With shaking hands, people open their reports and learn what people really think about them, warts and all. Usually, the report is fodder for a personal development plan (link) and for an annual appraisal.

So why do small companies miss out on this process? Some may consider a 360 degree assessment process overkill, after all everyone knows each other? Right? Well, maybe, but it’s more likely to be two things – cost and know-how - which stop them from gaining valuable behavioural in-sight .

Let’s knock cost on the head right now. www.reactive360.com provide a free 360 degree assessment resource, with plenty bells and whistles to keep you impressed.

• Multiple respondent groups: Self, Manager, Peer, Direct report, Stakeholder, Customer, Other.
• Preview / print a sample of the report and the questionnaire
• Fully comprehensive easy to understand graphical and text rich report
• No limit on the number of 'raters'
• No licence, up-front or annual fees
• Easy to use interface and help manuals
• Recognise and manage failed e-mails
• On-line 'Live help', telephone and e-mail support
• Web Browser supported: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari (Mac OS X)
• Choice of 3 fixed questionnaires and report layout
  

Know-how is no longer a problem as it really doesn’t get more straightforward than this. Reactive 360 have set up a comprehensive set of questionnaires you can use immediately. Here’s the good bit – they manage all the administration to get the questionnaires out to the right people, back again and churn out a lovely looking report.

The questionnaire asks the person filling it in to rate whether a behaviour is demonstrated always, usually, rarely or never, or isn’t relevant to the role. For example, a manager will be assessed on whether “People are given every chance to grow and develop with the business” or a customer service rep. is assessed whether “People go the extra mile to delight the customer”

(Sadly, to change these questions and customise the report you have to cough up for the paid version).

If you decide to go for it and use the free tool, Reactive 360’s support is amazing. You can chat live online and get immediate help. And it really is immediate – my test “ping” took a measly 28 seconds to get a reply – which would have been quicker if the chap hadn’t just taken a mouthful of coffee. Excellent stuff.

There are now no excuses for you to start a 360 degree assessment process in your company or team. The benefit of the behavioural insights far outweigh the minor discomfort people will feel about being honest with each other and more importantly with themselves.

By Lyndsay Swinton
Owner, Management for the Rest of Us
www.mftrou.com

Download '360 Degree Feedback Assessment' in pdf format