How to ask for and utilize 360-degree feedback
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Multi-rater, or 360-degree feedback is a comprehensive performance review that includes assessments from managers, coworkers, and direct reports. Ask for the feedback in the best way for you, take a moment to digest it when you receive it, and use the relevant parts of it to improve.?
Most employees receive feedback from their managers alone during performance reviews, but 360-degree feedback can paint a more-well rounded picture of a worker’s performance.?
Managers and co-workers utilizing 360-degree feedback provide assessments of employees, offering evaluations on everything from performance to communication skills.?
“Three-hundred-sixty-degree feedback is important because when you are working within an organization, you are not just working with only your boss,” said Chief people officer Erica Rooney . “So, you need to hear how your peers and your leader feel about you. You need to hear how the people that report to you or who are a level down from you but work with you, also think and feel about you so that you can improve.?
“Because the way that you interact with your leader and your boss is not going to be the same way that you interact with your peers, nor is it going to be the same that you interact with somebody who reports to you.”
Unlike standard performance reviews, 360-degree feedback tends to be collected via a customized questionnaire and includes topics like communication, collaboration, initiative, etc.
“Whenever I do 360 feedback I have a list of curated questions that I go through with everyone that touches that individual,” Rooney said. “So I will talk to their leader, [other people on their team, and direct reports]. I work through the survey questions that I ask, which are about how they contribute, how they collaborate, and how they reflect the vision, mission, and core values of the organization.?
“How do they take feedback? If they had one thing that could be a game-changer for them, what would that be? What are the things they do well? Where are some opportunities they could improve?”
How to Ask for 360-Degree Feedback
Some companies will initiate and collect 360-degree feedback, but you can also ask for it if they don’t.?
It takes the right strategy, though. You can create a survey and send it in an email to your co-workers and managers or gather feedback more casually.
“Studies have shown that regardless of the format or the type of review process you do, ultimately it comes down to trust and respect,” said HR consultant Justin Dorsey . “If you don't trust and respect the person you are getting feedback from, it's going to be really difficult to get true, valuable feedback because you [will always] have that disclaimer of, ‘I don't really like them,’ or, ‘They don't really like me, so I don't have to listen to what they say,’ even though there's probably some truth in there, hopefully.”
Dorsey said a better approach is to collect the feedback in a casual setting rather than creating a questionnaire and sending it around.
“[Say] ‘Hey, let's go to lunch, just talk about how things are going. We can go back and forth,’” Dorsey said. “Some people prefer a more structured format, but to me, a more relaxed setting [can help you] let your walls down versus when you have a laptop or a piece of paper in front of you and you feel like you're being graded.”
That game plan takes more time and comfort with those you work with, so consider that if you decide to acquire feedback in a casual manner.
The Pros and Cons of 360-Degree Feedback
Although 360-degree feedback can be beneficial, it can have drawbacks too.?
On the positive side, the feedback can help pinpoint areas of improvement employees weren’t aware of and identify strengths.
“I think that we don't always have the greatest self-awareness,” Dorsey said. “Some of us imagine ourselves to be better than we are, and some of us imagine ourselves a bit worse.”?
The opportunity to receive feedback more than once a year can help reveal areas of improvement faster and enhance the dialogue about how employees feel about the workplace and their work.???
The feedback can also help understand how you are affecting everyone in the organization, Rooney said. On the other hand, it can sometimes be difficult for employees to provide negative feedback — or constructive feedback in a valuable way.?
“What I find can be a con is that sometimes you will get feedback that is not super clear or actionable,” Rooney said. “And because it is presented in an anonymous way, it's not like you can go a layer deeper to understand what that is.”
In addition, Dorsey said some employees may shy away from providing critical feedback.
“I think people have more courage online than we do in person,” Dorsey said. “I think it's sometimes hard to deliver feedback that could be considered critical or negative, because that may put up walls between those two individuals or create tension down the road if there's a disagreement.”
Try to understand their perspective if you receive negative feedback. If you deliver the feedback, do it in a way that shows you are trying to help the person be successful and not break them down.?
You can also use negative feedback to find ways to improve, Rooney said.
“[Some] people on your team may provide information that does not fit well with you, and that is OK,” Rooney said. “But what they are providing you is an insight into how you can work better with them. For example, I did a 360 feedback on myself and one of my peers responded back that I should deliver my message in a way that wasn't so loud. I am a very loud person by nature. I am very exuberant.?
“What that feedback taught me is that when I'm presenting to that individual or to these groups, they will better receive my information if I dial it down when I'm doing one-on-ones with that person or even a small group. So, while that was not good feedback for me, and I shouldn't change my entire persona, I can take that into account when I'm working with that individual.”
How to Utilize 360-Degree Feedback
Know how to implement the feedback you receive so you can use it to improve.?
First, take a moment to digest it, Rooney said.
“Let it sit with you for a minute so that you can really process it and move past the initial emotions that come with it,” Rooney said. “Because 99% of the time, people want to do a good job and they think they're doing a good job. So when you give them a piece of feedback, they [will] have a natural human reaction to that.”
You can also talk to a mentor or colleague who wasn’t involved with the 360 process to help you absorb the feedback in a constructive way.
“A lot of it is about a mindset shift,” Rooney said. “Sometimes there is good feedback that is hard to hear. And we have to be able to sit with that and accept it.”?
How to Give Your Boss 360-Degree Feedback?
Feelings of anxiety from providing critical feedback to colleagues may increase when offering it to your boss. But remember, you are supplying feedback to help your boss improve.?
“You have to keep the big picture in mind,” Dorsey said. “You will feel better after having that conversation, even if it's more difficult to get through in the moment. If you are not willing to have that conversation, work on the relationship, then it's just really a matter of time before you start to wander and want to work somewhere else.”
Be specific when you provide the feedback and skip the “fluff,” Dorsey said.?
“[If you try] to make them not feel bad or protect their feelings, you may not get your message across. [Instead say] ‘On this particular time, on this day, this happened.’ Where I see people struggle is when they start to say, ‘Well, I feel like it's this.’ And that won’t get you very far. You have to provide real relevant feedback that's based on facts.”
Rooney said how you provide the feedback depends on the boss you have.?
“If you have a leader that is open to feedback and receives feedback well, and you've watched that individual take both criticism and praise in a positive manner, you might not be so hesitant,” Rooney said. “But let's say you're on a team of two and you know you have some hard feedback to deliver to your leader, and if you say whatever you're going to say, it's going to be easily identified.
“There absolutely is going to be anxiety around that because you may not have a leader that is receptive to that. And in that case, I would be open and honest with your HR person and say, ‘I understand that this is 360-degree feedback. I don't feel like I can fully contribute.’”
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How to Ask for and Utilize 360-Degree Feedback