“Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process.”
-Kurt Lewin
In general, it is highly recommended that participants be involved with the respondents of their 360. For one thing, it is important to communicate to those they invite to be raters about the nature of the 360-degree initiative they are participating in, how the data will be used, what specific feedback would be most useful to the participants, and when they would like the feedback to be completed.
Communication about the purpose of the 360-degree feedback assessment process and confidentiality with invited raters is likely to increase compliance and cooperation and reduce rater bias. This is especially true if the participant is specific about the type of feedback that would be most helpful to him or her.
Coach’s Critique:
It is not uncommon for participants to play a passive role in the process of their 360-degree feedback program. From my experience of what I observe as a coach, I often don’t blame them to feel that way! When 360-degree feedback programs are implemented, participants often feel that the program is being conducted on them, rather than them taking charge of conducting the program with them. Some participants even view themselves as a passive victim in the process! As a result, they often don’t participate proactively to ensure that they get the most of their results.
For instance, many participants don’t inform respondents that they are inviting them to participate in their 360-degree process. This can frame the views of the 360-degree process as an evaluation system rather than a collaborative, developmental process. On the other hand, when informing respondents that they have been invited to participate in the process of providing them with feedback, they are opening the doors to better rapport and useful feedback.
In order to ensure participants play a more proactive role in the 360-degree feedback process, they should be given the proactive role to begin with! Coaches, consultants, and implementers of the 360 process should  educate organizations and their clients of the importance of taking initiative in communicating with participants to ensure optimal results.
Do you think participants should play an active role with inviting respondents and requesting their feedback? What has been your experience with this?
Sandra Mashihi
Dr. Sandra Mashihi is a senior consultant with Envisia Learning, Inc. She has extensive experience in sales training, behavioral assessments and executive coaching. Prior to working at Envisia Learning, Inc., She was an internal Organizational Development Consultant at Marcus & Millichap where she was responsible for initiatives within training & development and recruiting.. Sandra received her Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles and received her Master of Science and Doctorate in Organizational Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology.
I’m all for participant outreach. I find that when participants reach out to their respondents to explain the purpose and show appreciation in advance of the survey-taking, it greatly increases survey response rates.