A Perfect Synthesis

Despite careful planning, organizations often run into certain problems when attempting to do company wide 360 Degree Feedback projects. Typically, these problems involve excess time consumption, low participation rates, as well as complaints from participants about, among other things, the validity, purpose, confidentiality or value of the project. While most of these problems can be addressed in well organized "kick off" meetings, email communications, instructional documents and the like, some (but certainly not all) organizations come to feel as though the ultimate payoff is not worth the headache of trying to get several hundred participants "on board".

In response, HR-Meter has devised a solution for organizations who want the company wide benefits associated with 360 Degree Feedback yet wish to avoid or minimize the time, monetary consumption as well as the headache associated with such a task.

Department Focus 360 is the perfect synthesis of organizational employee satisfaction surveying and individual focus 360 Degree Feedback. Department Focus 360 is based on the same concepts that make multi-rater feedback of individuals so effective. In Department Focus 360 an entire department is treated as a single entity or individual. The department is assessed by it's constituent employees (much like a self review), its department heads (much like a manager's review) as well as other departments within the organization (much like a peer review).

The result is much like you would expect from a standard 360 Degree Feedback. A report is generated that details the strengths and areas for improvement of the department as a whole. Department heads disseminate the data to managers and supervisors who, in turn, express to employees what changes they would like to see on the basis of the results. At the same time, employees are given an opportunity for meaningful engagement. Our research has shown that organizations are significantly more likely to have a high acceptance of changes to day-to-day operations (such as those being handed down in response to the results of Department Focus 360) if those changes are the result of feedback coming directly from employees.

Once the initial data is in, repeated assessment of departments can be used to track improvement and highlight stubborn issues that may need a more local remedy (such as training or coaching).

You can learn more about Department Focus 360 by visiting HR-Meter.com