1. What are some best practices
when conducting a 360-degree
assessment?
ANSWERS FROM YOUR LINKEDIN GROUP, THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE CONNECTION

2. Pick good raters
Ensure the quality of the rater group for trust
and a clear, meaningful relationship.
Ed Hennessy
Certified Emotional Intelligence Consultant, Trainer and Executive Recruiter

3. Have the right champion
The person who champions the process is
important. It needs to be championed from
the top - from business or line leaders as well
as by HR. It's a cumbersome process so it
needs to be deployed at a speed that can be
absorbed by the organization with the
sponsorship of the Executive Team.
Anna Shilton
Executive Coaching and Organizational Consultant

4. Ask questions
What is the purpose? What value will the 360
provide? How will the information generated
be used? Is the 360 being used for individual
and team development? Using a 360 without
first answering these key questions may not
provide value. The 360 can actually become a
vehicle that causes disruption.
Virg Setzer
Executive Coach, Social & Emotional Intelligence Coach, OD & Change Coach and Management Instructor

5. Remember these 3 things
1) Ensure anonymity for the raters and their ratings
and comments;
2) Maintain the confidentiality of results; and,
3) Understand that the results are owned and
controlled by the person being rated
i.e., the information is not used for performance evaluation. Research shows that in the absence of the right information, people will not give honest ratings - they will
be inflated. (Source: The Handbook of Leadership Development, Center for Creative Leadership, and The Leadership Machine, Lominger. Both books have chapters on
360's with research-based information.)
Chuck Pratt
Owner and President at Charles Pratt Consulting, Inc.

6. Interview
I do interviews first to gather information
about the organization before explaining the
assessment so that the questions take into
account their universal values
(listening, respect, and so forth). That way, I
have enough specifics to attach to and bring
focus to the assessment process.
Mac Bogert
President at Allen Zabriskie Associates

7. Do not tie to performance reviews
I saw this done where the 360 was used as
part of annual performance reviews, and
people were paranoid about who was "rating
them" since this affected raises and bonuses. (I
also saw the confidentiality of the raters
compromised by one manager).
Jeff Furman
PMP Instructor, Book Author and Presentation Skills Certification Trainer

8. Be wary of “piling on”
Be wary of the potential for a "piling on" opportunity
wherein a team or group who are disgruntled with the
360 candidate really let that person have it and
exaggerate the negative. It becomes fuel for
discussion/exploration and hopefully, remediation of
the interpersonal dynamics between the candidate and
group. However, it can be damaging if considered in the
wrong light or by the wrong people (e.g., performance
review fodder).
Kevan Schlamowitz, Ph.D.
Owner at Schlamowitz Consulting

9. Discuss key themes
I always recommend that candidates share the 'key themes'
(not necessarily the whole report) from their feedback with
their raters, then ask for support and ongoing feedback. If
there is a theme about the candidate who is not delegating
enough, I would recommend that the candidate says
something like 'one of the themes that emerged is that I
don't delegate enough, so I will be sitting down with each of
you to establish how I might do that more effectively'…
I often find the verbatim comments to be more insightful
than the graphical data.
Lynn Scott
Board Director at UK ICF

10. Understand the ‘ideal’ profile
When working with a 360 tool, I think it is vital
to be clear what an 'ideal' profile looks like
from the perspective of the client - ratee
agreement. This way, situational differences
between ratees can be better understood and
there can be better consistency across rater
groups.
Geetu Bharwarney
Expert Emotional Intelligence Top Team Coach, Researcher, Program Designer. Working with high knowledge organisations.

11. Thank you!
A very appreciative thank you to the LinkedIn members
of The Emotional Intelligence Connection who
participated in our open-ended question*.
Do you make emotional intelligence your business? For
engaging discussions, insightful resources and more,
join The Emotional Intelligence Connection now.
*The answers may have been edited.