The level of misuse, and misunderstanding around the use, of 360 Degree Feedback never fails to amaze me. This article about the GoldmanSachs Appraisal process, describes how Goldmans has been using 360 Degree Feedback. Pretty much everything they did was totally wrong and worst possible practice...including:
- Using 360 alone to rank people's performance in appraisals
- Allowing raters to be chosen on a random basis, so people were chosen who would give only positive feedback
- Glowing self-assessments were taken into account as part of the appraisal (this is implied in the article)
And please ignore the advice of the article writer, which is.....if you want to 'do well' in a 360 appraisal, "cultivate lots of people who think you're great", and write a great self-appraisal!
To recap, 360 Degree Feedback can only be valid and useful where there is a balance of feedback givers, where the process is clear and fair, and where there is no direct (or sole) connection to pay or reward.