Description
360-degree assessment is a method of identifying the opinion of the team about the competence of an employee through a survey. At its core, it is a method of collecting feedback to improve the overall performance of the team and its key employees.
The survey involves the person being assessed (most often this is the manager), his subordinates (all or selectively from 3 to 5 people), colleagues with whom this manager interacts in work (3-5 people), senior managers (from 1 to 3 people if they directly interact in the work).
The different categories of employees who participate in the grading of competencies* are called respondents. Sometimes external or internal clients are included in the survey, but they do not evaluate all aspects of the competency manager's activities, but only those that they encounter.
* Competencies are a set of knowledge, skills, personal qualities and motives described in the language of observed behavior, in other words, the language of behavioral indicators.
The 360-degree staff assessment method is called "circular" assessment. It applies only to those employees who have worked in the company for at least 1 year and managed to build relationships in the team, prove themselves.
Different respondents fill out the same questionnaire, consisting of a set of behavioral indicators, use the same scale for evaluation. Respondents are selected by a personnel officer who is aware of who interacts with whom at work.
Subordinates and colleagues fill out questionnaires anonymously, their scores are averaged and compared with the opinion of the person being evaluated and the opinion of superiors. Thus, it is possible to draw conclusions about the conformity of opinions, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the leader by summarizing the results. To ensure valid*** results, it is necessary to properly organize the procedure and conduct preliminary work with the staff.
***(Validity (English validity) - a measure of compliance with the extent to which the methodology and results of the study correspond to the tasks set)
This methodology for assessing personnel allows you to collect information on the level of development of the manager's competencies from different points of view, to predict the picture of his effectiveness in the organization.
We introduce the concept of 360 diagnostics, not assessment, because this methodology is a way of collecting an array of data regarding certain criteria. Diagnosis is the process of recognizing a problem and designating it using accepted terminology, that is, establishing a slice of data as it currently is and identifying areas for development or change.
Steps for conducting a 360 degree assessment
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Contact us
Consultation
Setting diagnostic goals 360
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Project preparation
Development of questionnaires according to the developed
and an agreed system of competenciesDetermination of the group of evaluators (respondents)
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Carrying out diagnostics
Outreach to ensure the quality of the assessment
Carrying out diagnostics (filling out questionnaires)
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Project Completion
Formation of the final report
Feedback for drawing up an individual development program
It is important to take into account that 360-degree diagnostics cannot be used as a tool for making decisions on dismissal or deprivation of bonuses. Since the data obtained can be, to some extent, subjective.
Also, do not fully rely on the results of diagnostics to make managerial decisions on appointment to a higher position. To do this, 360-degree diagnostics must be supplemented with the results of an assessment of independent experts on the potential of an employee in the technology of the Assessment Center, and most importantly, with indicators of his performance.
At the same time, 360-degree diagnostics perfectly shows how the assessed employee is able to build relationships in a team and use managerial skills in action. Therefore, this method, in our opinion, is good to use to assess the effectiveness of training and identify the level of development of communicative and social competence.
Requirements for the 360 degree questionnaire
Questionnaire questions should be directly related to the work of a person. Usually they offer to evaluate the specific behavior of the employee. To assess each person, in most cases, you need to answer several dozen questions that characterize various aspects of a person's behavior at work.
It is important to note that the evaluated behavioral indicators should be:
- formulated in understandable language
- be interpreted unambiguously
- be visible to everyone involved in the assessment
The rating scale should be simple and clearly delineated by levels.
It is most correct if the behavioral indicators for competencies are distributed in a chaotic manner in the questionnaire, and then collected into a total score for the competency when processing the results.
Requirements for organizing and conducting a survey
The survey can be conducted on paper or electronically.
It is necessary to ensure the objectivity of the assessment and the safety of respondents when filling out questionnaires. To do this, surveys are conducted anonymously.
The first option for filling out questionnaires is on paper, when colleagues and subordinates gather separately, fill out their questionnaires for a number of people being evaluated and then throw them into a special bin for collecting questionnaires. The urn is sealed, and only checkmarks should be put in the questionnaire. Everyone has the same color handles and everyone sits at some distance from each other.
Before filling out the surveys, the host says a few words about the goals of the survey: improving the personal and corporate performance of the assessed employees with the help of your feedback. After that, he asks to evaluate only those items that the respondents encountered in joint work. The rest must be left out. If it turns out that the questionnaire will be completed by less than 50%, then it will be excluded from the general information array.
In addition, if the questionnaire contains only extreme scores of more than 80%, then this questionnaire will also be automatically rejected. Therefore, if there are less than 2 completed questionnaires from each group of respondents, then the survey will be considered incomplete and it will have to be repeated, possibly changing respondents. The facilitator encourages respondents to provide responsible and thoughtful grading for constructive feedback. He says that this procedure is aimed at improving the quality of interaction in the team and establishing mutual understanding.
The second option for organizing the survey is in electronic form using special software. In this case, the video instruction plays the role of the leader.
The questionnaire is automatically sent to each respondent's email. He fills it out at a convenient time for himself in the allotted period, without being distracted from work. Mailing and processing is carried out by an automated program, and confidentiality is ensured by the employee responsible for the assessment of HR. Its task is to select respondents in such a way that the person being assessed does not know exactly who took part in the assessment. He compiles lists, uploads them to the program for sending letters and automatically accepting and processing the results. This person himself does not know who and how answered, but receives ready-made comparative graphs and general conclusions.
The use of special software significantly saves time, effort of people involved in the survey and processing of a large array of data received, and also saves the company money on indirect costs for evaluation.
«Underwater rocks» when assessing 360:
- If the objectives of the evaluation are not clear or the respondents are afraid to spoil the relationship, then the evaluation may be formal and not bring the desired information about the strengths and areas of growth for the person being assessed.
- Incorrectly designed questions can lead to distorted results.
- The processing of questionnaires filled out on paper is very laborious and time consuming, the relevance of the information received is lost.
- If the disclosure of information about what marks were given by someone in particular is allowed, a conflict may develop in the team.
- It is necessary to conduct an assessment quite unexpectedly, otherwise, with an authoritarian style of leadership, the assessed leader will subject the respondents to psychological pressure, while employees will give socially expected assessments.
- After the diagnostics, further systemic steps are needed on the part of the company to ensure the development of the employee, otherwise the procedure itself will seem meaningless next time.
- 360-degree diagnostics should be carried out regularly in the company in order to become a feedback tool. When conducting it for the first time, there will inevitably be resistance; with repeated surveys, people begin to perceive this method as useful for themselves and the team.
The ill-conceived use of the 360-degree method can lead to unpredictable consequences. According to the Human Capital Index study conducted by Watson Wyatt in the US and Canada, inefficient use of 360-degree diagnostics can lead to teamwork problems, which will ultimately affect the company's business.
Therefore, engage professional consultants who, together with you, will competently build the entire 360-degree diagnostic system, teach senior managers to give supportive, constructive and developing feedback, develop others in the workplace and develop themselves together with their team.
And a little more about the 360 evaluation method
The 360 assessment is one of the best ways to evaluate personnel. The number 360 means that each employee evaluates all his colleagues in 360. Those, in turn, evaluate him. The 360 score is a fairly effective way of scoring, as it allows you to calculate the average score of everyone, hence the name - 360.
This assessment reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of the employees whose assessment is to be carried out using the 360 assessment.
The indisputable advantage that a 360 rating has is that in the course of applying 360, the assessment of each employee by another is clarified. An important advantage of the 360 assessment is that such an assessment is independent, since the assessment is carried out anonymously for all 360.
The assessment thus clarified makes it clear what to change in order to improve the overall assessment.
That's why the 360 rating is pretty effective.
