Are You Conducting a 360-Degree Review?

February 22, 2011

Very few corporate environments are truly robotic — predictable and precise with error free execution, optimum efficiency, and limits to their potential. Companies are, after all, operated by humans.

And with that comes strengths and weaknesses and the need to assess and understand the performance of that operation. So, companies — especially at the expansion stage —  should be completing some sort of review process annually to gain insight into their team members’ execution and provide feedback that will help the company identify strengths and develop growth opportunities.

In my opinion, the best means for accomplishing that is the 360-degree review process. The objective, as the name suggests, is to get feedback from every angle to build a more complete review of an employee’s performance. That can include, as Harvard Business Review contributor Amy Gallo suggests, soliciting input from peers, managers, direct reports, and (depending on the employee) customers. That feedback provides a foundation that encourages communication between a company’s team members.

At OpenView, we just finished administering our firm’s 360-degree review process. It can be a humbling experience for some, revealing areas that they need to improve upon and develop. But the 360-degree concept aims to identify each employee’s strengths, too. After all, it is just as important to understand, reinforce, and praise those strengths as it is to focus on any development areas.

We built our review process around the firm’s mission, vision, aspirations, and values, evaluating each person’s (including the partners) contributions to them. In the end, we delivered a summary report that scored each team member’s performance in those categories on a scale of 1 to 5.

From there, we asked each team member to:

  • Read the report in totality and spend some time digesting it. During that process, they were asked not to fixate on specific data points, instead focusing on the report’s consistent messages and themes.
  • Form a balanced view of their strengths and development areas. It can be easy to overlook the strengths and focus only the areas that raters believe the employee needs to improve upon. But that wouldn’t provide the full picture of their performance.

One of our biggest goals for the 360-degree review was to open up dialogue and communication across the team. In doing that, it would allow all of us to identify the areas of improvement that will carry the most impact as we develop the most effective team possible.

Everyone took the 360-degree surveys seriously (a key prerequisite if you want reliable data to analyze) and put a lot of thought into them. The feedback, positive or negative, was really a gift to each participant because there’s a strong correlation that exists between accepting that feedback and overall success. The key is to act on it.

So, what are the next steps that companies should take after executing, digesting, and sharing a 360-degree review process?

Identify Growth Opportunities

After you’ve read through the reports and allowed your employees to digest them, it’s important for every individual to think about the one or two key growth opportunities that would have the most positive impact on themselves and the team in the coming year.

Share Results

A company’s employees should meet as a team to discuss their 360-degree review results. Each person should present their individual key growth opportunities and solicit feedback on them. This process also creates an opportunity to lay a positive foundation for the future, allowing each employee to have a clearer understanding of their coworkers’ strengths and weaknesses.

Additionally, team members can ask for help addressing their growth areas, while everyone in the room can determine the collective strengths and weaknesses of the team.

For a great read on the value of the 360-degree review, check out HR consulting firm Censeo’s whitepaper on the topic. It thoroughly explains the purpose of this form of feedback, along with its many benefits if done right.

Lastly, remember that a 360-degree review isn’t just for junior team members. It should include everyone that works for the company, including senior executives and leaders.

As expansion stage companies continue to grow, it’s essential that founders and senior leaders understand their employees’ — and their own — strengths and weaknesses. With the information gleaned from a true 360-degree review process, a company’s founders and senior leaders will have a far more comprehensive understanding of the business and its team members’ skills and capabilities.

SVP Marketing & Sales

<strong>Brian Zimmerman</strong> was a Partner at OpenView from 2006 until 2014. While at OpenView he worked with our portfolio executive teams to deliver the highest impact value-add consulting services, primarily focused on go-to-market strategies. Brian is currently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at <a href="http://www.5nine.com/">5Nine Software</a>.