Organizations want to create the best performers that are productive and engaged & motivated in their work. Continuous feedback is essential in creating these top performers, but continuous is not enough for many organizations. Many employees do not work with their direct manager day-to-day. Hence, 360-degree feedback has become a hot topic over the last several years. Some organizations are still intimidated by the idea of implementing 360-degree feedback, but if implemented correctly, there are many benefits that it can offer.
This article covers the benefits that employees will receive from 360-degree feedback in their organization.
1) Increases self-awareness and accountability
Many organizations have implemented continuous, 360-degree feedback because annual reviews are not accurate (in fact, 90% of HR managers think these reviews are not representative)!
360-degree feedback allows employees to receive feedback from anyone in the organization at any time, which provides insight into an individual’s skill set and behaviors from multiple different angles (manager, peer, and if applicable, direct report). 360-degree feedback can help employees better understand their strengths and weaknesses in the workplace and what they need to do to improve. Because employees are receiving feedback from multiple sets of eyes it can illuminate negative blind spots which can limit opportunities, hamper productivity, and harm the chance for career progression. Moreover, continuous 360-degree feedback can help reduce biases such as recency bias, halo bias, and pattern recognition biases (see our previous blog on the common unconscious biases in the workplace).
360-degree feedback can not only increase awareness, but it can increase employee accountability. 25% of leaders surveyed feel that 10% to 20% of employees avoid taking accountability! As mentioned, with 360-degree feedback, employees can become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and in many ways, this makes them more accountable for their performance. To this end, documenting feedback conversations become critical – employees should be able to review their past feedback conversations. This will help employees incorporate past feedback into their work for their development, but also helps managers make better training and talent decisions based on data (feedback being the data).
If your organization is hesitant to implement 360-degree feedback, check out our past article on this topic for some helpful tips (also check out our 360 feedback software – it’s the best 360 feedback software on the market)!
2) Improves workplace relationships
According to Gallup data, 47% of workers received feedback from their manager only “a few times or less” in the past year, and only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they receive helps them do their work better.
Feedback, whether it is positive or negative, can help strengthen those relationship between teammates. 82% of employees appreciate positive and negative feedback when delivered properly. Feedback helps demonstrate that the manager and their teammates actually care about helping each other develop their skills to advancing their careers. It helps create a solid support system, which influences employee engagement, motivation, productivity, and retention!
Bottom line: when organizations enable continuous, 360-degree feedback, they create opportunities for their team to trust one another and take responsibility to help their teammates grow.
What do you think? Do you think 360-degree feedback could be beneficial to your team?
