the level of the position being assessed. Three levels are usually sufficient for most organizations: an executive
version, a manager version, and a non-manager version. Three versions of the 360 Degree Feedback Assessment are usually enough for most organizations; however, there may be a need for an additional version for positions that are out of the norm. It is not recommended that 360 Degree Feedback Assessments are created for each position as this becomes very complicated, difficult to manage, and does not add value if the correct core competencies and behaviors are included when designing the reports by job level. One of the key considerations when designing a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment is to write clear and unambiguous questions that will provide useful insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the subjects as they relate to the competencies under review. If the questions are not well written, the data will not be as useful. It is important to collect both quantitative (numeric) and qualitative (comments) data. Numeric data will give you hard numbers that you can use to identify strengths and weaknesses. Qualitative data in the form of comments will offer insights into specific issues that are often missed by quantitative data alone.
Success Factors for using 360 Degree Feedback Assessments Research has shown that organizations that experience success with the 360 Degree Feedback Assessments have the following attributes: The organization encourages the personal and professional development of employees Criticisms are seen as opportunities for improvement Constructive performance feedback is provided by management Assurance is given that feedback will be kept confidential Feedback is based on organizational goals and values Everyone involved in the 360 Degree Feedback Assessment process is briefed about the methodology of the survey prior to the distribution of the assessment Subjects of the 360 Degree Feedback Assessment meet with their Managers or a 360 Degree Feedback Assessment Coach to discuss the results and prepare a personal development plan based on the results Managers and coaches are trained to provide constructive feed back based on the 360 Degree Feedback Assessment
Some organizations have experienced problems with 360 Degree Feedback Assessments and research has shown that problems can occur for the following reasons: 360 Degree Feedback Assessments are tied directly to merit pay or promotions the reports should form part of the performance management process focusing on employee development; the reports should not replace the performance management system Comments can be traced to individuals causing resentment between employees The 360 Degree Feedback Assessment is not linked to organizational goals or values The manager or a coach distributes the 360 Degree Feedback Assessments Reports directly to the subject without follow-up. Individuals who provide feedback need training about how to provide constructive feedback. Feedback must be detailed, constructive, and actionable, so that the employee can take appropriate actions. Additionally, the supervisor must be capable of understanding the feedback so clarification can be given. Supervisors, HR staff, and other critical managers must assist the employee to understand and develop action plans based upon the feedback.
360 Degree Feedback Assessments are conducted too frequently or not frequently enough. Ideally there should be a two to three year gap between reports. This provides the time that subjects need to implement their personal / professional development plan and for their co-workers to notice changes in their behaviors. Focus on strengths the focus needs to be on the employee strengths, not weaknesses. The key to growing valuable employees through feedback is to chip off a few rough corners and then help them do what they do best. Avoid data overload Multi-rater feedback in the form of 360 Degree Feedback Assessment systems must be well organized so that feedback is easily collected and accessed to save time and increase the quality of the process.