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“360-degree feedback” is a term that refers to a computer technology that simplifies the process of acquiring and presenting feedback from the people who work around you. For decades, feedback in the workplace came exclusively in the form of a supervisor’s performance appraisal, which was tied to things like pay and promotion. Performance appraisals were universally despised. They were the opinion of one individual—the supervisor, who often had only a dim appreciation for the employee’s contributions. Appraisals were considered unfair because they were either inaccurate or ignored when it came to handing out rewards for performance. The problem is, employees need to know how they’re doing. They don't see themselves as others see them. For this reason, they don't always know when their work is appreciated, and they aren’t always sure when they’re causing problems. Even well intentioned and hard-working people may not know that they’re adversely affecting the people around them. People who have a professional attitude towards their work want to know what’s working and what isn't. They want to know if managers are pleased with their performance. They want to contribute to solutions, not be the cause of problems. They don't like having blind spots. They’re willing to work harder to improve themselves and achieve better results, because they know this will increase their value in the career marketplace. But if you don't appreciate your strengths, how can you use them to your advantage? If you aren't sure how your actions create problems, how will you know what to change, and will you be motivated to improve? And yet, constructive feedback typically isn’t a regular occurrence in most workplaces. People usually find it uncomfortable to confront each other about performance issues. And most people aren’t sure how to give feedback effectively. To make matters worse, very few people like accepting negative feedback. And so about twenty years ago, 360-degree feedback was born. It was a computer-based service that would consolidate ratings from many people into one revealing report. The first 360s were quite expensive (up to $1,000 per assessment in today’s currency), so they focused strictly on manager performance. Executives, other managers and direct reports completed scan form questionnaires. These early 360 assessments were a convincing way to get managers to address weaknesses in their leadership practices. Over ten years ago, my company developed 20/20 Insight, a radically different kind of 360-degree feedback system. Instead of expensive outsourcing, it put the software in the hands of the company. Instead of rigid assessments for managers, it was an open-ended platform for virtually any kind of feedback for anyone in the organization. And it reduced the per-assessment cost to less than one-tenth the norm. Today, 20/20 Insight is our best-selling product. Fortune 1000 companies everywhere recognize it as one of the world’s leading 360-degree feedback programs. Well over a million people have participated in 20/20 Insight feedback. It is responsible for the now-standard practice of separating the process of 360 feedback for employee development from the process of performance appraisal for employee rewards and personnel action. We continue to improve the technology and are working on some interesting visions for the future. If you want more information about 20/20 Insight, you can visit http://www.2020insight.net. Our other web site, http://www.360-degree-surveys.com has information for organizations interested in outsourcing their 360-degree feedback administration.
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Dennis E. Coates is CEO of Performance Support Systems, author of MindFrames, a brain-based personality assessment system (www.initforlife.com) and co-founder of the Train-to-Ingrain alliance (www.train-to-ingrain.com, info@train-to-ingrain.com, 800-488-6463), which delivers a reinforcement-centered approach to learning and development that achieves permanent, measurable improvements in workplace behavior and positive impacts on business results.
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