To grow personally and professionally, we need an accurate picture of our strengths and weaknesses. That’s when a well-implemented 360-degree evaluation can be constructive. In a 360, four to eight individuals who work with you give you feedback on your job performance. Organisations use these popular, though controversial, programmes to improve employee performance. The controversy surrounds the purpose of the programmes and the inconsistent way they can be conducted. Done wrong — or for the wrong reason — a 360 may cause fear and anxiety among employees and create an atmosphere of distrust in the firm.

What to watch out for

How you respond to your 360 and how you evaluate others could depend on these:

Purpose: The 360 should be implemented as a performance-improvement tool only. For instance, data gathered in a 360 conducted as part of an annual salary review can be used against you, such as to support a termination. If you find yourself in this situation, you and your colleagues are likely to rate each other less constructively.

Anonymity: Comments in your 360 should be anonymous. If they’re not, the raters may not have felt free to say what they wanted.

Confidentiality: Data gathered in your 360 should be shared between you and the one person in the organisation charged with helping you create a developmental plan.

Follow-up: A well-implemented 360 programme will assign a 360 coach to help you understand your feedback and develop an action plan based on it. If this support is not available, ask your manager to help you work out a plan. Without an organised follow-up, the process can leave a trail of bad feelings as well as undermine your confidence.

How to benefit?

If your turn in the 360-degree hot seat is coming up, how can you get the most from the experience? Here are some tips:

Ask for honest feedback: If you are serious about your development and the 360 has been implemented properly, consider asking trusted team members to be as honest as possible. Reassure them that you won’t hold anything they say against them.

Don’t negate the negative: The best feedback highlights what you are doing well and what you need to improve. In this context, negative feedback is a good thing. Without it, the process is useless. So, don’t be defensive.

Determine the validity: While you should be open to negative feedback, do a gut check on the comments that don’t feel right to you. Because some evaluators may have less working knowledge of you than others, their comments may reflect an inaccurate picture. Others may use the 360 to push their own agendas. Consider asking a trusted colleague if he thinks the feedback you’re questioning is accurate.

Take action: The data you’ll receive will fall into three categories — things you can change, things you can’t change and things you could change with difficulty and at personal cost. Don’t worry as much about the things that are only marginally related to your career. Focus instead on those that may kill your chances for advancement. Invest the time to develop a realistic action plan to address areas essential to your success.

With a clearer picture of your performance that a well-implemented 360 delivers, you are in a stronger position to take action on your career development.