Tips for Gathering Performance Feedback – Part One
Posted by Laura on January 12, 2009
Over the past year, I delved into a new professional development area by conducting 360 performance reviews. Here is some of what I’ve learned, part one.
1. Find the right people to participate.
a) Upward, downward, and lateral. Get feedback from people the client works for, people who work for him/her, and people he/she works with. Make sure you have an adequate sample size to represent all three categories.
b) Representative viewpoints. Check each category to see if you have an adequate representation of different genders and ethnicities.
c) Positive and constructive. Don’t limit respondees to people with whom the client has a positive relationship. Ask the client: Who will give you positive feedback? And who will have constructive feedback for you? Often, the people the client hasn’t been able to develop a close relationship with are the people who will have the best information for the next learning opportunity.
d) Who stands to benefit. Ask the client who he/she will work with the most in the next six months. Be sure to include these people as respondents, so that their input feeds into the client’s working relationships in the months to come.
Next post: part two – deciding on the best format for gathering feedback.
