Does one size fit all?

We have been providing 360 degree appraisal systems for 6 or 7 years now. One trend that we have noticed is a move to having recipients have some control over the questions that are asked. At one extreme we have responded to this with a full self service appraisal solution www.myown360.com . But for most of our corporate clients the requirement is to allow the recipient to tailor their questionnaire or simply select the competencies that they should be assessed upon.

We see this as a great development. It assists the process of gaining the recipient's buy-in to their own feedback, reduces the number of questions that are not relevant, and often reduces the overall question count as there is no need for a superset of questions that everyone is asked.

A free-for-all is not the answer of course. Instead, we encourage organisations to set the overall framework - perhaps including some core competencies that are asked of everyone. Optional competencies are then selected from a range designed by HR or with our involvement.

As well as selecting competencies we are also seeing requests to select the questions that are to be asked. For a given competency the company may offer up 6 alternatives with the recipient selecting the 4 they see as most appropriate.

We beleive the benefits of an online 360 degree appraisal system are starting to be realised as the introduction of practices that improve 360 are being introduced at the same time as costs are reduced through a move from a paper-based procedure.

360 degree appraisals from Bowland Solutions