Reviews are one of the most important aspects of any performance strategy or growth. In most organizations, the direct supervisor of each employee is responsible for assessing job performance. Using 360 Degree reviews can be especially helpful to get multiple perspectives on job performance in performance reviews.
What is 360-degree feedback?
By definition, the use of multiple perspectives for manager feedback is called 360-degree feedback. An employee is evaluated by peers, subordinated, and supervisors on several dimensions of performance. Additionally, the employee completes his/her own performance. Thus, it is a talent development tool used to provide the recipient with feedbacks from all directions. Thus, you get feedback from individuals above you, below you in the organization, and at your level.
Usually, 360-degree reviews are anonymous and include the closest people to the employee to obtain helpful feedback.
The Pros and Cons of 360 Reviews:
While 360 reviews are super effective for performance management and gaining popularity due to their structure and own advantages and disadvantages.
ADVANTAGES:
1. Rounded Feedback-
One of the biggest pros of 360-degree reviews is the all-rounded, holistic feedback. In a workplace, we work with different people with unique perspectives, each at a different hierarchy. This allows a more diverse and broader set of feedback with almost all levels of interaction. Thus, in a way, it is a better judgment of performance. Additionally, it ends up reducing reporting the manager’s bias against the employee and allowing more insight. The effects of favoritism on the part of the immediate supervisor are diminished when additional information from other raters is added to the appraisal. This can lead to increased levels of trust and better faith in the appraisal system on the part of those being evaluated (Mayer & Davis, 1999).
2. Upward feedback-
360-degree reviews are a safe place to provide reviews to managers and make them accountable and increase the overall level of transparency in the organization. It allows employees to express doubts, concerns and provide true feedback that they could be hesitant to share in a 1 on 1 setting. Thus, managers can understand the impact they have on their direct reports. Further, it also allows managers to understand how an employee performs across all levels and different departments, allowing a broader perspective and more well-rounded conversation with their employees.
3. Increases awareness-
The 360-degree feedback process gives employees a better understanding of their behavior and outlook towards working. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses which they would be unaware of. They focus primarily on discovering strengths rather than use the process to uncover deficiencies. Additionally, because these reviews are mostly anonymous, they are a great way to boost confidence in employees. A study found that employees who did not get any feedback had a 14.9% more turnover rate than those who did. Thus, 360 reviews go a long way to instill self-awareness in employee’s minds.
4. Measures the ‘how’ rather than ‘what’-
360-degree feedback emphasizes how things are done rather than what is being done. The focus is on the process rather than the final result. Focusing on how things are getting done will have a greater impact on success than focusing on the outcome. When a manager or team leader receives 360-degree feedback, they are not assessed on the number of targets achieved but on how they achieved them. It looks into how an employee fared in performing duties as a team member, leader, manager, and general employee of the organization.
5. Open Culture-
The 360-degree feedback process helps to foster a sense of openness in organizations. As every employee takes part in the peer and manager reviews, they feel that their opinions are valued. Through the feedback process, people can voice their opinions without fear of repression.
DISADVANTAGES:
1. Time-consuming-
The 360-degree review process is effective – but it takes a lot of time, effort, and resources. Gathering feedback from multiple sources can require an extended time commitment. The more people share feedback, the greater the chance they will feel irritated or discouraged if they aren’t used and acted upon. Not only can 360 reviews be harder to coordinate, but they can also be difficult and unwieldy to manage.
2. Right method/ Right people-
If a 360-degree review isn’t administered to the right people, it might not generate the most effective, helpful feedback. When deciding which colleagues to include in an employee’s 360-degree reviews, make sure to not only include colleagues with whom the employee has a close relationship — their preexisting relationship with the employee may create a bias from giving honest feedback. On the flip side, if you choose colleagues with whom the employee generally doesn’t get along, their feedback might be influenced negatively. Moreover, Atwar and Brett, in a 2005 study, found that individuals who received a low rating from others and also rated themselves low had the worst reaction to 360 feedbacks suggesting that if one knows his/, her performance is poor, having those beliefs corroborated by others was not helpful.
Springwork’s EngageWith
EngageWith is an employee engagement app that allows:
- Peer to Peer recognition: In the form of shoutout/kudos to anyone within the company. A little bit of empathy and recognition can go a long way. Remember, Karma is a boomerang!
- Social Recognition- EngageWith allows recognition both private and publicly. It provides recognition from managers, teammates, and different departments. When championed according to your company’s values- it trickles appreciation to the roots of your company’s culture!
- Customizable Reward– EngageWith points can be redeemed to purchase whatever YOU like. Why settle for something that you wouldn’t want? Choose from the best of Amazon, Nike, Bath, and Bodyworks, etc. We have all the range- I hope you’re ready with your choice!
- Dynamic Leaderboards- It ranks individuals based on appreciation sent & received. Keep your team’s engagements ticking and motivations lively.
- Pulse Surveys- Our newest feature, Employee Pulse Surveys, lets you collect survey feedback company-wide or on a private slack channel hassle-free. This means more data, better insight, and greater feedback at your fingertips. It can be anonymous/non-anonymous and allows various customizations according to different metrics such as Diversity&Inclusion, Team Building, Conflict Management, etc. Say goodbye to long, tedious surveys. Say hello to EngageWith Pulse.
Coming Soon:
- 1 v 1’s: Continuous feedback can pave the way towards more productivity. EngageWith is soon launching 1 v 1’s with features where meeting parties can share easy scheduling of recurring meetings, agenda, documents, and questions beforehand to boost productivity and improve focus. The best part is that meeting notes can be shared/ viewed by both parties, and the host can store private notes- this means easy storage and more accountability.
- OKR’s: OKR’s can be great to align the team on strategic, critical work. Further, they allow a more focused and team-based approach towards goal setting where everyone is on the same page to achieve maximum, high-impact results.
- 360 Performance review– 360 Performance review can be highly beneficial as it is holistic, compares your perception vs. other’s perception, and reduces bias in performance reviews.
For a GPS system to get an accurate picture of your location, it requires four different satellites. For leaders to get an accurate picture of their own effectiveness, they need feedback from their manager, peers, direct reports, and others in the organization. 360-degree feedback can be done well or poorly, no doubt. When we see the process executed effectively, its effect is transformational. It has the power to change career paths and lives in an authentic sense.
