Many organisations now recognise that if their people are to truly develop an attitude of self-responsibility then they need to go beyond a traditional top-down approach to performance appraisal. 360° feedback can be a powerful means of reflecting, stretching and supporting people’s ongoing learning and development, and of helping the whole organisation to learn. So what would 360° feedback or appraisal look like in your organisation? What might the implications be? How could you make it work for you and complement or build on your current approach to performance appraisal?

Paperless 360° appraisal process Nine times out of ten, an approach to appraisal that is based on a manager and direct report completing a pre-determined form once a year will, at best, provide an incomplete picture of that individual’s performance. Even where the dialogue between the two produces useful feedback, there is little scope for others to learn from the process or for the organisation to make sense of why things are, or aren’t, working well. Above all the traditional tick-box approach to appraisals is not designed to take into account the complex and often ambiguous nature of relationships that influence our ability to deliver and meet expectations in the work place. So there is a move towards a more dialogue-based style of appraisal in many organisations, where the individual holds a rich conversation with a group of people who see their performance from different sides – for example their internal/external customers and colleagues, their direct reports and their own line manager or others to whom they are accountable. As well as appraising individual performance, this process can also open up fruitful dialogue on wider organisational issues, and can help surface and solve ingrained problems, or find hidden potential. By integrating this process into everyday operations you can identify changes that will help raise standards, improve problem-solving and increase operational effectiveness. Although on the surface this can appear to be a softer approach than a paper-based appraisal, in reality it demands a high degree of rigour, self-responsibility and accountability to others. When well implemented the rewards can be enormous, both for the individual and business as a whole. Approaches   • Training in the design, implementation and management of paperless 360° feedback, to support you in internalising the skills and processes required to manage this approach in-house   • Design and facilitation of 360° feedback sessions   • Top team development in the introduction of 360° appraisal   • Performance appraisal support and coaching to internal facilitators and managers To explore any of these further, please contact me.