The Strategic Value of Collaborative Feedback

I know very few human resources professionals who have never questioned the best practices for performance evaluation. How often should employees have access to it? In what format? For what purpose?

Over and above administrative measures typically associated with performance reviews (salary increases, performance bonuses, etc.), this line of thinking indirectly encourages us to rethink our procedures and methods that allow employees in our organization to receive continuous feedback on the behaviors they demonstrate in their roles.

Have you considered a multi-source, 360-degree evaluation to encourage dialogue and support both individual and organizational performance? I have recently noticed that some organizations prefer the term collaborative feedback to describe their 360-degree evaluation process, and I must admit that I’ve adopted the concept myself.

Whether we are addressing individuals who have a genuine desire for personal development, those who aspire to progress within the organization, or simply preparing future successors for hard-to-fill positions, the goal of collaborative, multi-source feedback is to help the person being evaluated to reduce their blind spots and gain deeper self-awareness in order to develop their competencies.

As Brutus and Brassard (2005) state, “The power of multisource evaluation as a measurement tool (…) lies in its ability to reflect the complexity of individual performance within the organization, as well as the increased reliability and validity that come from using multiple sources.”

From a strategic standpoint, however, the strength of this type of evaluation also lies in its ability to communicate new competencies not only to those being evaluated, but also to all evaluators. As stated by Brutus and Brassard (2005), “the process acts as a broad information campaign, ensuring that the new competencies are recognized by everyone as being important for the organization.” Furthermore, collaborative feedback allows the organization “to send a powerful message to employees regarding its openness and its genuine need for everyone’s participation in the organization’s success.”

What are our collective strengths? Where are the gaps between what I believe I do and what employees believe I do? Which areas require vigilance compared to the average of my reference group? What does this information reveal about my leadership style and the organizational climate within my department?

In short, because work performance is complex and made up of a multitude of behaviors that are increasingly subtle and difficult to observe on a daily basis, input from multiple evaluators can definitely provide strategic value to your organization’s operations.

In the past, 360-degree evaluations were often considered costly HR practices to implement and manage. Today, with the technological tools available and the right expertise, HR departments no longer need to hesitate before proposing such an initiative. And the witch hunts are over: the exercise is now collaborative.

Reference:
Brutus, Stéphane & Brassard, Nancy. “Un bilan de l’évaluation multisource,” Gestion: revue internationale de gestion, 30(1, Spring 2005), pp. 24–30.