How can 360 review software fit with your organisation's culture?

We speak to many HR and L&D people who have become disillusioned with 360 degree feedback. But, they admit, it’s not about 360 per se - but about an assessment that is seen as having little individual relevance, or too time-intensive or as being simply disconnected from the organisation.

To get real value from a 360 degree feedback review programme, we know that the assessment, the process and the online tool you use all need to fit how your organisation is structured, its language, its process and its ‘culture’.

So how can you get the fit better? What should your 360 assessment and 360 software be looking like?

We see that there are 8 things that make for a better fit between your 360 degree and your organisation. 

Only ask the questions you need to ask.
There is no one single 360 assessment that includes questions on which all reviewers can comment. It cannot be. Think about who is best placed to rate and comment on specific areas or competencies, and then include in the assessment they see, and take out these items from the other reviewers’ assessments. Make sure you can do this in your software. It helps reduce rater fatigue by shortening the assessment, and helps eliminate the overuse of the ‘don’t know’ or ‘not applicable’ rating.

Give employees the opportunity to add questions to their own 360 assessment.
It encourages buy-in but also adds to the focus and specificity of the review. Make sure your 360 software can do this as not all can!

Think about who is completing the assessment and what they need to know.
360 degree reviews can take place for a number of reasons and there is no one single corporate message to give. Change the language, the words, the messages – and who gets to see what and when. Look for 360 software that allows you to flex and adapt all of this for different audience groups.

Trim down and customise the report for different audience groups.
You’ll know how different people absorb information so look for 360 review software that allows you to present the information in different ways. It helps for better understanding which will lead to greater commitment to action planning.

Focus your competencies.
You’ll know what competencies you want to include, but you’ll also know that some are more important that others for at a specific time or for a specific role. Look for the feature in your 360 software that allows you to flag in the report the key questions. And also look at some of the derailers. It helps people to understand what is important in their role, what they could be doing more of, or what they could be doing less of. It helps fit the review to the realities of the role.

Include a benchmark.
You may want to base a benchmark on your expectations in your organisation. Or perhaps include a time-based benchmark for delegates on a development programme so you can plot the change over time. Whatever fits with the way in which you are using 360. Whatever you choose, not all 360 software can do this and it’s a further way to make the use of your 360 programme come alive.

Bring the 360 software into your corporate ‘look and feel’ You’ll want to use the colours, imagery and branding of your organisation – and have this throughout the site and not just on the home, log-in page. Does your system let you do this easily?

Don’t keep it as 'standalone' exercise. Bring the 360 review to life by including your own learning and development assets such as links to training, or books to buy, or videos to watch, or YouTube channels to view. Look to see how it can work with the other talent management processes you have such as succession planning. 

Because of the strong desire we see in the people we talk to to understand how to embed 360 within an organisation, we hosted a webinar about this – and you can see the replay below.

You can also take a look at the short video about our own Talent 360 tool.

But to truly see if our software could fit with your organisation, then get in touch and we can schedule a time to take you through it.