Why Do Organisations Use 360 Degree Feedback to Support Personal Development?
A successful company takes the performance and growth of its employees seriously. Yet, a basic performance review system typically fails to evaluate and steer workers towards continual improvement. This is why more and more organisations are rejuvenating their review process with a particular technique: 360-degree feedback.
What is 360-degree feedback?
360-degree feedback is an informative process that gathers employee performance feedback from multiple sources. This differs significantly from other processes, which only gain a report from an employee’s line manager.
The anonymous feedback is gathered from a range of people who work around a specific employee. So along with their manager, this can include co-workers, colleagues, and even individuals from other departments within the business. These people are then asked a range of questions relating to the employee’s workplace competency, with their answers typically given as part of a rating scale alongside written comments.
What benefits are gained?
As you might expect, 360-degree feedback is utilised because it supplies a much more in-depth and more precise picture of the performance of employees. If you stick to just one person’s opinion, there’s the possibility it could be biased or uninformed. On the other hand, bring in a mixture of voices, and there is significantly less chance the information will be inaccurate – whether on purpose or by accident.
Another upside of this process is that it helps to improve your team as a whole. Along with bringing more accountability to each employee, it helps develop and strengthen teamwork. It also provides workers with the chance to offer constructive feedback.
How do organisations use 360-degree feedback?
The primary way an organisation uses 360-degree feedback is to improve the overall performance of its employees. It allows for both their strengths and weaknesses to be recognised, and this information can ultimately help them become a more effective worker.
As feedback is submitted anonymously, people are more open to offering their honest opinion with 360-degree feedback. This feedback gives you a vital insight into how others perceive their co-workers. When employees then receive these insights, they are presented with the opportunity to develop skills and adjust their behaviour to perform better in their roles.
Why is the right system needed?
One issue with 360-degree feedback is that the process can be difficult and time-consuming without the right tools in place. This is why you need to utilise a specialist 360-degree feedback system that takes this complicated procedure and makes it simple for everyone.
At Progress International, our 360-degree feedback online platform is simple for reviews to be set up and easy for feedback to be completed by participants. Of course, the system to collect the data is only the foundation. The most important part of the process is utilising this information effectively.
Suppose you need assistance with analysing this information. In that case, our expert professionals can put together a thorough review of your employees’ performance, helping to improve their personal development – and, ultimately, your business.
