What is 360-Degree Evaluation, and How It Contributes to Performance?

The 360 ​​assessment receives data from all angles, from all the people who are in contact with the employee. Measuring job performance is key to improving decision-making and detecting the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s workforce—an analysis for which different tools and performance evaluations are used. Among the most effective, we find the 360-degree performance appraisal.

360-degree assessment: What is it?

Defining what 360 feedback can be complicated a priori since it is a type of comprehensive performance evaluation based on the relationships that the employee has.

To perform this assessment more effectively, you can utilize 360 feedback software.

What is a 360-degree assessment for?

A 360 feedback serves to measure the job performance of employees both qualitatively and quantitatively. That is why it includes questions about measurable and numerical behaviors and others related to opinions.

In particular, it is appropriate to see the difference between these two methods that can be easily combined:

• The 360 ​​evaluation measures the work method (behaviors, attitudes), the “how.”
• The 360 surveys by objective measure the work’s product (how much is produced, how long).

With the 360 feedback, we achieve:

• Measure the performance of employees.
• Evaluate the competencies.
• Design training plans.
• Serve as a basis for implementing career and succession plans.

In short, the 360 evaluation performance format obtains feedback on the performance and key competencies that the job needs.

Advantages of 360-degree evaluation

The importance of the 360 feedback model is given by its own characteristics.

1. Avoid Biasness– The 360-degree model avoids biases because it obtains information from multiple sources, from several people with different responsibilities, relationships with the person being evaluated, and roles in the company.
2. Objective– The 360-evaluation format is more objective because it evaluates different competencies in different ways. For 360-degree feedback examples, dealing with the client will be valued better by a client than by a colleague with the benefits that this implies.
3. Team Cohesiveness– The 360 feedback encourages the formation of more complete and cohesive work teams.
4. A huge source of information- Another of the virtues of the 360-degree tool is that it allows a huge amount of information to be collected from each member of the key team in the process.
5. Evaluation of key competencies- It allows evaluating the key competencies of the position and the strengths and weaknesses of the employee.
6. Equity- It improves equity and ensures that internal promotion processes are fair.

How to implement a 360-degree assessment? 

1. 360-degree evaluation preparation- It is essential to plan all the aspects that we want the tool to measure 360 ​​degrees. That is the competencies, skills, and functions of each role or position.
2. Communication of the 360 ​​evaluation- Once designed, it is time to explain to each worker how it works, what it is for, and why it is important and beneficial for both him and the company.
3. 360-degree tool start-up- The 360 feedback of all previously planned criteria and aspects begins—the performance evaluation itself. The more precise, regular, and automated it is, the better results we will obtain.
4. Data collection and reporting- All the data is collected, and it is time to segment and analyze it to conclude. The key is that it is a simple report based on objective data and well-structured 360 feedback questionnaires.
5. 360-degree tool feedback- In this most important phase, Workers are informed with precise and objective metrics of their performance, the skills in which they excel the most, and the aspects and skills in which they must be trained and improved.
   The strengths are easy to communicate (although appropriate incentive plans must be implemented); however, the weaknesses are more sensitive and require a tailored internal communication plan.
6. Career plans supported by data– The primary objective is to benefit from each 360-degree feedback. That is, workers with greater potential continue to train the skills to reach their maximum performance.
   And in employees with weaknesses, train them so that they can perform as the entity needs.

How does 360-degree assessment serve to evaluate performance?

A 360 feedback is not designed to evaluate the achievement of objectives and results of a collaborator. It is not appropriate for direct reports, clients, or collaterals to evaluate our results; that is the role of the direct boss.

And speaking of the case of the direct manager, which would be a 180º evaluation, it is convenient to note only that evaluating performance in an appreciative way could be little comparison between areas since the way of being of each direct manager will directly affect the results of their collaborators.

However, 360 feedback does work to evaluate performance in terms of their technical and professional skills.

The competencies that were seen in the previous point are specifically directed to personal competencies, but other types of competencies more relevant to the employee’s performance could well be handled:

• Technical knowledge: Domain of platforms, accounting, and financial knowledge, among others.
• The domain of the Product or Service: Related to the employee’s knowledge of the product or service offered by the company.
• Customer Support: For collaborators who deal directly with external clients.
• Sales Skill: For collaborators who deal directly with prospects.

In other words, a 360 degree appraisal can be a key trigger to increase the performance and productivity of all employees.

Conclusion:

The 360 evaluation performance format is based on an analysis in which feedback is essential since the results are obtained from the feedback provided by their professional environment: direct managers, subordinates, internal and external clients, and colleagues.