The Most Powerful Gift You Can Give: 360° Performance Reviews

“This is the best performance review I have ever received.” In my 20+ years giving performance reviews, I have heard this several times...let me tell you how.

Many years ago, Monica Mutter, M.Ed. taught me the principle of "Feedback is a gift" and it deeply resonated with me. Warren Buffet may have originated the concept, but Monica lived the philosophy and taught me to truly understand it. As a leader, the gift is the investment you make in providing feedback that will help your team succeed!

I appreciate receiving the gift of feedback – although I sometimes have to remind myself to put my ego aside. As a leader, I take this responsibility seriously. I owe it to my team to ensure the feedback I give is thoughtful and beneficial to their current and future roles. To do that, I complete 360° reviews, where I consolidate feedback from their team, their colleagues (including any stakeholders they work with), and my peers and leader.

Collecting this information will enable you to identify your employee’s brand – how they are perceived within the organization. Knowing their brand is an incredibly valuable tool as it provides the knowledge to leverage their positive skills and address their opportunities to improve.

In most cases, you will hear examples that support your observations. In some cases, you will learn something new about your employee – including challenges you did not know existed.

Let me tell you a story. I had an employee, let’s call him Parker. Parker was new to my team and a solid performer. At the one-year mark, I started the 360° review process and I fired Parker three days later. It turned out to be a Jekyll and Hyde situation, where my team and I worked with Dr. Jekyll and Parker’s team worked for Mr. Hyde. I received 1–2 page documents from several of his direct reports with concerning feedback. I immediately contacted HR, and with their support, held an emergency skip level meeting with Parker’s team where I asked for more details, confirmed the accuracy of their feedback, and told Parker’s team that I supported them. With that information, we made the decision to terminate Parker immediately. Without that information, while I would have likely learned about Mr. Hyde, it would have been much later, and I probably would have lost some great employees. From this point forward, I never skipped a 360° review.

Thankfully, the experience with Parker was the exception, not the rule. In most cases, it is an extremely positive experience motivating your employees to grow. While 360° reviews require work on your part, the result is profoundly beneficial. Here is the process I use to get the right information.

1. Let your employee know you are doing 360° reviews and your intent for this process. Let them know that you are already going to ask leaders, peers, and if applicable, their direct reports. Ask the employee to identify colleagues they work with regularly, so you can compare your list of peers and solicit feedback from anyone that was missing.

2. Send an email to those individuals to ask for feedback. While most HR systems provide tools to ask for feedback anonymously, I prefer to use email or phone calls. I find people are more responsive via email and I may need to ask for additional information. Include a deadline – at least one week away so they have time to respond and a few days before you complete the review, so you have time to ask for details. Set a reminder to the day before.

3. Review the feedback as it comes in. If you are unfamiliar with the feedback, reply and ask for examples. When possible, speak to them so you can talk in real time. If you need to use the examples, ask for their permission and adjust if they say “no”.

4. Consolidate the feedback into a single document. Reread the entire document to refresh your memory.

5. Identify themes that stand out; the prevailing strengths and opportunities that exist. Rearrange the individual pieces of feedback into those themes. Disregard any feedback only one person shared and/or you have not observed. Also, understand the context of the feedback. If a poor performing employee provides negative feedback, is it a valid concern or is the employee upset with your employee?

6. Articulate their brand. Identify the skills that describe each of the themes or competencies from the job description. That is ultimately how they are perceived and incredibly powerful information. Knowledge of their brand will reinforce their strengths and give them the opportunity to improve their limitations.

7. Summarize and rewrite each skill in your voice. This ensures anonymity for those who provided feedback as well as creates a concise message helping your employee digest the feedback. If there are quotes that capture positive themes well, use those quotes in each section.

8. Identify overarching quotes to include at the end. The direct quotes are powerful – a summary wouldn’t do them justice. And don’t include negative quotes; you would have already included those opportunities above.

9. During the performance review, make sure to talk through this section in detail. Share how many people responded, so they understand how widespread the feedback is, but do not share any names. Also, on each skill, share examples of your applicable observations.

10. Vocalize every positive quote at the end. This is my favorite part! Take the time to discuss each quote and use that as an opportunity to reiterate the value they provide.

It is important to note that having a foundation of trust is pivotal in this process: trust that you will respect your colleagues’ privacy and trust that you have positive intent for your employees. Remember, your goal here should be to help your team grow, not to uncover dirt.

In my experience, this approach is incredibly appreciated. Your team members will value the effort you put in and they will take the feedback to heart.

Monica, thank you for making me a better leader!