5 Things to work on prior to your 360 Feedback Survey Launch

5 Things to work on prior to your 360° Feedback Survey Launch

Online platforms like the one by Think Talent have made conducting 360-Degree feedback surveys much easier.

Many of the operational steps in conducting the survey – sending email reminders to respondents and analyzing and reporting the results – are mostly automated.

However, we have captured below 5 key elements that one should work on prior to Going Live with the Surveys:

Creating a Structured Orientation Plan

360-Degree feedback surveys typically involve a large number of employees with sometimes 10+ employees providing feedback to each participant. Both providing and receiving feedback can be difficult for most people.

Designing a clear orientation process can help you make sure you help all stakeholders understand the different stages in the entire survey process and answer their concerns, especially around anonymity and confidentiality and how the reports will be used.

Getting Alignment on the Questionnaire

The Survey Questionnaire is one of the key components of any 360 Degree feedback Survey process. Selecting or designing a questionnaire requires you to consider many factors covered in the next blog.

However, once your questionnaire is ready, make sure you spend sufficient time taking key senior stakeholders through the design of the questionnaire and the report. Understanding and addressing their inputs and concerns can help you win their support and manage the post-survey process effectively.

Running a Pilot

Running an online 360 survey well means getting many things right. Has the link been whitelisted? Have you uploaded the right questionnaire? Are participants seeing the right instructions on opening the link?

One effective way to get everything right is to run a set of pilot surveys. Configure everything exactly as in the final Survey and get 7-10 of your colleagues to respond to the Survey. Give them a checklist of things to look for and check-in with them to confirm whether everything worked correctly for them. This will help you catch issues before you release the survey to a large group of people.

Planning Distribution of Reports post the Survey

360-Degree Feedback Reports are, by their very nature, sensitive documents. If you are running the survey for a large group of people, make sure you have a clear plan around handling the report.

Some of the questions you may want to think through are:

Who will generate the reports? When will the reports be available post closure of survey?
Will it be shared only with the employee or with others like their Manager or HR contact? Who else in the organization will have access to the reports?
Who will answer the questions of employees about their reports? For senior leaders, it is better if you can organize external coaches or experts to work with them on understanding and assimilating their reports.

Going Live in Style

Getting respondents to your survey can be one of the most difficult part of the survey process. With their day-to-day taking up most of their time and attention, you need to create a well-crafted communication plan to make sure your respondents are aware about the intervention and prioritize the survey invitations once they receive it.

Make sure you build up anticipation around the survey prior to launch and you send regular reminders to people with pending surveys in their accounts.