You have elected to set up and manage a 360 Project. This may be for a single client or for many individuals as part of an Organisational Development programme. In either case, the process is fairly similar and step-by-step instructions are provided to guide you through the set-up and administration process on-line. The purpose of this article is to provide some additional background information to increase your understanding of the 360 process and the kinds of decisions and considerations which need to be made - to ensure positive and effective outcomes.

Getting People on Board

Some individuals will welcome the opportunity to be the focus of a 360° Analysis - recognising the value of objective third party information in their personal development. However, most people are likely to feel somewhat apprehensive and, if this is an organisation-wide process, may feel like 'victims' in some intrusive and oppressive system of performance management. Therefore it is essential to have a clear rationale for conducting a 360 programme and to share this across the organisation, in advance of assessment, in order to establish real understanding and 'buy-in' from all concerned. Ideally, this will be part of a wider process of organisational change and may be linked to other aspects - such as team development workshops, individual coaching programmes, action learning sets, etc.

360 can be used as an effective method for assessing and managing individual performance. For example, generating clear 'evidence' of how an individual is doing: in relation to the expectations of their role; or against specific reward criteria, etc. This can be for identifying 'star performers' who are ripe for promotion, for rationalising salary decisions or, regrettably, for making decisions about 'outplacement' when cuts need to be made. However, these are all likely to be seen as somewhat cold and ruthless approaches which will engender competitive responses and/or resistance and paranoia within the organisation. Programme managers need to be clear about this and manage the process with great care and considerable levels of support - especially for individuals who may feel 'singled out' unfairly.

In our view the process works best as part of a positive 'culture change' initiative. This may be where an organisation wishes to identify its skills base and adapt employee behaviour in line with a wider vision or organisational objective - such as a process of continuous improvement in service quality, for example. Here the outcomes will feed directly into a programme of education and development designed to increase commitment, on the part of the employees involved in the programme, and to yield measurable benefits to the organisation itself. A well designed and run 360 programme should yield considerably more value to the organisation, in positive bottom-line outcomes, than the cost of the initial investment. So, it is recommended that the 360 project is introduced as the diagnostic stage of a wider programme with clear objectives and benefits - to participants and organisation alike. The aim is for participants to relate to the programme as collaborators in a win-win opportunity, rather than as reluctant and disempowered 'victims' in a process of oppression, or 'subjects' in some kind of psychological experiment. So, remember:

DO:

• Develop a clear rationale for carrying out a 360 programme
• Consider how outcomes will be managed prior to the programme
• Allow sufficient time to manage the process without stress to participants
• Communicate the rationale and its advantages as widely as possible
• Encourage staff engagement in the process as soon as possible
• Invite volunteers, where possible, rather than nominate participants 'top-down'
• Ensure the 360 is part of a wider programme of development, where outcomes are addressed to the advantage of both organisation and individual participants

DON'T:

• Rush into a 360 programme without thinking the whole thing through
• Set unrealistic timescales which will create stress in the organisation
• Fail to inform participants of the objectives, creating uncertainty and apprehensions
• Roll out the programme as a top-down command, without clear explanation
• Fail to pick up on outcomes and opportunities for development, leaving participants with a lack of direction and sense of 'so what?'

Psychologica Project Management System

The on-line management system provided step-by-step instructions for you to set up, manage and save multiple projects - such as 360° Analysis or any other projects using instruments from the Psychologica product range. The project management system enables you to:

• Purchase uses as you need them
• Retrieve credits for unused purchases
• Set up projects of any size - individual to organisation wide
• Allocate 'targets' - and multiple 'assessors' for 360° Analysis projects
• Conduct tailored 360 surveys aimed at different levels within the organisation simultaneously - as part of the same project
• Define comparison norm groups against which results can be compared
• Manage email correspondence with all specified project participants
• Monitor the progress of participants throughout the project
• Specify how and to whom final reports are distributed
• If you select the Custom 360 product you are able to select and modify items to include in your survey - or even create new ones
• You can also save your customised survey designs and retrieve them as templates for use in future projects

Once you are authorised as an Administrator you can access your 'Control Panel' from which you can set up and manage your chosen products. These include methods for extending learning and self development beyond the 360 process - relating personal development needs to such external criteria as: Customer needs; Culture fit; personal Aspirations; role criteria as defined by Job Analysis; and so on. The management system provides an interface to communicate with project participants and refer them to further support resources, such as Personal Development Plans, downloadable PDFs and so on.

Who to Include

Any 360 programme will have at least one 'focus', or 'target' - that is, the individual who will be assessed. You can nominate as many 'targets' as you wish. It is also up to you to decide how many assessors to allocate to each 'target' individual. We recommend an absolute minimum of 3 or 4 but to aim for at least 6 to 8, for example: 1+ boss, 2+ peers, 3+ staff and any amount of 'others' as relevant. 'Other' can refer to a customer, supplier, member of stakeholder or partner organisation, personal friend or family member. 'Boss' refers to anyone above the 'target' in the management hierarchy - this is most often the individual's line manager, but could be his/her boss or a senior manager/executive. 'Peers' refer to colleagues at the same or similar level to the 'target' - people the individual works 'with', rather than 'for'. 'Staff' are any employees who report to the individual (sometimes referred to as 'reports'), or other people below the 'target' in the management hierarchy. The important thing here is that all assessors do actually have some experience of the 'targets' behaviour and performance, otherwise the process will be a waste of their time and will risk merely regurgitating \any prejudices which may exist in the organisation, regarding the individual concerned.

There is no maximum, in terms of assessors, and the more that are included the more accurate the 'average' of their responses is likely to be. But do remember that if this is an organisation-wide project then the more assessors used the greater the downtime incurred, especially if 360 'targets' are also assessors for other organisational employees. However, there is a definite cut-off point in terms of the minimum numbers of assessors required to produce meaningful results. This is not a clearly defined number, as accuracy ultimately depends on the honesty and objectivity of responses made, rather than some arbitrary quantity. An absolute minimum should include at least one representative from each 'level' (with the exception of 'other', which is usually an optional extra). You will be required to specify the minimum amount which allows an Output Report to be generated. It is advisable not to make this too high or else you run the risk of respondents wasting time, in completing surveys which are not used, and raising the expectations of 'targets' - who do not end up with any output and may feel unimportant and irrelevant.

You may also wish to refer to Definitions of terms used in the 360 Process