360 Feedback Survey Mistakes

360 degree feedback is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to get information on employees. Rather than use one person’s subjective opinion of an employee within your organization, the 360 degree feedback model takes into account everyone that has worked with the employee, as well as customers, vendors, and more, to help paint a complete picture when attempting to view an employee’s performance. 360 degree feedback models have worked very well, and in some cases are preferred by employees as well, many of whom want to be certain their contributions are judged accurately. Yet like all data collection, there are mistakes that can cause problems with your data collection, your data analysis, and your decision making based upon that data. 360 degree feedback surveys are incredibly valuable, but they are also something that should be used by those that have carefully planned every factor of the feedback process. The following are some of the most important mistakes to avoid with your feedback collection.

No Game Plan: Before you create your first survey, you need to have a plan. What are your intentions with the data? What are you going to do with that information? What are you going to ask, and why? Who is going to run it? Many people “Wing” a 360 degree survey, and winging it is a recipe for disaster.

No Baseline Numbers: You’ll also need to make sure you have some type of baseline, either through running the survey a few times without analysis or learning about 360 degree surveys in your industry. What is a “great” response? What is a “good” response? What kind of curve is there and do those numbers change across departments or jobs? Without a baseline you are left guessing.

No Analysis Strategy: So you now have the numbers. Do you know what to do with them? You should make sure that there is some analysis strategy in place, otherwise your numbers don’t serve a practical purpose.

No Follow Up: Keep in mind that as great as 360 degree surveys are, they are also not a final judgment. Bad scores and good scores can still be based on a specific moment in time, not the whole picture. Make sure you’ve got some type of follow up planned before you fire/promote based on these surveys.

These are only a small sample of the mistakes people make with 360 degree surveys . These surveys are incredibly valuable, but their value only exists when you’re using the right online survey software, strategy, and implementation. Sign up with SurveyMethods to learn more.