Our goal is to support raters in providing objective and constructive 360-degree feedback to colleagues. Research and best practices suggest that raters should be aware of errors and factors that can affect objectivity.
General Recommendations for Enhancing Objectivity
- Assess each behavior independently.
- Base your evaluation on all your experiences with the individual, not just a few specific instances.
- If the individual has changed their behavior, evaluate the new behavior pattern.
- If you haven't observed a particular behavior, choose “N/A.”
- Write constructive comments, as they will be reported exactly as written.
Understanding Rater Factors
Research on 360 assessments indicates that various factors can influence raters, which can affect the effectiveness of 360-degree feedback. Raters should be aware of these factors.
Halo/Devil Effect
Tendency to form a generalized (positive or negative) impression and rate the individual high or low on all rating criteria.
Leniency/Severity
Tendency to be more lenient or severe on all rating criteria than one's peers.
Central Tendency
Tendency to evaluate an individual as “average” across all rating criteria.
Recency of Performance
Tendency to base rating solely on the most recent performance/behaviors.
Rater FAQs
What is my role as a rater in providing feedback?
Your role is to provide honest and constructive feedback to aid in your colleague’s leadership development.
“The 360-degree feedback process allows people to become connected, and, in so doing, it facilitates the building of effective working relationships around work-oriented communication.” (Tornow and London, 1998)
Participants carefully select their raters in consultation with their supervisor/faculty administrator, and their leadership coach. If you have been selected to participate in your colleague’s 360, it affirms that they consider your input valuable to their leadership development. While your participation is voluntary, we encourage you to honor this invitation by completing the 360.
Your feedback will be added to the feedback provided by other UI faculty and staff members to assist your colleague and leadership coach to develop an individualized talent development plan.
“Coaching is important in helping appraisees interpret the results, set improvement goals with appraisees, and follow-up on action plans.” (Antonioni, 1996)
When and where do the raters complete the 360?
After your colleague announces their upcoming 360, you will receive an email from Envisia Learning within one week’s time.
To: (your name)
From: Envisia Learning
Subject: 360 Participant - Feedback Questionnaire
This email will contain directions and a link to access the online 360.
- Standard deadline: 2.5 weeks.
- During this time, you can exit and return to the survey. The Envisia Learning system will save your responses.
- Automatic reminder: Envisia will send a reminder email mid-way before the deadline to all raters whom have not yet completed the online 360.
I'm a rater, what if I don't receive the email from Envisia?
If you don’t recall receiving the email from Envisia Learning within one week of your colleague’s notification, please check your deleted folders. If you need another invitation sent to you, email clientservices@envisialearning.com or oe-leader@uiowa.edu.