360-degree feedback is an impeccable tool to judge the performance of employees in an organization. However, the successful implementation of this critical method depends upon a lot of factors as well as on the person who is executing the entire process. There are many common mistakes made during the process that can change the entire outcome. Hence, avoiding such mistakes is imperative.

360-degree feedback mechanism has been proven the best times and now. It helps the organization in making an employee-friendly environment where they can communicate their feedback for one another openly and thus allows an organization to make qualitative decisions for performance and appraisals.

Here are top 6 common mistakes that must be avoided at any cost while implementing 360-degree feedback mechanism to get the desired results:

Poor Communication:

It becomes easier to implement a change in the organization if you have an effective communication strategy. If you are implementing a 360-degree mechanism to your organizational culture, it is important to keep the entire team in the loop as it is going to affect one and all.

For the change to be actually of use, it is important that the employees are involved in the change and accept it without the fear of unknown. Not communicating the changes to the employees is the first mistake that companies commit while implementing 360-degree feedback mechanism in their organization.

How to avoid:

To efficiently tackle the problem of change resistance, the company must first call a meeting with its employees and explain the reason for the change, the importance of the change and how will it affect the employees in detail.

Dealing with it as a recurring event instead of a process:

The feedback mechanism cannot be an instant and one-time event; it is an ongoing process and must be dealt accordingly. The 360-degree mechanism cannot be restricted to be entertained as a quarterly or annual event but has to be in the organizational culture throughout the year.

It is important in receiving real time feedback from employees as they deal with a different set of people, clients, and colleagues every day. This will be helpful in understanding the work flow as well as performance level of different individuals easily and just in time.

How to avoid:

As a change, 360 degree feedback process must fit into the organizational culture seamlessly.

Lack of purpose:

While communicating the change to the employees it is important to communicate the purpose behind it. You need to have an aim to effectively implement the process. It is a common practice in the workplaces that the changes being made are neither completely clear to the management nor to the employees they would impact.

How to avoid:

You must inform the employees the purpose behind the change beforehand. Also, the employees must be trained to use the tool and provide you useful feedbacks.

Confidentiality:

A company implementing 360-degree feedback must state the difference between what is anonymous and what isn’t to the employee at the first place. This will help people in giving honest feedbacks comfortably.

 How to avoid:

You need to be decisive and make set of rules and regulations ensuring the best results. This includes rules like feedback will be anonymous or not, especially in the case of upward feedback.

Considering it as a replacement of face-to-face conversation:

Often companies misinterpret the intentions behind 360-degree feedback mechanism and thus use it as an alternate of face-to-face conversation. This is a wrong practice; feedback tools run alongside the channel of communication as it gives directions to decisions computed on detailed conversations.

How to avoid:

The management has to be clear while introducing the change and supervise the functionality in due intervals.

No follow-ups:

Last but probably the biggest disaster is taking no follow-ups once the system is implemented. Also, the feedback mechanism will only be successful if the people will honestly offer their feedback and also follow them up.

How to avoid:

Organize follow up meetings to check on the progress of the program as well as the people.

Avoid these six mistakes and you will be successful in effectively implementing 360-degree feedback mechanism in your organization.