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What Every HR Professional Ought to Know About 360 Degree Feedback Questions

Your 360 degree feedback questions don’t have to incite fear, resentment or confusion among your employees. In fact, your team can come to accept or even embrace them. When everyone is on board with your feedback system in this way, it is much more productive.

Here is what you need to know about 360 degree feedback questions to make this happen.

Explain your questions to employees beforehand
While the questions themselves may seem self-explanatory, the 360 degree review process won’t be for someone unfamiliar with it. This can lead to poor answers for even the simplest questions.

If the reviewer is prepped beforehand, they will understand that the questions are designed to find ways to develop the person being reviewed and respond the way you want them to.

For example, you could make the following statement: “In order to be most helpful to Jon, please answer the questions below candidly, without being unnecessarily critical or uncritical.”

Make questions relevant to the reviewer’s relationship with the person being reviewed
The questions that you ask a manager about someone are not going to be the same ones that you will ask their peers. To this end, make sure that you have a set of questions tailored to match the relationship between the employee and the reviewer.

Make it clear that 360 degree feedback is about employee development
Instead of focusing on what an employee does right or wrong, make the questions all about skills. For example, instead of telling people how good or bad they are performing, allow the respondents to rate the employee on a numerical scale, and give them an opportunity to comment after rating each skill set.

Even the best questions can backfire if the timing is wrong
If you time your 360 degree feedback questionnaire wrong, then it can risk having a negative impact. As Christian Vanek of SurveyGizmo said in an article, you shouldn’t review someone who hasn’t been there for “at least 12 months.”

This is because they could feel blindsided if they receive a review with low ratings, and since they aren’t familiar with the company yet, they could take this as a sign that they are being pushed out the door (even after you explain the process to them).

Also, avoid giving people reviews if they are in the midst of a large, time consuming project, as they aren’t likely to have time to take the necessary steps to adjust to the feedback.

As Susan Heathfield of About.com Money said, 360 degree reviews are about “personal and organizational performance development.” This won’t happen if the employee is too busy or offended to utilize the feedback.

Is your 360 degree feedback system ready for prime time?
If your employee evaluations aren’t giving you the feedback and results that you need, then it’s time to think about something new.

At Grapevine Evaluations, our 360 degree employee evaluations are trusted by companies such as Pandora Radio, Thompson Reuters, and Macy’s. Request a demo today to learn more!
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