Employee Participation in 360 Degree Evaluations

As we have addressed in previous posts, there are certain pitfalls that can be detrimental to a 360 Degree Evaluation.  There are clear ways to overcome these obstacles, which we have also discussed here, but it's also important to address the broader context of these barriers.  

One such issue that is inherent to all successful 360 Degree Evaluations is employee participation.  This encompasses all of the following: the scope of employees invited to participate, the rate at which they choose to partake, and the value of their feedback.  

EI will work with you to decide upon the number of employess you should invite to your 360 Degree Evaluation.  We find that sometimes the best feedback comes from those who work closely with the entity being evaluated, but it is also important to be broad enough to have several perspectives, so we want to find the right balance between the two.

We are also very committed to high levels of participation in all of our 360 Degree Evaluations. EI handles all of the outreach and follow-up, and we aim for a 90% participation rate, which means we work hard to get everyone's viewpoint.

And lastly, as for the value of employee feedback, this is the one element in which EI cannot help to handle or improve.  It is entirely up to the employee to decide on how much time to commit to the 360 Degree Evaluation, how harshly to rate the evaluated entity, and how many extra comments to provide.  But you can make sure the employee will do his or her best by emphasizing exactly how important this process is to your organization's success.  You must lead by example and take the 360 Degree Evaluation seriously so that your employees will feel the same way, therefore ensuring a valuable and useful evaluation process. 

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Feedback

Typically when we talk about the results of a 360 Degree Evaluation, we are looking at quantitative information. But should that the extent of information gathered?

Quantitative results are essential to the 360 Degree Evaluation process, undoubtedly. The evaluations are often based on a scale from 1 to 5, so we can get a concrete valuation of performance.  This is especially helpful because we can compare these results year-over-year, for example.   And as we have discussed, the 360 Degree Evaluations really become valuable when they are conducted periodically.   So its clear that the quantitative information is essential to the process.

But the other piece of the puzzle is qualitative feedback.  By encouraging participants to include comments with each quantitative answer, you can get an entirely different perspective on the ratings.  These comments typically expound upon the numeric rating, explaining the reasoning behind the answer, and this provides an entirely new layer that would not exist if the quantitative answer stood on its own.  

We have found that the qualitative comments-based feedback of the 360 Degree Evaluations is sometimes the most useful for enacting change within an organization. But the quantitative numeric information is essential for contextualization the 360 Degree Evaluation periodically.  So, ultimately, both of these aspects are vital to a successful 360 Degree Evaluation process.

The Scope of 360 Degree Evaluations

As we have discussed, 360 Degree Evaluations provide feedback to an entity, and this entity is most often a leader of an organization.

But at Evaluation Insight, we have found that 360 Degree Evaluations can effectively extend beyond just feedback for a leader or leadership team.   Here are some of the other factors that we have evaluated with our 360 Degree process:

• Curriculum Assessment
• Implementation of New Education Initiatives
• Course Design
• Peer Accountability
• Multi-Level Teamwork
• Community Involvement
• Fair & Just Culture
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Employee Recognition

Because we completely customize your 360 Degree Evaluation, the above list is just a small sample of what we could evaluate.  Any by extending beyond just the evaluation of a leader or leadership team, the 360 Degree Evaluation can be much more concise and valuable for you going forward. 

Feel free to contact us to find out more about the scope of the 360 Degree Evaluations offered at EI.