The Essence of 360-Degree Evaluation

During a dinner with a department head from a major Japanese financial institution, I once heard about his experience of undergoing a 360-degree evaluation within the company for the first time.

However, what struck me as odd was that the results of the 360-degree evaluation were conveyed to him not by his superior but by an external consultant hired by the company.

While each company has its own circumstances regarding how much to outsource and how much to handle internally, I’m not strictly of the opinion that everything should be done in-house. However, I believe that the value and meaning of the evaluation results are significantly diminished if they are not delivered by the final evaluator, the superior.

From my own experience, in a 360-degree evaluation, you naturally receive not only positive feedback but also constructive, yet sometimes harsh, feedback from colleagues and subordinates.

For instance, if the department head had questions or disagreements about the tough feedback, would a serious discussion be possible if the other party was an external consultant without any responsibility?

I believe that the most crucial task for a superior, who knows their subordinate best, is to compile comments from various angles and decide how to deliver them.

This is because each word can potentially change the course of the subordinate’s life.

If the task is delegated to external consultants due to other busy tasks, it indicates a lack of genuine care for the individual.

Naturally, anyone would initially resist harsh feedback they’d rather not hear; I felt the same way. On the other hand, it’s challenging for those in a position to deliver tough messages to hard-working team members over the year. They need to approach it with genuine resolve.

Constructive harsh feedback is not about criticizing the individual but about leading them to the next stage of growth. That’s one of the primary purposes of a 360-degree evaluation.

The process of personnel evaluation, such as data compilation, has transitioned from paper-based to online, and with the advancement of digital transformation (DX), the process has become more efficient, reducing the burden on individual managers.

It’s inconceivable for a corporate organization not to allocate significant time once a year for its team members. Put simply, if the priority during the personnel evaluation period is genuinely focused on the individual, there’s no reason it can’t be done.

In the end, the task that a human superior should undertake is to communicate and discuss the evaluation with their subordinates, a team member. I firmly believe this is not a domain to be left to external consultants or AI robots