“NO! I said no anchovies this time and don’t you forget it!”
In the good old days, an employee was responsible to his boss. If he did his job well, he kept his job. If he didn’t do his job well, he got canned. Civilization progressed to a position when an employee worked as a group and his direct boss became responsible to a higher boss whom the employee could turn to if he felt he was being unfairly judged by his boss.
The employee’s boss was then determined to have to verify his judgement of his direct employees by doing evaluations and sending those evaluations to his boss. That has been the method of evaluating an employees performance for a very long time. In theory, some of this process can be quite useful. However, there are a few important details that can make it backfire. Let’s go through some of the pros and cons of the 360 degree feedback program.
What is the 360 Degree Feedback Program?
In this method of evaluation, an employee is evaluated by all those with whom he comes into contact while performing his job. That might sound dangerously close to inviting rumors and back biting to the stage as evaluations. However, the committee receiving those round-the-clock evaluations are supposed to be above being influenced by evaluations given from those whose own positions at work would be enhanced if the employee evaluated were to be demoted or canned. They are supposed to be masters of communication, after-all.
360 Degree Feedback Pros
There are some favorable results that can be derived from a 360 feedback style of evaluation. For instance, here are a few to consider:
- Can help employees feel a bigger part of the evaluation process
- Increases awareness of the ideas of those around them
- Can help shed the light on areas the employee is ignorant of (see Johari Window)
- Can increase overall camaraderie by greater interest in pushing the team ahead
Those employers who are more interested in finding out how an employee is relating to all staff would be more likely to get more feedback of the kind he is looking to get. There are many pros that can, actually, work in favor of the employee whose direct supervisor might be feeling threatened by an over achieving employee.
360 Degree Feedback Cons
“She only has the iPhone6!” LOL!!!! sadness ensues
There are many cons to be deemed dangerous to an employee whose position might be envied by others who work with him and whose own position is not based on peer evaluations which appears to be the background of the 360 degree feedback in doing evaluations. On the other hand, As to job performance, the employee’s direct supervisor would still be the better judge of that than an employee’s receptionist.
- An employee might be targeted by jealous rivals.
- An employee might try to retaliate when doing his evaluations.
- A negative feeling could harm the actual enterprise that is employing all the evaluators.
Evaluation Of 360 Degree Feedback Process
The bottom line in deciding on doing a 360 degree feedback program (here’s a nice online form) is to make sure that the committee reading and evaluating these evaluations have no other motive for or against an employee. Rather, you should make sure they have only the good of the business they are all working for in mind. These people should make it a point to really use these evaluations to approach an employee and to make helpful suggestions regarding his performance. Overall, it can be a useful tool, with the right cautions in place.