Why use 360-degree feedback in the veterinary practice?
360-degree feedback gives the employee of the veterinary practice insight into how peers and other relations perceive him.
- It increases self awareness and position in the context.
- 360-degree feedback encourages self-development.
- It increases understanding of the behaviours required to improve personal and organisational effectiveness.
- 360-degree feedback helps create a more open culture where talking about the performance of both individuals and groups is broadly accepted and not offensive.
- It increases communication within the veterinary practice.
- It’s a powerful trigger for change.
3 steps to use 360-degree feedback
1. Preparation and consideration before starting 360 degree feedback
Explain the purpose
Explain why 360-degree feedback is being used and what the results of the process will be. It has to be clearly communicated to every person involved.
Culture
Consider whether there is such an open culture within your veterinary practice to apply this technique of feedback. People involved must have the ability to give the feedback in a “safe” environment. They also have to feel comfortable by giving open feedback to a colleague.
Timing
Applying 360-degree feedback is not always appropriate. You should not consider this technique in periods of downturn or reorganisations. Staff are more likely to be feeling threatened and concerned about the organisation’s intentions and therefore resistant to new feedback processes.
Roll out
Get your staff involved as soon as possible. This will prevent secrecy and the feeling that it has been imposed on them.
Another tip: make a senior staff member of the practice the endorser of the 360-degree feedback. This will enhance the success of the 360-degree feedback process.
Confidentiality
It is important to guarantee confidentiality for participants – both subjects and raters. Make sure the model you are using ensures this happens so that the feedback is not attributable to individual raters.
2. 360 degree process
Self-assessment
Start the process by letting the employee assess his performance. In this way he’ll take responsibility for his/her development.
Raters in the 360-degree feedback process
It’s very important to select the appropriate people in the 360-degree feedback process. The most ideal manner is to involve the recipient in identifying the best persons for the rating. The raters must be credible to the recipient for them to act on the resulting feedback.
Try to involve 7 to 12 raters.
Creating the best questionnaire
The questionnaire is the instrument that will extract the data that are relevant to the performance of an individual. The score on the questions is the indicator of the performance.
It’s key to select the appropriate variables for the questionnaire. They should be related to work and personality. Some examples:
- Behaviour
- Skills
- Knowledge
- Competences
Click here for good practical example of a questionnaire
N.B. Try to test both qualitative and quantitative variables in the 360-degree feedback.
3. Evaluation
Purpose
Does implementing 360-degree feedback give the effects that you had in mind? Have goals been achieved?
Purpose
Does implementing 360-degree feedback give the effects that you had in mind? Have goals been achieved?
Measures
Impact can be measured at both the organisational and individual level. This can include following up with participants about their views on the process as well as measuring the impact it had on their development plans. On an organisational level, monitoring key performance indicators will determine whether targets have been met more closely following the introduction of 360-degree feedback.
Impact can be measured at both the organisational and individual level. This can include following up with participants about their views on the process as well as measuring the impact it had on their development plans. On an organisational level, monitoring key performance indicators will determine whether targets have been met more closely following the introduction of 360-degree feedback.
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