Downside to 360 Degree Feedback

For every positive point I just made about 360degree feedback systems, detractors can offer the down side. The down side is important because it gives you a road map of what to avoid when you implement a360 feedback process.

The following are potential problems with 360 degree feedback processes and a recommended solution for each.

• Exceptional Expectations for the Process:360 degree feedback is not the same as aperformance management system. It is merely a part of the feedback and development that aperformance management system offerswithin an organization.
• Additionally, proponents may lead participants to expect too much from this feedback system in their efforts to obtain organizational support for implementation. Make sure the 360 feedback is integrated into a complete performance management system.

• Design Process Downfalls:Often, a360 degree feedback processarrives as a recommendation from the HR department or is shepherded in by an executive who learned about the process at a seminar or in a book. Just as an organization implements anyplanned change, theimplementation of 360degree feedback should followeffective change management guidelines. A cross-section of the people who will have to live with and utilize the process should explore and develop the process for your organization.
• Failure to Connect the Process:For a 360 feedback process to work, it must be connected with the overallstrategic aimsof your organization. If you have identified competencies or have comprehensive job descriptions, give people feedback on their performance of the expected competencies and job duties.
• The system will fail if it is an add-on rather than a supporter of your organization’s fundamental direction and requirements. It must function as a measure of your accomplishment of your organization’s big and long-term picture.
• Insufficient Information:Since 360 degree feedback processes are currently usually anonymous, people receiving feedback have no recourse if they want to further understand the feedback. They have no one to ask for clarification about unclear comments or for more information about particular ratings and their basis.

• Thus, developing 360 process coaches is important. Supervisors, HR staff people, interested managers and others are taught to assist people to understand their feedback and trained to help people develop action plans based upon the feedback.
• Focus on Negatives and Weaknesses:At least one book,First Break All the Rules: What The World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, advises thatgreat managers focus onemployee strengths, not weaknesses. The authors said, "People don't change that much. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough."

• Rater Inexperience and Ineffectiveness:In addition to the insufficient training organizations provide both people receiving feedback and peopleproviding feedback, there are numerous ways raters go wrong. They may inflate ratings to make an employee look good. They may deflate ratings to make an individual look bad. They may informally band together to make the system artificially inflate everyone’s performance. Checks and balances must exist to prevent these pitfalls.
• Paperwork/Computer Data Entry Overload:Need I say more? Traditional evaluations required two people and one form. Multi-rater feedback ups the sheer number of people participating in the process and the subsequent time invested.

There are negatives with the360 degree feedback processes, but with any performance feedback process, it can increase positive, powerful problem solving and provide you with a profoundly supportive, organization-affirming method for promoting employee growth and development. However, in the worst case, it saps morale, destroys motivation, and enables disenfranchised employees to go for the jugular or plot revenge scenarios who rated their performance less than perfect.