The ‘Great resignation’ happening over the past year has made organizations redefine their work culture. This buzz topic is an eye-opener for the corporate world. As it is letting them understand more about employees’ needs and wants.
Due to this, Workplaces have started creating a feedback culture within their organizational structure. By feedback culture, we mean that open and honest communications are encouraged. There are various types of feedback that can be implemented in the workplace. A few of them are 1:1 meetings, anytime feedback, continuous feedback, and a 360-degree feedback program.
Here, in this article, we will be discussing a 360-degree feedback program and the best practices for using it.
Let’s dive deeper and understand it in detail:
What is 360 feedback?
Also known as multi-rater feedback. 360-degree feedback lets employees and employers receive confidential feedback from the people working with/around them. The members can gain valuable insights and analysis of their performance. As a result, they know their strengths and work on their blind spots.
Benefits of 360-degree feedback:
- Increases self-awareness for both employees and managers
- Helps in identifying employee training and skill development
- Encourage healthy feedback culture
- Increases organization productivity and performance
- Increases employee engagement
- Helps in the personal growth of employees
If you have implemented this program already, kudos to you. But, if you haven’t, NOW is the time, to begin with.
But, before that, you should know how to build a culture of trust and credibility. So that only honest feedback is exchanged and taken seriously.
Now, as you now know about the 360-degree program, let’s look at its best practices.
Best practices for using 360 feedback
The following are the best practices while using a 360-degree feedback program.
- Create a healthy feedback culture: The most important practice is to not consider 360-degree feedback as compliance. Rather, ensure to create a feedback-driven culture at your workplace.
For example, you can have ‘Feedback Friday’ at your organization where anyone can request or give feedback to any of their colleagues or managers. And keep in mind, that you shouldn’t be excluding anyone from this program. Even your interns and trainees.
You’ll realize that this will benefit the organization and its people in the long run.
- Make it consistent: “Success takes effort, consistency brings result.”
Hence, it is crystal clear that a 360-degree feedback program should be consistently implemented. This will help in benchmarking any progress and identifying strengths and weaknesses.
Also, when the feedbacks are frequent, it will be quite accurate. As compared to those, which are done quarterly or annually.
Besides this, feedback allows for continuous learning, for both managers and employees.
- Add only goal-based questions: Before creating the feedback forms, ask these three questions yourself:
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- What’s your aim behind the feedback form?
- What competencies can be covered in the questionnaire?
- Will these questions contribute to getting valuable insights into your performance?
And if you can answer the questions mentioned above, you can start creating the questionnaire.
Also, note that the questions have the right tone and formulation so that they are accurately understood by everyone.
A few examples of goal-based questions are:
Communication:
- Is the individual’s communication in a clear and concise way?
- How much is this individual open to feedback and criticism?
- Does the individual clarify things if they are unclear about it?
Problem-solving
- Does the individual provide creative solutions to the problems?
- Does the individual try to understand the root cause of the problems?
- Does the individual provide solutions that are logical and rational?
Efficiency
- How efficient is the individual in handling the tasks given to them?
- Are the individuals efficient while working under pressure?
- Is the individual effective at solving the problems?
- Imply the KISS formula: KISS = Keep it short and simple.
Feedback fatigue is real. So, keep the questionnaire short and crisp and not more than 30 questions. And also make sure that questions are framed clearly and there should be no ambiguity. The ideal time to complete the questionnaire should be less than 10 minutes.
If the questionnaire would be lengthy, people would start getting bored of it and can do the random rating. This will turn out to be an inefficient performance analyzer for everyone.
You can check out the 360 feedback template here.
- Act upon the feedback and discussions: Feedback won’t be ‘Feedback’ unless you don’t implement it strategically.
Hence, after receiving feedback, make it a practice to reflect on and implement it.
If you’re not sure about a ‘need improvement’ or ‘1-star’ rating, you can initiate a 1:1 meeting with the concerned person. This will help you to understand the feedback in detail and allow you to focus more deeply on it.
Read: 30 Questions Managers must ask in One-on-One Meetings
In a nutshell
Feedback is a vital element for any organization. When it is done right, you can feel the positive impact on the organization yourself.
Ensure that when you are implementing a 360-degree feedback program, you discuss the
outcome with the employees. Let employees know how the information will be implemented so that they will participate enthusiastically.
You can check out the HuddleUp website to get more information about the feedback-driven culture.