360 Survey Mistakes to Avoid

Earlier we went over some of the most common mistakes with 360 degree surveys , but when we left off, we mentioned that these surveys – while valuable – also need to be run correctly, and that means addressing many of the potential problems that can come up before the survey is run. With that in mind, the following are more mistakes that you need to avoid if you decide to run a 360 degree survey. Introducing Bias: Make sure that you’re not unintentionally introducing bias in any way, through what you say to those the employee interacts with, whether you’re interpreting results differently, and even your in-work behavior.

If you’re going to do a 360 survey, you’re going to need those answering to not be biased by your interactions. Failing to Ask the Right Questions: This is true of all surveys, but 360 degree surveys are even more sensitive to it. A survey is only as good as its questions.

Since you are also dealing with a very small sample and different jobs/roles, it becomes incredibly important to make sure your survey is asking great questions. Forgetting Important People: Employees may deal with plenty of individuals in a day. Are you sure you’ve chosen all of them? Remember that the point of a 360 degree survey is to get complete feedback on an employee, so if you miss people you risk losing out on valuable data.

No Reward/Training: Survey results need to serve a practical purpose, but also not necessarily be a mark on their permanent record. So when you get the survey results back, there needs to be something actionable, whether it’s rewarding great employees, training struggling ones, or simply monitoring to see if the results appear accurate, some type of action plan is very beneficial. Not Providing Enough Time: Finally, it can take a long time to convince everyone that interacts with the employee to complete the online survey.

Make sure you’re giving everyone enough time so that they don’t feel rushed, or you don’t miss out on their feedback. There are great reasons to engage in 360 degree surveys in your company. Make sure that you are carefully examining the process, however, to avoid some of the problems that may arise from running a survey without proper planning and implementation.

Contact SurveyMethods today to learn more about our 360 degree surveys.