360 degree feedback assessments are a formalised method for people to get a ton of feedback, and a necessary evil of business life. This positive and negative feedback is an invaluable source of information for finding out about your strengths and development opportunities. And budget conscious companies needn’t miss out, as they can be lead through the process by experts, at no financial cost, with a cool company I stumbled upon recently.
Large companies usually have an established 360 degree feedback assessment process. This feat of logistics involves feedback questionnaires being passed between bosses, customers, peers, direct reports and not forgetting your own self, asking questions about how often you demonstrate certain behaviours. When the form filling is complete, a whole lot of number crunching is done and shiny report produced, summarising the findings.
With shaking hands, people open their reports and learn what people really think about them, warts and all. Usually, the report is fodder for a personal development plan and for an annual appraisal.
So why do small companies miss out on this process? Some may consider a 360 degree assessment process overkill, after all everyone knows each other? Right? Well, maybe, but it’s more likely to be two things – cost and know-how – which stop them from gaining valuable behavioural in-sight.
Free 360 degree assessment online tool
Let’s knock cost on the head right now. www.reactive360.com provide a free 360 degree assessment resource, with plenty bells and whistles to keep you impressed.
- Multiple respondent groups: Self, Manager, Peer, Direct report, Stakeholder, Customer, Other.
- Preview / print a sample of the report and the questionnaire
- Fully comprehensive easy to understand graphical and text rich report
- No limit on the number of ‘raters’
- No licence, up-front or annual fees
- Easy to use interface and help manuals
- Recognise and manage failed e-mails
- On-line ‘Live help’, telephone and e-mail support
- Web Browser supported: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari (Mac OS X)
- Choice of 3 fixed questionnaires and report layout
Know-how is no longer a problem as it really doesn’t get more straightforward than this. Reactive 360 have set up a comprehensive set of questionnaires you can use immediately. Here’s the good bit – they manage all the administration to get the questionnaires out to the right people, back again and churn out a lovely looking report.
The questionnaire asks the person filling it in to rate whether a behaviour is demonstrated always, usually, rarely or never, or isn’t relevant to the role. For example, a manager will be assessed on whether “People are given every chance to grow and develop with the business” or a customer service rep. is assessed whether “People go the extra mile to delight the customer”
(Sadly, to change these questions and customise the report you have to cough up for the paid version).
If you decide to go for it and use the free tool, Reactive 360’s support is amazing. You can chat live online and get immediate help. And it really is immediate – my test “ping” took a measly 28 seconds to get a reply – which would have been quicker if the chap hadn’t just taken a mouthful of coffee. Excellent stuff.
There are now no excuses for you to start a 360 degree assessment process in your company or team. The benefit of the behavioural insights far outweigh the minor discomfort people will feel about being honest with each other and more importantly with themselves.
Download ‘MFTROU recommends – free online 360 degree feedback assessment resource’ in pdf format