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What is a 360 degree assessment. Full Review: 360 Degree Personnel Assessment Method. Necessary conditions and principles

The 360-degree technique helps the head of the company and the HR manager to look at the abilities and capabilities of employees from the widest possible angle. Use the 3 pre-made assessment questionnaires as templates and adapt them to suit your needs.

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What is the 360 degree method

The employee usually receives feedback and assessment of their professional competencies from their immediate supervisor. The 360-degree assessment method is used to obtain confidential anonymous feedback from people who interact with the employee in the course of work.

Respondents who are asked to complete a 360-degree questionnaire and evaluate employee competencies include:

immediate and line manager;
colleagues, including those he manages;
customers, suppliers, customers, etc.

The assessed employee himself takes part in the survey. This is necessary to compare the score given in the self-survey and the one that was obtained as a result of feedback. This is important, because employees with average performance tend to overestimate their competence, and those who work productively, on the contrary, underestimate, since they are characterized by perfectionism and self-demanding.

What other conditions must be met for a successful assessment

The 360-degree assessment is called so because the professionalism and personal qualities of a person are evaluated by different people with different statuses. The number of participants in the survey can be from 4 to 15 people.. These are the people who, in the course of work, communicate with the object of the survey most often. Before distributing questionnaires to them, you should make sure that their attitude towards the object of the survey is unbiased.

When to Use 360 Degree Appraisals

This assessment method can be used both independently and in addition to other assessment methods. See the table for areas of application.

The 360 Degree Appraisal System is applied to leaders and managers who want to understand and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Based on the survey results, development plans are drawn up.

The 360-degree method is also used to evaluate personnel who do not belong to the category of managers. In these cases, feedback can improve the performance of line personnel in their current roles. Employees get an idea of what competencies they need to develop in order to ensure career growth. The experts of the HR Director magazine will give you advice,

Two Ways to Use the 360 Degree Estimation Method

Companies use the 360 degree method in one of two ways:

As a development tool, which helps a person determine strengths and weaknesses based on the results of anonymous feedback, which is usually inconvenient for colleagues to give. The feedback object gains insight into how others perceive him and has the opportunity to correct behavior and develop skills that will allow him to excel at his job.
As a performance evaluation tool to measure performance employees. In this case, the 360 degree test is not always a good idea because the feedback focuses on behavior and competencies more than basic skills, job requirements, and performance goals.

Why use a 360 degree appraisal:

expedient	Not advisable
Assessment of behavior and competencies	Measuring Performance
Get an idea of how you are perceived by colleagues, subordinates and managers	Definition of conformity professional competence
Assessment of skills such as listening, planning and goal setting	Assessment of the employee's compliance with the basic requirements for the position
Focus on such subjective characteristics as teamwork, communication skills, character and effectiveness as a leader	Measuring strictly objective things like attendance, sales quotas, etc.

Keep in mind that the 360-degree evaluation system is ineffective in companies that use a commanding, authoritarian management style. In such cases, the leadership, as a rule, distances itself from subordinates and does not enjoy the special trust of the team, there is no tradition of collective cooperation and assistance.

360 Degree Evaluation: Principles and Rules

The main principle on which the 360-degree assessment is based, the methodology is strict observance of anonymity respondents, if they, of course, want to keep it.

The 360-degree evaluation will only give the desired results if the team does not use polls as a tool to settle scores with each other. Use the 360 degree method very carefully, making sure that there are no problems in the team and anonymity will not become an excuse to “bury” a more successful colleague.

360-degree assessment, the methodology for its implementation requires special training. Follow a step-by-step approach to preparing and conducting assessment activities. The expert of "System Kadra" will give helpful tips about how to do it right prepare and organize a 360-degree assessment of personnel

The Four Steps of Conducting a 360 Degree Personnel Assessment

Stage 1. Explanation and training

If you give the 360 Degree Questionnaire to an unprepared respondent, you may get irrelevant results. Prepare survey participants for the assessment by telling them about the purpose and rules of the assessment. Explain why the assessment is needed and how the results will be used. Respondents should understand the importance of assessment and perceive it as a tool for professional development, a means to achieve the overall goals of the company and employees.

Stage 2. Questioning according to the 360 degree method

Distribute the questionnaires and ask respondents to complete them by a certain period. If there are many participants and large questionnaires, automate the processing of results using online platforms such as SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, or MindMiners.

Stage 3. Processing and analysis of the results of 360-degree personnel assessment

After tabulation or analysis using online search tools, share the results only with the interested party and the immediate supervisor of the employee. None of the employees should know how one of his colleagues evaluated him. The survey object only has access to general data and statistical results.

Stage 4. Feedback and development plan

This is the ultimate goal of applying the 360 degree evaluation method. Together with the employee, draw up a development plan and coordinate it with the immediate supervisor. The expert of "System Kadra" will tell you, how to properly conduct a 360-degree assessment in a company, how to plan it and process the results

360 degree assessment: 3 completed questionnaires

When designing questionnaires yourself, keep in mind what you want to assess. When it comes to professional competencies, include no more than 50 positions in the questionnaire. Choose the ones that suit your purpose.

Do not complicate the questions, but decipher them so that the respondent understands exactly what is meant. For example, when you want to evaluate stress tolerance write in the form: Maintains smooth calm relations with clients, does not react to rudeness».

Decide which rating scale you will use. If you are using a 360-degree digital competency scale, do not make it five-point so that a score of "1" or "2" is not perceived as a negative indicator. It is better to use alphabetic, neutral designations or increase the number of possible points to 8-10.

Questionnaire No. 1. 360 Degree Assessment Example of a Competency Questionnaire

The experts of Sistema Kadra offer another version of the questionnaire, which allows assess the professional competencies of an employee

In the case when the 360-degree method is used to assess the leadership qualities of the staff, the questionnaire will be much shorter, limit yourself to 10-15 positions, this is enough to get an idea of the presence or absence of an employee's leadership inclinations. To evaluate in this case, use the concepts "Never", "Sometimes", "Always".

Questionnaire No. 2. The 360 Degree Method Example of a Leadership Questionnaire

Installing for a new employee probation, company management wants to make sure that he really has the personal qualities that will be in demand. For newcomers completing the onboarding period, an abbreviated version of the 360-degree assessment questionnaire can be used.

Questionnaire No. 3. 360 degree questionnaire to evaluate a new employee on probation

The 360-degree assessment method allows you to provide employees with confidential feedback from supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates. Usually 5-20 people fill out an anonymous questionnaire, which includes questions covering the required range of personal and professional competencies.

Typically, a 360 degree questionnaire includes questions that are measured on a rating scale, but may also contain open-ended questions. The evaluation participant receiving feedback also completes a self-assessment questionnaire.

The advantage of the 360-degree method is that it avoids the problems associated with evaluations that are made exclusively by the authorities - the 360-degree evaluation takes into account the opinions of a wide range of colleagues (hence the name of the method). This avoids the problems of subjectivity in one person's opinion of an employee's performance.

Are you planning to conduct a staff assessment? Below is an example of a 360 degree questionnaire, and a brief guide to the application of the method.

Step 1. Determine the purpose of the assessment

Your goals determine how you use the 360 method, how you present it within the organization, and how you use the survey results. For example, a few common goals for evaluation are:

Make sure your employees have the right competencies for the job
Development of employees, increasing work productivity by working on their weaknesses

Step 2: Get Management Support

The leaders of the organization should be interested in conducting a 360 assessment. When management does not show interest in conducting a study, your employees understand this, and do not pay due attention to participating in a 360 degree assessment.

To attract and interest management in the implementation of the 360-degree methodology, it is first necessary to explain the reasons for the study, and set clear goals. The direct financial argument is an important factor- as discussed in our previous articles, a properly conducted staff assessment can lead to significant results, namely up to 25% increase in sales and employee productivity.

Step 3: Explain the purpose of the evaluation to the participants

Keep in mind that the process of getting grades may not be comfortable for some people. You should keep this in mind and do your best to help the employee feel comfortable in the evaluation and feedback process.

It is essential to explain the purpose of the evaluation. If participants do not understand and trust your intentions, they may sabotage the 360. For example, if you are conducting an employee development survey, tell them directly. Let people know that they will not be fired or demoted based on performance.

Key points to explain to employees:

The company conducts new type staff assessment called the 360 degree method.
What is the purpose of the evaluation - see step 1.
How the assessment will be done.
How the participants and the company will benefit.

Step 4. Determine which competencies need to be assessed

You can rate anything - including employees' hair and manicures - but the most common criteria include:

Job competencies
Styles of behavior
Employee motivation

Try to limit yourself to the most important competencies so that the 360 questionnaire contains no more than 50 questions. The example 360 degree questionnaire provided in this article assesses 4 competencies using 14 questions - the shorter the questionnaire, the more likely participants are to pay sufficient attention to the assessment and complete it on time.

How to choose the necessary competencies? Some organizations constantly update the list of basic competencies required of both all employees and competencies required for certain roles. If you are using online system TestProfi to conduct a 360 assessment, then you can choose from the list of competencies those that are relevant to your organization.

Step 5. Decide who will evaluate and who will receive feedback

You must determine who will receive feedback - those employees who will be evaluated. After that, you need to select the participants who will be grading - there are two ways to do this:

Those employees who receive appraisals choose their own appraisers and then get their manager's approval.
The manager himself appoints the appraisers

Most often, the first method shows the best results - because employees pay more attention to feedback from people they know and respect well.

Step 6: Ask Participants to Complete the 360 Degree Questionnaire

Send the questionnaire to the participants of the evaluation. Those participants who receive feedback must also complete a self-assessment questionnaire. Self-assessment results are an important component of the 360-degree method, which allows you to identify discrepancies between self-perception and how others perceive a person.

Gather together the scores for each employee receiving feedback. Check for missing marks and remind late participants to complete the questionnaire.

Step 7. Generate reports and analyze results

The report is generated for each employee receiving feedback. This helps to convey to them the assessments provided by all participants.

The scores given for each of the participants receiving feedback are aggregated by competency. This provides anonymity and ensures that individual responses cannot be identified. So, for example, instead of seeing individual responses from each assessor, assessed participants will see the average scores for a given competency from all peers in the report. The manager's ratings are usually not anonymous. That is, the assessed employee will be able to separately see the assessments that the manager has set.

If you are conducting a 360-degree assessment with more than 20 participants, consider using a system online testing TestProfi. Please note that for each assessed employee, it will be necessary to process a dozen or more questionnaires from assessing colleagues. If a large number of employees receive feedback, then it will be difficult for the HR department to process the results manually.

360 degree evaluation - this is a method of identifying the opinion of the team about the competence of an employee using a survey. At its core, it is a method of collecting feedback to improve the overall performance of the team and its key employees.

The survey involves the assessed person himself (most often this is the manager), his subordinates (all or selectively from 3 to 5 people), colleagues with whom this manager interacts in work (3-5 people), senior managers (from 1 to 3 people if they directly interact in the work).

The different categories of employees who participate in the grading of competencies* are called respondents. Sometimes external or internal clients are included in the survey, but they do not evaluate all aspects of the competency manager's activities, but only those that they encounter.

* Competencies are a set of knowledge, skills, personal qualities and motives described in the language of observed behavior, in other words, the language of behavioral indicators.

The 360 degree personnel assessment method is called "circular" evaluation. It applies only to those employees who have worked in the company for at least 1 year and managed to build relationships in the team, prove themselves.

Different respondents fill out the same questionnaire, consisting of a set of behavioral indicators, use the same scale for evaluation. Respondents are selected by a personnel officer who is aware of who interacts with whom at work.

Subordinates and colleagues fill out questionnaires anonymously, their scores are averaged and compared with the opinion of the person being evaluated and the opinion of superiors. Thus, it is possible to draw conclusions about the conformity of opinions, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the leader by summarizing the results. To ensure valid*** results, it is necessary to properly organize the procedure and conduct preliminary work with staff.

***(Validity (English validity) - a measure of compliance with the extent to which the methodology and results of the study correspond to the tasks set)

This methodology personnel assessment allows you to collect information on the level of development of the manager's competencies from different points of view, to predict the picture of his effectiveness in the organization.

We introduce the concept of 360 diagnostics, not assessment, because this methodology is a way of collecting an array of data regarding certain criteria. Diagnosis is the process of recognizing a problem and designating it using accepted terminology, that is, establishing a slice of data as it currently is and identifying areas for development or change.

[ Steps for conducting a 360 degree assessment]

Contact us

Consultation

Setting diagnostic goals 360

Project preparation

Development of questionnaires for developed
and an agreed system of competencies

Determination of the group of evaluators (respondents)

Carrying out diagnostics

Outreach to ensure the quality of the assessment

Carrying out diagnostics (filling out questionnaires)

Project Completions

Formation of the final report

Feedback for drawing up an individual development program

It is important to take into account that 360-degree diagnostics cannot be used as a tool for making decisions on dismissal or deprivation of bonuses. Since the data obtained can be, to some extent, subjective.

Also, don't rely entirely on diagnostic results to make a decision. management decisions for appointment to a higher position. For this, 360-degree diagnostics must be supplemented with the results of an assessment by independent experts on the potential of an employee in the technology of the Assessment Center, and most importantly, with indicators of his performance.

At the same time, 360-degree diagnostics perfectly shows how the assessed employee is able to build relationships in a team and use managerial skills in action. Therefore, this method, in our opinion, is good to use to assess the effectiveness of training and identify the level of development of communicative and social competence.

Requirements for the 360 degree questionnaire

Questionnaire questions should be directly related to the work of a person. Usually they offer to evaluate the specific behavior of the employee. To assess each person, in most cases, you need to answer several dozen questions that characterize various aspects human behavior at work.

It is important to note that the evaluated behavioral indicators should be:

formulated in understandable language
be interpreted unambiguously
be visible to everyone involved in the assessment

The rating scale should be simple and clearly delineated by levels.
It is most correct if the behavioral indicators for competencies are distributed in a chaotic manner in the questionnaire, and then collected into a total score for the competency when processing the results.

Requirements for organizing and conducting a survey

The survey may be conducted on paper or in electronic format.
It is necessary to ensure the objectivity of the assessment and the safety of respondents when filling out questionnaires. To do this, surveys are conducted anonymously.

First option filling out questionnaires - on paper, when colleagues and subordinates gather separately, fill out their questionnaires for a number of assessed and then throw them into a special bin for collecting questionnaires. The urn is sealed, and only checkmarks should be put in the questionnaire. Everyone has the same color handles and everyone sits at some distance from each other.

Before filling out the questionnaires, the facilitator says a few words about the goals of the survey: increasing personal and corporate efficiency assessed employees with the help of your feedback. After that, he asks to evaluate only those items that the respondents encountered in joint work. The rest must be left out. If it turns out that the questionnaire will be completed by less than 50%, then it will be excluded from the general information array.

In addition, if the questionnaire contains only extreme scores of more than 80%, then this questionnaire will also be automatically rejected. Therefore, if there are less than 2 completed questionnaires from each group of respondents, then the survey will be considered incomplete and it will have to be repeated, possibly changing respondents. The facilitator encourages respondents to provide responsible and thoughtful grading for constructive feedback. Says that this procedure is aimed at improving the quality of interaction in the team and establishing mutual understanding.

Second option organization of the survey - in electronic form using a special . In this case, the video instruction plays the role of the leader.

The questionnaire is automatically sent to each respondent's email. He fills it out at a convenient time for himself in the allotted period, without being distracted from work. Mailing and processing is carried out by an automated program, and confidentiality is ensured by the employee responsible for the HR assessment. Its task is to select respondents in such a way that the person being assessed does not know exactly who took part in the assessment. He compiles lists, uploads them to the program for sending letters and automatically accepting and processing the results. This person himself does not know who and how answered, but receives ready-made comparative graphs and general conclusions.

Using a special one at times saves time, effort of the people involved in the survey and processing of a large array of data received, and also saves the company money on indirect costs for the assessment.

Pitfalls when conducting a 360 assessment:

If the objectives of the evaluation are not clear or the respondents are afraid to spoil relations, then the evaluation may be formal and not bring the desired information about the strengths and areas of growth for the person being assessed.
Incorrectly designed questions can lead to distorted results.
The processing of questionnaires filled out on paper is very laborious and time consuming, the relevance of the information received is lost.
If the disclosure of information about what marks were given by someone in particular is allowed, a conflict may develop in the team.
It is necessary to conduct an assessment quite unexpectedly, otherwise, with an authoritarian style of leadership, the assessed leader will subject the respondents to psychological pressure, while employees will give socially expected assessments.
After the diagnostics, further systemic steps are needed on the part of the company to ensure the development of the employee, otherwise the procedure itself will seem meaningless next time.
360-degree diagnostics should be carried out regularly in the company in order to become a feedback tool.When conducting it for the first time, there will inevitably be resistance; with repeated surveys, people begin to perceive this method as useful for themselves and the team.

The ill-conceived use of the 360-degree method can lead to unpredictable consequences. According to the Human Capital Index study conducted by Watson Wyatt in the US and Canada, inefficient use of 360-degree diagnostics can lead to problems in teamwork which will ultimately affect the company's business.

Therefore, engage professional consultants who, together with you, will competently build the entire 360-degree diagnostic system, teach senior managers to give supportive, constructive and developing feedback, develop others in the workplace and develop themselves together with their team.

And a little more about the 360 evaluation method

The 360 assessment is one of the best ways to evaluate personnel. The number 360 means that each employee evaluates all his colleagues in 360. Those, in turn, evaluate him. 360 rating - pretty effective method scores, as it allows you to calculate the average score of each, hence the name - 360.

This assessment reveals both weak and strengths employees who need to be assessed using the 360 assessment.

The indisputable advantage that a 360 rating has is that in the course of applying 360, the assessment of each employee by another is clarified. An important advantage of the 360 assessment is that such an assessment is independent, since the assessment is carried out anonymously for all 360.

The assessment thus clarified makes it clear what to change in order to improve the overall assessment.

That's why the 360 rating is pretty effective.

360 evaluation cost:

A frequent criterion when choosing a 360 degree assessment is the affordable cost of this method.

The cost of conducting a 360 degree assessment at the Association of Business Excellence: from 1000 rubles for 1 participant.

Conducting a 360 assessment:

Write:

Call:

The 360-degree personnel assessment method is very often used by HR managers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees, promote someone in a position or issue a bonus. It is worth noting that this method appeared in Russia not so long ago, and even now not all firms have begun to use it. However, it is already gaining popularity and at the same time raises many questions.

Nuances

A very major barrier to career development is that a person simply cannot look at himself from the outside and soberly assess his capabilities. It turns out that he has been marking time in one place for years and simply cannot move. It is the “360 degrees” method that will be able to assess the employee from all sides as objectively and adequately as possible. Evaluators include:

The worker himself, he must evaluate himself. That is, think about how he sees himself.
Colleagues.
Direct supervisor.
Subordinates, if the employee has them.

Experts believe that the success of the method is determined by the questionnaire and the number of questions in it. They should be sufficient to give an objective business appraisal staff, but should not be too much, otherwise the answerers will simply get tired. Ideally, there should be no more than 50 questions. In terms of time, the survey should not lure more than 45 minutes. More volume will eventually lead to the fact that the participants will not pay attention to the last questions, which means that there will be a minimum amount of objectivity in them.

Statement Questions

The questionnaire should be given maximum attention so that it is compiled correctly. If the questions are not chosen in the right way, then this will simply lead to the fact that the result will not turn out to be correct. Questions should cover precisely important competencies, and also not contain complex terms that may be incomprehensible to someone. The simplest terms should be used. No need to complicate, otherwise a person will quickly get tired if he has to read every sentence very carefully. Don't use the extreme wording of "yes" and "no" or "never" and "always" as answers. Such a limitation may lead to a not very objective assessment.

Rating scale

A five-point rating scale should be avoided. The fact is that many people will avoid "2" and "5". This is due to associations, because two is always very bad, and five is excellent, which means it happens very rarely. This will also lead to bias. A 10-point system would be ideal. Do not forget that people need to be given a chance to answer that they have information. Not all colleagues or subordinates have the opportunity to observe another person always and in all situations. If only a rating scale is in front of the respondents, then this will lead to bias.

Examination

In order to find out how sincerely people answer questions, you need to check them. This requires placing in the questionnaire several questions that simply cannot be answered “always” and “never”. They can be very different. Below are examples to make it clear:

He does not make mistakes even in the smallest things.
Accepts all management decisions only with a positive attitude.
Has no personal preferences - likes or dislikes.

Sometimes people answer insincerely because of sympathy for another person, deliberately raising the score. If there are only two such for the entire questionnaire, then you should simply lower it by 2 points overall score. If the situation is such that the assessment of the staff is overestimated very often, then it is better to exclude the questionnaire when the results are summed up, since it will spoil the final results with its bias.

Important! You can check the attentiveness of the respondents with the help of flip questions. That is, they are again asked questions that were already in the questionnaire before, but they are formulated a little differently. If a person inattentively fills out a questionnaire or insincerely answers questions, then he is likely to make a mistake. Here you will also need duplicate questions, they are also needed to check attentiveness.

results

It is worth noting that the 360-degree assessment is still subjective and will not be able to give 100% correct results. Such a method may be additional when checking, but not the main one, since it is not practical, that is, the work of people is not revealed in practice. For example, productivity or independence cannot be assessed here. For this, other proven methods are used. However, following the results, some problem points can be identified:

Inflated self-esteem. In this case, the employee evaluates himself much better than those around him.
Low self-esteem of the assessed employee.
Categories with low and high ratings.
Discrepancy in estimates between different groups.
In some cases, even determine the behavior of the employee in some situations.

As a result, some problems can be solved. For example, if a person was sure that he was doing everything right, and now he was pointed out to mistakes. He will be able to correct them and work in the right direction. Sometimes it happens that an employee did not have enough confidence to advance, and then it turned out that his colleagues rate him much higher than he himself expected.

By analyzing the results, you can significantly improve the performance of the enterprise. However, it is worth remembering that this method is not suitable for rewarding or penalizing employees, as it is based solely on the opinions of other people. He will not show the full real picture. To assess performance in action, it is best to use a ranking method, where employees will perform certain tasks and receive points for this. In this way, you can evaluate how disciplined, independent and, for example, productive an employee is. This will show his real qualities. Based on the results, some employees can be encouraged or even promoted.

It is important that the questions for the "360 degrees" method were compiled by competent specialists, otherwise the completed questionnaire will not make any sense. Questions should concern only the most important competencies of the employee. In doing so, you need to prioritize. That is, the more important the competence, the more questions about it in the questionnaire. Do not pay too much attention to unimportant things when filling out a questionnaire. It should be exceptionally useful and compiled as competently and concisely as possible. When conducting a survey, it is necessary to pay attention even to trifles, questions should be:

Not very long, so that the person does not lose the main idea.
They should not contain complex or ambiguous terms. They should be understandable to absolutely everyone, regardless of what kind of education a person has.
Answer options should not be categorical and extreme.
A person does not have thoughts that he somehow misunderstood the question.

Only if all the rules are observed, we can assume that the results will be as correct and objective as possible.

Practice shows that people usually do not know exactly what exactly in their behavior irritates or delights others. The inability to see oneself from the outside and the difference in behavior under different social roles and at different levels hinders the development of not only employees, but also managers. The leader also does not always know what opinion about the subordinate has developed in the team. One of the best methods in global management and HR practice that allows you to solve these problems is the assessment of employees by 360 degree method.

The name reflects the essence of the method: it allows you to evaluate the employee from all sides (in a circle, which is 360 degrees). Ideally, the list of graders looks like this:

the employee himself, who grades himself according to the specified criteria and questions;
immediate supervisor of the employee;
colleagues of the employee or managers, but not the immediate supervisor;
subordinates (if any).

As a result, a person can clearly correlate self-assessment with external assessment, as well as compare assessment results at different levels. At the same time, his immediate supervisor can also receive useful information.

primary goal

Our goal is to compare our own subjective assessment with subjective assessments at different levels: to understand how they see us from the outside. This will allow you to come to an awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, comparing self-esteem with the opinions of others. After all, if we do not understand what impression our actions, habits, character traits, attitude towards the world make on others, we cannot develop effectively.

Recall your impressions when you first heard your voice on a recording or saw yourself on a video. Usually people are shocked. Impressions are negative, we do not like ourselves. However, we repeatedly looked in the mirror and heard our own voice, but others see and hear something else. We tend to see ourselves the way we want, to ignore something, to focus on something pleasant. Continuing the topic of video or voice recording, we can say that when you stop annoying yourself in the recording, it means that you have learned to adequately see yourself from the outside.

Ground rules: how to design and conduct a survey

Let's start from the end - with a survey. It must be completely guarantee anonymity responders, otherwise their answers may be insincere and another problem may arise - the search for those who gave negative ratings. Our experience is that this happens often and ends in conflicts. It is very important that before filling out the questionnaire, employees are given confidentiality guarantees. If this is not done, the answers may be inaccurate.

When conducting a survey, people should also explain goals such an assessment. It is desirable that these goals are known in advance so that people can ask clarifying questions. Here is an example of how this information can be submitted.

Instructions for responding to the questionnaire

This survey will help your colleague (evaluated) to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, to see the potential for further growth and development. There will be no rewards or penalties based on the results of the study. You are guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality of your responses. Therefore, we ask you to give the most truthful, frank and thoughtful answers. If, by the nature of interaction with this person, you do not see manifestations of certain types of behavior and cannot judge how this person behaves in the situations described, please choose the answer: "I have no information." Be careful, because when answering some of the questions the best option there will be a choice of the answer "Shows always", and in some others - "Does not show never". There are also several points that will allow us to assess the reliability of the result, in case of low reliability, the survey will have to be conducted again.
On average, it takes from 30 to 45 minutes to complete the questionnaire, we recommend that you choose the time and fill out the questionnaire immediately from beginning to end, without distractions. This way you can save time and improve the reliability of your results.
Now you can really provide significant assistance to a colleague in understanding the strengths and weaknesses and planning further development and growth. Thank you in advance for your thoughtful and sincere responses.

Number of questions and time to complete are another significant factor in the success of the application of the technique. If there are too many questions (more than 50) or they are very difficult to understand, then people will quickly get tired and treat the filling formally. This will reduce the reliability of the results.

The composition of the questionnaire

1. Formulation of questions-statements

Statement questions should cover the core competencies that you want to assess. The more important the competence, the more questions should reveal it. It is very important that the questions themselves are clear, unambiguous and do not contain complex or ambiguous terms.

When drafting affirmative questions, it should be remembered that in many cases it is undesirable to require a “black / white” answer, since not all wording may imply honest and objective answers such as “always appears” or “never appears”, for example: “Never, in any form, criticizes the company’s strategies and management decisions”, “Always ready to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of the general ones”, or “Never gets annoyed, does not show negative emotions.”

In other words, when drawing up questions-statements, one must adhere to the following rules: avoid terms and ambiguities, use understandable words, avoid extremes.

2. Rating scale

It is definitely worth avoiding the five-point scale, as this leads to the manifestation of our school-student stereotypes. After all, if a person of 15–16 years old was put into the head that 3 is bad, and 5 is good, then it is impossible to realize in a short time that 3 is the norm (not ideal, but meets the requirements for employees), and 5 is excellent and happens extremely rarely. Therefore, you can move from scores to descriptive characteristics. The descriptive version of the rating scale must include the section “I have no information”. Not all evaluators can see the manifestation of competencies. Therefore, by including this column in the scale, you increase the purity and accuracy of the assessment. When calculating the average scores, these answers are not taken into account.

3. Ensuring the assessment of the reliability of the answers

sincerity scale. The presence of such a scale becomes possible due to the presence of "extreme" formulations. Here are some examples:

He does not make mistakes even in small things.
He is never biased, knows how to avoid personal likes and dislikes.
Positively perceives any decisions of the management.

If, when answering these questions-statements, the evaluator gives an “extreme” answer, then this indicates either his insincerity (as a rule, overestimation of grades out of good intentions), or a formal approach to the questionnaire (everywhere puts the highest or lowest scores). If this occurs 1-2 times, then when calculating points, you should simply reduce the calculated score by 1 unit. If there are many such cases, then this questionnaire should be excluded from the general analysis, since there are serious doubts about the reliability of the answers.

Questions-shifters. This method provides a more thoughtful and informal approach on the part of raters. The fact is that some tend to choose an “average score” for evaluating a colleague and put it down everywhere or almost everywhere. With this approach, the evaluator does not read the questions-statements and gives answers in a purely formal way. If a person is warned in advance about shifters (“Be careful, because when answering some questions, the best option would be to choose the answer “Always shows”, and in some others - “Never shows”), then the probability of correct answers will increase markedly.

Double questions. Another option that allows you to assess the objectivity and reliability of the assessment and remove those questionnaires that raise doubts about the reliability. Double questions suggest that two or three questions are given that have different verbal formulations, but are completely identical at the level of content. It is important that they do not go in a row, since in such a situation the usefulness of the tool is reduced, because a person, as a rule, remembers his last answer or can simply compare questions. Consider examples:

Knows how to manage conflicts of interest from a position of "cooperation", i.e. in such a way that all parties receive the maximum benefit.
Usually does not seek to pursue only its own interests in a conflict.

There is another type of questions of this type - these are questions related to the topic. Not being full duplicates, they imply a gap in the answer of no more than 1 point, otherwise the result is rated as low reliable.

What to analyze and what to pay attention to?

Before completing the questionnaires, it is important to agree on what decisions can and cannot be made based on the results. It is worth announcing in advance that such an assessment will in any case be subjective, therefore, it should not be considered as the basis for making administrative decisions - rewards, punishments, promotions, etc. If the respondents are aware of this nature of the consequences of the assessment, then the answers to the questionnaire will become either overestimated (because of the unwillingness to substitute colleagues), or underestimated in the case of settling scores. Based on the results of the assessment and its analysis, it is possible to determine:

Zones of high self-esteem in comparison with the assessment of others.
Zones of low self-esteem in comparison with the assessment of others.
Zones of high and low score.
Differences in the assessment of the same competencies associated with different levels evaluating.

In the first and second cases, it is worth thinking about, analyzing your perception of the world and, possibly, discussing it with colleagues and the manager in order to understand the reasons for the discrepancy. The main conclusion is that a person sees himself incorrectly from the outside. He should definitely initiate receiving feedback from others more often, compare his behavior with the behavior of those who are considered the standard of positive competencies in this company.

The third gives us an idea of our strengths and weaknesses. A big plus in this case will be that we see ourselves from the outside, correctly assess the reaction of others to ourselves.

The fourth one is very important both for the person being evaluated and for his manager. It is necessary to clearly determine what is the reason for such discrepancies, and correct your behavior at those levels where the assessment is lower. The manager, if his level of assessment differs significantly from the level of assessment by equals or subordinates, should carefully observe the behavior of the employee: pay more attention to the merits (if the manager's assessment was lower) or learn to filter socially desirable behavior (if the manager's assessment was higher).

Questionnaire example

Let's try to check ourselves and highlight:

competencies that are tested by this survey;
questions that relate to the scale of sincerity;
flip questions;
questions (there may be 2 or more), the difference in the answers to which should not be more than 1 point (example of duplicate questions).

Italic questions with inverse scaling are highlighted (with average level scores of 4-5 in the remaining answers, adequate answers should be 1-2 points here; if the answers are 4-5 points in two or more cases, validity is considered as low).

Bold questions are highlighted in font, unambiguously positive answers to which in more than two cases indicate a high degree of probability of socially desirable answers. If there are more than two such answers, I recommend that you do not count the results and fill out the questionnaire again.

Answers to questions 10 and 12; 18, 22, 25, 43 and 44; 34, 38,40 and 41; 39 and 45 should give a discrepancy of no more than one point. Two discrepancies allow us to consider the validity as low.

Able, if necessary, to make and defend unpopular decisions.

In cases of problems with clients, he always solves everything himself, strives to solve a specific problem as quickly as possible.

He understands that the effectiveness of the work of subordinates depends on their leader and, in the event of a failure, seeks to immediately correct the situation and prevent it in the future.

When justifying an initiative, he considers both the pros and cons of the solution, and correctly calculates resources to improve the situation.
Raises qualifications only when it is offered by either management or the personnel development department.

When setting priorities, he understands that what is important is what is fundamental for business and difficult to implement, therefore he strives to do it himself, and delegates the rest to subordinates.

When problems arise, he seeks to solve them on his own, finds several solutions, knows how to justify the pros and cons of each of them.

In cases of prolonged stress, he knows how to find relaxation and maintain good shape.

If a problem arises, first of all, it analyzes in detail the cause of its occurrence and identifies those responsible for its occurrence.
Colleagues and subordinates often turn to him for advice and help; when communicating with him, they feel psychologically comfortable.
In cases of problems with clients that arose due to the fault of other people or departments, immediately redirects the client to the culprit of the problem.
In difficult communicative situations, he is easily irritated, can be harsh in communication.
Strives to obtain the most complete information about the market, related areas and effectively uses this information.

Able to act effectively in conditions of uncertainty.

He does not make mistakes even in small details.

Positively characterizes the company and its values in conversations with other people.

He knows how to admit his mistakes and take responsibility for them.
Never irritated, never shows negative emotions.

Trying to find common interests mutual language with colleagues in case of solving joint problems.

Accepts responsibility for results.

Demonstrates customer focus, the desire to solve customer problems, takes responsibility in difficult situations.
Never and in any form does not criticize the decisions of the management and the strategy of the company.
Does not welcome changes, prefers proven solutions, confirmed by long experience.
Always ready to sacrifice his own interests for the common ones.
He does not get lost in stress, he seeks and finds solutions.
If problems with the client arose due to the wrong actions of subordinates, he tries to involve them in the solution, teach them how to avoid such a situation in the future.
Proactive, adjusts the work of his unit in advance to the changing strategies of the company.
Sees the relationship and interdependence of various departments and functions in the organization, understands the interests of the organization as a whole.
Able to analyze opportunities, threats, as well as calculate and plan resources.

He never seeks to defend only his own interests in a conflict.

Motivates people based on their results.
He believes that employees should be ready professionals and clearly act within the framework of official duties, in other cases it is necessary to part with people.

He is never partial to people, knows how to avoid personal likes and dislikes.

Able to determine and take into account the individuality of subordinates in the interaction and motivation.
Systematic, sees the interests of the organization as a whole, knows how to see the interests of different functions and departments.

Uses mainly the functions of control, believes that control, censure and punishment are the most effective methods work with people.

Charismatic, uses the power of his personality to motivate his people.

The subordinates of this person have made significant progress since joining the company.
Correctly and in advance forms the staff, determines the need for recruitment.
Set to motivate staff, correctly chooses the ratio of encouragement and censure.

Knows how to manage conflicts of interest from a position of "cooperation", so that all parties receive the maximum benefit.

Organizes training and coaching in relation to its employees, develops people.
Able to concentrate well on the task, attentive to detail.
Knows external environment organizations and competitors.
He insists on his position, if the interlocutor's opinion initially seemed wrong, then he tries to shorten the conversation.

Shows initiative when the process really needs improvement.

In behavior and decision-making follows the values of the company and its interests.
Always shows initiative, makes rationalization proposals.

It takes into account the interests of its unit exclusively, competes for resources.

Strives to solve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible, and does not always do it on his own, if necessary, attracts experts.

Distribution by questions of competence groups

Motivation, compliance with corporate values - questions 1–29, 43–50

Customer focus - 11, 21, 26.
Loyalty to the company, patriotism - 16, 22, 47.
Orientation to the result, responsibility for the result -17, 20, 24, 49, 50.
Initiative - 23, 46, 48.
Adaptability, openness to new things - 27.
Independence and decision-making skills - 14, 29.
Understanding the business environment - 13, 19, 28, 44.
Resistance to procedures and detailed work - 15, 43.
Stress resistance - 25.
The desire for communication and skills to communicate with people in the organization - 12, 18, 19, 45.

Management Skills - Questions 26–42

Current work management - 30, 35, 41.
Team management - 28, 33, 34.
Planning - 27, 29, 39.
Training - 26, 32, 34, 38, 42.
Motivation - 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40.

The number of questions-statements for certain competencies is determined by their significance. It should also be noted that a set of corporate competencies of a particular company was taken as an example, so it cannot be considered as universal, suitable for any organization.

The practice of using the questionnaire

Here are some examples of successful and unsuccessful use of the 360-degree survey, as well as the events that followed.

Witch-hunt. In one company, when conducting a 360-degree survey, they did not take into account the fact that with two or three subordinates, a manager can quite easily figure out who answered what, or initiate a "questioning with a bias." And so it happened: the leader, a rather narcissistic woman who does not tolerate criticism, arranged a real inquiry, which did not improve the atmosphere in the team. Therefore, we recommend that you separate subordinates into a separate section (that is, show their answers separately from those of equal status) only if there are more than three of them.

The principle of "do not beat the weak" For one of the heads of departments, the results of the survey were a revelation and a signal that something needs to be changed in their behavior at work. The results of evaluation by subordinates turned out to be very high, the immediate supervisor rated him average, and colleagues very low. When they began to analyze the reasons, it turned out that the leader, who was tough in character, had an iron rule - do not offend the weak, and therefore, in communicating with subordinates, he was extremely correct, curbing himself, but with equals ... According to the results of the survey, the person managed to draw the right conclusions that such negativity on the part of colleagues interferes with decision-making and collaboration, and gradually began to change.

To be or seem. For one of the top managers, it was a surprise that he rated one of his subordinates, a middle manager, on average 1.5 points higher than his peers and subordinates. Closer observation and filtering of socially desirable behavior and communication led him to certain conclusions. As a result, the top manager stopped pandering to pets, evaluating their work more objectively.

I don't see it from the side. This is very typical. The results of the survey turn out to be unexpected for many, and what is surprising is not what is noted better or worse, but what exactly is noted by others. This signals that you need to initiate and receive feedback more often, paying attention not to what you wanted to show, but how others saw it. At the same time, it is absolutely pointless to discuss or analyze whether others are right. Evaluation from the outside is the same objective reality as everything else.

The temptation is great. In a company where such a survey was a corporate tradition, it was noticed that even very decent and adequate people often have a desire to figure out who wrote what. So we were once again convinced of the need for strict anonymity.

Don't push. For many, to give a not the best assessment to a colleague is to "squeal" on him. Yes, in one small company about 20 people were evaluated, of which 18 received an average score of 4.9 out of a possible 5.0. Convince people that by telling colleagues the truth, they help them develop, and by giving false feedback, they prevent the person from recognizing their development zones and being able to correct them.

Elena Mikhailova