Reviews that go full circle

Identifying areas where staff members can improve is vital to lifting performance, but Vince Arbuckle, human resources manager for the New Zealand Fire Service, uses a tool which goes well beyond the one-on-one performance review.

Three years ago the Fire Service began using a 360-degree feedback programme whereby people are reviewed by their subordinates, peers and supervisors.

"If you've got a mind to do so, it's a really good tool to identify what you need to work on, make some efforts and then see the results."

You might think that measuring the performance of fire fighters would be relatively simple. Either the fire is out or it's not. But Arbuckle, says only three to five per cent of a fire fighter's time is spent working on any type of emergency. For the rest of their time 360-degree feedback is used.

"We use it principally as a management tool for our managers and front line supervisors. It goes down as far as our station officers who are in charge of an appliance crew."

This allows the fire fighters on any truck to review the performance of their officer working with them on the appliance. Although the 360-degree feedback programme is optional for the station officers, the number of them participating has grown from 26 last year to 46 this year.

"For myself, this is my third time and I can look at my feedback over three years and see how my performance now is better than it was then. You get a pretty good view about what you're doing well and where you could focus your energy."

Arbuckle says staff's ratings have been increasing across the board. He says it has not been a hard sell to bring people on board. They take it seriously because if fills a need.

"The need is to get some feedback about what people think about how you're going. It's pitched in a constructive manner which enables people to do something about it."

The feedback is centred on areas such as leadership, values, skills, teamwork, relationships, development, communications, problem solving and self management. Arbuckle says it's good value for money.

"The main benefit is that they receive quite a comprehensive and tailored personal report focused on areas where they're doing well and areas that they need to improve on. But it's far more comprehensive than if I simply sat down with one of my staff and tried to tell them that."

A 360-degree feedback is done every 16 months or so and was brought into the Fire Service to complement its existing systems. It does not replace any type of salary review or performance management system.

Dr Dave George, is an organisational psychologist with Cerno which provides 360-degree feedback programmes. He says 360s should never be used for any type of salary or performance review.

"You don't want to use a 360-degree process for anything other than the development of the individual. It works best when there are no significant downsides for those being rated."

George says the assessment tool has been used for things such as determining how well fisheries officers are developing their relationships with iwi. He says it can be used in any situation where there is a diverse group of stakeholders or where people are performing services for a wide range of people. The 360-degree programmes George conducts are always anonymous. He says they work best when there is a reasonable amount of trust in the organisation.

Far from being a spying tool for upper management, 360-degree feedback is designed for constructive criticism. George says he hardly sees people taking the opportunity to put the boot in.

"From the many thousands and thousands that we've done over the years recently, malicious incidences are very rare."

George says to make it clear what it is you want to measure and determine how you are going to use the resulting information. But George says that it is not an exact science.

"The fallibility around 360s has a lot to do with the fact that everyone has got different things which affect their rating and people have different standards."

The questionnaire should not be too lengthy so that people will take the time to write in some comments. The ideal length is between 30 and 50 questions.

"You can get a person in a 12-item questionnaire taking an hour to complete it because they've written a lot of comments with it. But you can get a person with a 40-item questionnaire and they can do it in 10 minutes because they've only written a couple of little comments."

Receiving feedback from a number of different individuals from a number of different perspectives around a particular staff member can reveal a lot about the person.

"You often have a situation where a manager treats his or her manager quite differently. They manage very effectively upwards but they treat those around them differently."

The result of a 360-degree survey includes a series of graphs which illustrates an employee's competencies in various areas which have been identified. This gives the employee specific quantitative feedback in key performance areas. Qualitative feedback is also included with verbatim comments from individuals and summary comments at the end of the report.

"It's fairness is when it's used appropriately and is perceived positively. It's additional information they can respond to and act on."

This can be more important for some people than for others.

"Particularly for people who are not perceptive, it's actually very valuable."

Generally surveys are conducted either once a year or once every second year. The primary areas which they examine are around communication and relationship issues. But George admits that the results may be difficult to measure.

"It's a bit hard to distil what the effects of the 360-degree surveys are versus other types of reviews. One thing that people anecdotally will say is that it gives them a lot more information than they had before."

Information gleaned from peer reviews is among the most accurate, he says. They provide feedback based on how an employee operates in the work environment on a daily basis.

"They operate at a level which is similar. They have an understanding of the context and issues that are involved. The manager has a restricted view of the individual often based around the results. Staff also have a restricted view. It's often around the impact on them and how they're managed."

The costs for a 360-degree feedback programme start at around $250 a person. But small management development groups which require individual consultations can run up to around $1,200 a person.