360 Degree Feedback is a performance appraisal system that gathers feedback on an individual from a number of sources, typically including colleagues, direct reports and internal/external customers or stakeholders. It gives managers and individuals better information about skills and performance, as well as working relationships, compared with more traditional appraisal arrangements based solely on the line manager’s assessment.
One important role for 360 degree feedback rests with its capacity to challenge recipients’ perceptions of their skills and performance and to provide the motivation to change. In common with other forms of performance appraisal, however, 360 degree feedback should not bring any great surprises to individuals. Its focus, rather, should be on helping them to understand how their behaviour is perceived by others and confirming the behaviour that is most likely to get results. If implemented appropriately, it can achieve certain key objectives:
- identifying differences between the way individuals see themselves and how they are perceived by others
- establishing differences between the perceptions of different groups of respondents (for example, do the recipient’s direct reports have a different view to his or her line manager?)
- in so doing, helping to make performance management a more objective and fair process.
Contact us for a complimentary discussion of how we might make effective use of 360 degree feedback in your organisation.