Gain More Performance Feedback with a 360 Degree Review

Gain More Performance Feedback with a 360 Degree Review

Performance reviews can be a stressful time for staff – and managers. It takes a great deal of thought and care to give honest and thorough performance feedback

. If you have to deal with negative performance, the anxiety level can be off the scale. Because performance feedback is difficult, many, if not most, performance reviews are shallow at best.

One of the major criticisms of the review process is that managers cannot see how a person performs on the job – especially if the employee works on projects with different project managers.

A 360 degree review provides more realistic perceptions of performance

One way to be as fair as possible with employees is to ensure that performance feedback is not totally based on the manager’s perception. The manager should also seek feedback from other people that the employee works with on a daily basis. This is called a 360 degree review process. Typically this includes feedback from the rest of their team (peers) and relevant stakeholders. If the employee is also a manager (functional manager or project manager), feedback is also sought from their direct reports.

The main purpose is to help the reviewee

The 360 degree feedback is a way to help the manager get a more balanced view of the employee’s performance. However, the ultimate value of this process is realized by the person being reviewed. The employee should see the review process as an opportunity to get an outside perception of his strengths and areas where he can improve. Ultimately the employee should take a personal interest in the review process to ensure that he can grow professionally and provide more and more value to the organization.

The 360 degree review process provides more input to the employee. Not only do you have performance input from your manager, but you have feedback from stakeholders, team members, and direct reports as well. This feedback is invaluable to see how others view you, your skill level and your performance level.