Implementing 360-degree appraisals in dentistry

Pat Langley discusses how to prepare and implement 360-degree appraisal and shares her tips to prepare for the process.

A 360-degree appraisal (also known as ‘multi-source feedback’) is like a traditional appraisal in its concept. It does, however, take a more holistic view of performance management. A 360-degree appraisal should not be used instead of a performance review. Instead, both should be augmented and blended.

A 360-degree appraisal is a process designed to gather feedback from several different sources in order to gain a different and much broader perspective to performance management.

The anonymous views and opinions of multiple colleagues and peers in conjunction with the employee’s own self-evaluation provides a more rounded view of overall performance, skills and, most importantly, attitude, motivation and behaviours.

The feedback is collated and processed by the manager and used as a basis for discussion and future development during the 360-degree appraisal itself.

It will provide managers with an insight into the skills and behaviours of individuals who may have previously been unseen. In addition, it allows managers to develop behaviours that are in direct relation to the practice, mission, values and goals. The 360-degree appraisal can also help the performance management process to become more objective, fair and consistent.

How to prepare

It is crucial to carefully prepare your 360-degree appraisal process in order to see beneficial and positive results. Remember, this is a ‘human’ process and, as with any human resources system, needs to be objective, consistent and, above all, fair.

Here are the key steps in the process.

Explain it to the team

It is important that you take the time to clearly explain to your entire team the purpose and objective of a 360-degree appraisal. Be open and transparent when explaining what you are trying to achieve. Make clear the benefits to team members of conducting 360-degree appraisals.

Most team members will be happy and enthusiastic to become involved in a process that will ultimately benefit them. However, others may be hesitant or nervous. Make it clear that feedback will be anonymous. It is also vital to let team members know that their feedback will not impact on individual bonuses or rewards.

Choose the right people

When choosing team members to give feedback, consider the following:

• The team member should have worked with the appraisee for at least six months
• Choose team members who have regular interaction. For example, for a dental nurse, you may ask the dentist they work with, a trainee they are supervising, the lead dental nurse or a receptionist
• You may wish to consider external stakeholders, such as referring dentists or locum hygienists.

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Design the feedback form

You should be prepared to spend time and energy in creating your feedback form. How do you know what questions to ask? The most valuable way to do this is to discuss and plan your feedback form with the entire team.

Ask them, what values and attitudes are important to us as a team? It is crucial to develop your own criteria to ensure the process is appropriate, personal to your practice and ‘owned’ by the team.

Individual assessment

In addition, you will need to create a self-assessment form for the individual appraisee to complete. The individual assessment form will mirror the team feedback form to some degree but will also ask more in-depth questions to the appraisee in terms of their own specific goals, achievements and performance. The individual assessment will be more detailed and will require more consideration.

Hand out the assessment forms

Give team members a deadline for completion and return. If you are implementing a 360-degree appraisal system for the first time, you may wish to reiterate the purpose and benefits of the process and the guarantee of anonymity.

Summary and review

Once you have received the feedback forms, spend some time collating the information, ratings and scores from the anonymous feedback forms. Along with your own feedback, create a summary of performance, attitudes and behaviours based on your practice values and beliefs and calculate an average rating for each feedback question. Write a detailed review that you can share with the appraisee during your meeting.

Plan delivery

As with any performance review, think about the time, location and environment of your performance review. Have you allowed enough time? Will you be free from interruption? In addition, think about how you will deliver the feedback and the main points that you would like to get across.

Remember that a 360-degree appraisal is a development tool designed to motivate and develop team members to their full potential. Think about how your feedback will determine and execute development, and consider how it will nurture positive behaviour.

Results

Discuss the results with the appraisee and offer guidance and support in creating their personal development plan (PDP). The key is in the follow-up. There is simply no point in implementing this process unless you are prepared to work with each team member on their PDP and schedule regular review meetings to discuss progress.

Feedback

The feedback survey should include a series of 20 to 50 questions that measure a range of competencies, behaviours and abilities relevant to the successful performance of an individual and the business in which they work. Chosen team members rate individuals, usually using a five- or 10-point Likert scale, which allows questions to be measured in a quantitative manner.

The Likert scale is a quantitative scale where feedback raters choose an option that best represents their view. The scale can be one to five or one to 10, with one being ‘poor’. It can also be used to assess how readily someone ‘agrees’ or ‘disagrees’ with a question or statement. Each survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete.

Key subject headings can be used by your team to consider and devise a range of four or five questions per subject heading based on your group values. Make sure that each question is specific and clear.

Here are some key subject headings:

• Communication (an example statement here could be: ‘He/she delivers written communication in a clear, considered and legible manner’)
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Trust and integrity
• Patient care
• Planning and organisation.

The range of feedback will depend on the different perspectives of each team member giving feedback. This is the whole point of the exercise – to gather a range of varying responses in order to build a more holistic view of the appraisee’s core performance and competency.

In addition to the rated questions, you should ask two or three direct, open-ended questions that require a more considered response to the performance of the individual.

For example:

• In your opinion, what do you consider to be his/her prevalent strengths within the team?
• What do you most/least enjoy about working with this team member?
• In your opinion, what do you consider to be his/her prevalent strengths within the team?

Next month, I will go into more depth about the positives and pitfalls of using 360-degree appraisals.

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