Who knows how someone really works

The people who work with them every day. Nobody usually asks them.

You judge people on what reaches you: results, targets, how their reports read. The people who know how someone actually works are the colleagues, staff and clients who deal with them. They know whether that person's work helps them or just gets a box ticked.

They are rarely asked in a way they can answer honestly. Few people will criticise someone they depend on to that person's face.

A 360 gathers feedback against the competencies you set for the role. Feedback like this helps you develop employees as well as leaders.

What the person does, and what you get

Everyone gives their view online in 15 to 20 minutes, and the report sets those views side by side.

Feedback can come from four directions: the person's manager, their colleagues and internal customers, the people who report to them, and external clients.

The most useful thing in the report is usually the gap. A manager who rates themselves highly on supporting their team, and whose team sees it differently, now has something specific to work on — and so does their own manager. Without the team's view, that gap stays invisible to everyone, including the manager.

Our organisational psychologists build the questions around the competencies and KPIs that matter in your business, and the system carries your logo and colours.

Against the rest of your team

Each person sees their results against the team's average, and no single rater can be identified.

Reports can include group and organisational averages, so each person sees how their results compare with the relevant group, not just in isolation.

Raters' answers are combined, so no individual rater can be picked out — which is what lets them say what they think. Each group's ratings are shown separately only when enough people in it have answered — usually at least three — so no one can be picked out. With fewer, their answers are folded into the person's other ratings rather than shown on their own.

What happens after the report

Feedback changes how people work when it becomes specific goals, worked through with someone. That is what the report is built for.

Every report includes development recommendations. The results are then worked through in a debrief — with one of our psychologists, or a manager we have prepared for it — which turns the recommendations into a small number of specific goals.

That step is where most of the value lies. A report on its own tells someone what others think. What changes how they work is what happens next: specific goals, someone to work through them with, and a second round a year later to show whether anything has moved.

The goals feed into a development plan, which is where our development and coaching picks up. The same results can inform succession planning, showing who is ready for a bigger role.

The evidence behind it

Research links 360 ratings to real results, and shows what makes people improve after them.

A major review of 360 feedback research found that people who score well in a 360 tend to score well on other measures of leadership too. One retail study it describes found 360 ratings linked to store results: revenue, gross margin and sales. The same review found people are most likely to improve when they accept the feedback, set specific goals and act on them. (Smither, London and Reilly, Personnel Psychology, 2005.)

Support makes the difference. In a study of 1,361 senior managers, those who worked through their 360 results with a coach set more specific goals, asked their own managers for more ideas on how to improve, and improved more a year later. (Smither, London, Flautt, Vargas and Kucine, Personnel Psychology, 2003.)

Our 360 systems are designed by organisational psychologists. Psych Press has developed and published psychometric instruments since 1995, in-house and in partnership with universities and international test publishers.

Who it suits, and who it doesn't

Anyone in your business whose work is best judged by the people around them.

Business Personality Reflections shows how someone tends to work; a 360 shows how that comes across to others. Used together, they give a development conversation both halves.

Frequently asked questions

Who knows whether your field team is any good

The franchisees they look after. Nobody usually asks them.

You judge field consultants on what reaches head office: compliance scores, network results, how their visit reports read. The people who know how a consultant actually works are the franchisees they visit. They know whether a visit helps their business or just gets a checklist signed.

They are rarely asked in a way they can answer honestly. A franchisee isn't going to criticise the person who writes their compliance report to that person's face.

The same goes for the head-office teams franchisees depend on — operations, training, marketing, franchisee support. Franchisees see what those teams produce and whether it helps. For everyone else in your business, a 360 works as it would anywhere, against the competencies you set. Feedback like this is where developing your field leaders starts, and it leads to franchisees who feel properly supported.

Franchisees can take a 360 too, as leaders of their own teams. It is offered rather than required: their staff and the field consultant who supports them give the feedback, and the report belongs to the franchisee. Where a team is too small for staff answers to stay anonymous, those answers are combined with the franchisee's other feedback rather than shown on their own.

What the person does, and what you get

Everyone gives their view online in 15 to 20 minutes, and the report sets those views side by side.

Feedback can come from four directions: the person's manager, their colleagues and internal customers, the people who report to them, and external clients — for a franchisor, the franchisees.

The most useful thing in the report is usually the gap. A consultant who rates themselves highly on supporting franchisees, and whose franchisees see it differently, now has something specific to work on — and so does their manager. Without the franchisees' view, that gap stays invisible to everyone, including the consultant.

Our organisational psychologists build the questions around the competencies and KPIs that matter in your business, and the system carries your logo and colours.

Against the rest of your team

Each person sees their results against the team's average, and no single franchisee can be identified.

Reports can include group and organisational averages, so a field consultant sees how their results compare with the rest of the field team, not just in isolation.

Franchisees' answers are combined, so no individual franchisee can be picked out — which is what lets them say what they think. Franchisees' ratings are shown as a separate group only when enough of them have answered — usually at least three — so no one can be picked out. With fewer, their answers are folded into the consultant's other ratings rather than shown on their own. Most consultants look after far more franchisees than that, so it rarely comes up.

What happens after the report

Feedback changes how people work when it becomes specific goals, worked through with someone. That is what the report is built for.

Every report includes development recommendations. The results are then worked through in a debrief — with one of our psychologists, or a manager we have prepared for it — which turns the recommendations into a small number of specific goals.

That step is where most of the value lies. A report on its own tells someone what others think. What changes how they work is what happens next: specific goals, someone to work through them with, and a second round a year later to show whether anything has moved.

The goals feed into a development plan, which is where our development and coaching picks up. The same results can inform succession planning, showing who is ready for a bigger role.

The evidence behind it

Research links 360 ratings to real results, and shows what makes people improve after them.

A major review of 360 feedback research found that people who score well in a 360 tend to score well on other measures of leadership too. One retail study it describes found 360 ratings linked to store results: revenue, gross margin and sales. The same review found people are most likely to improve when they accept the feedback, set specific goals and act on them. (Smither, London and Reilly, Personnel Psychology, 2005.)

Support makes the difference. In a study of 1,361 senior managers, those who worked through their 360 results with a coach set more specific goals, asked their own managers for more ideas on how to improve, and improved more a year later. (Smither, London, Flautt, Vargas and Kucine, Personnel Psychology, 2003.)

Our 360 systems are designed by organisational psychologists. Psych Press has developed and published psychometric instruments since 1995, in-house and in partnership with universities and international test publishers.

Who it suits, and who it doesn't

Field teams first, then anyone in your business whose work is best judged by the people around them — and franchisees who want to know how their own teams see them.

Business Personality Reflections shows how someone tends to work; a 360 shows how that comes across to others. Used together, they give a development conversation both halves.

Frequently asked questions