Telephone 360 Appraisals

Telephone 360 APPRAISALS provide hard and soft benefits at amazingly low costs.

Feedback systems for senior executives are generally regarded as a necessary part of a good management system and 360 appraisals, that attempt to balance the views of one person against the views of many, are perceived as considerably more objective and helpful than the old ‘one-to-one’s’.

However most ‘off the shelf systems’ do not conform to the organisation’s model of what effective management is and it becomes difficult to ‘flex’ the questionnaire to accommodate local conditions that impact on behaviour. The opportunities for using feedback as a source of real insight are also limited by:

Motivation to complete:

  • staff get tired of filling out forms.
  • because the systems focus more on numbers than they do on text, feedback ratings lack the richness of conversation and discussion.

Stimulus to respond:

  • managers themselves feel praised or punished for factors beyond their power to influence let alone control.
  • the emotional anguish managers feel as they anticipate and prepare for 360 results can get in the way of acting in response to feedback.
  • Managers do not always know how to translate the new knowledge that they have from feedback into effective action.

360’s completed over the telephone by our interviewers achieve much better results for about half the costs.

Hard costs are reduced by avoiding:

  • designing, printing, copying, filing, and distributing 360 appraisal forms
  • designing and communicating the appraisal process
  • training supervisors, managers, and executives in the 360 appraisal process

But more importantly soft costs are reduced by:

  • Completing an intervention over the phone, with intelligent interviewers, is quick, lively and effectively gets to the heart of what people do well and what they could do differently to good effect.
  • Gathering quantitative feedback by interviewers trained to help responders ‘bench-mark’ ratings so that they are not overly influenced by subjective values and beliefs, likes and dislikes.
  • Exploring qualitative feedback where it matters. The balance between quantitative and qualitative data in paper questionnaires is generally about 10:1—40 quantitative questions to 4 qualitative questions— and they are pre set. Over the phone, it is possible to explore the ‘burning issues’ experienced by the feedback giver in a way that is more helpful in the long run.
  • ‘Rater-fatigue’ is avoided by establishing a normal, lively conversation that is engaging, professional and reflects well on the commissioning organisation.

Feedback and action planning changes behaviour

Skilled Psychologists work with the feedback to help managers understand the data and become consciously aware of patterns and trends in their behaviour that impact positively or adversely on others. Getting an individual to personally review both action and results, and their personal control towards a desired goal is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for personal growth and development. It is also necessary that the psychologist works with the manager to person plan and commit in order to connect that feedback to action. It is also necessary that the individual has acquired the specific skills essential to successfully implement desired plans.