360° Feedback Plus Coaching Creates Results

The reviews on 360-degree feedback systems have been mixed at best. In this performance assessment system, input is drawn not only from an employee's supervisor, but from colleagues, subordinates, customers (sometimes), and the employee. But the apparent advantages of the system—primarily, a more complete picture of the performer—are balanced by a number of drawbacks, so there is no consensus on whether they help organizations perform better.

One key problem is that feedback from this many sources can conflict, making specific behavior changes hard to choose. So two researchers tested a different 360-degree feedback system with all 20 managers and 67 line workers at a small tool and machinery manufacturing firm. The researchers added a factor often missing when these systems are implemented: one-on-one coaching of the managers about their personal results. Feedback was drawn again two and three months after the coaching to look for changes.

Their approach had many positive effects:

• The difference between what the managers thought of themselves and what raters thought of them disappeared over time. Surprisingly, this came from other raters improving their ratings more than from managers' lowering their self-ratings, presumably due to actions done by the managers based on the feedback.
• Three months after coaching, both managers and workers were:
• • More satisfied with their work, supervisors, and co-workers.
  • More committed to the company.
  • Less interested in leaving the company.

Organizational performance numbers such as sales revenue, quality and customer satisfaction improved significantly more over that period than over the same period the previous year. But the researchers note that their study was not designed to rule out other causes.

A company of much greater size, the authors point out, probably could not afford coaching for all of their managers. Alternatives they suggest are generalized online coaching or one-on-one coaching using electronic means (chats, video calls via the Web, etc.)

Source: Luthans, F., and S. Peterson (03), "360-Degree Feedback with Systematic Coaching: Empirical Analysis Suggests a Winning Combination," Human Resource Management 42(3):243.