Trainees using Echelon Learning’s online 360° Feedback are also benefiting from

just-in-time access to an automated learning plan facility.

Echelon 360° Feedback offers appropriate, electronically delivered and self-paced materials in the form of learning plans aligned to bespoke feedback criteria.

These are generated and delivered electronically to the users at the time the users receive their cumulative feedback and can be both tracked and evaluated online. (see EDITOR NOTES: About 360 degree feedback)

“Echelon system users benefit from receiving a bespoke plan addressing their personal needs at the same time as they receive the analysis of their feedback,” says Echelon’s David Hill.

“Managers using the Echelon system benefit from conducting face-to-face appraisals with a more rounded appreciation of an appraisee's behaviour and performance against the various feedback criteria and an aligned self-learning plan for each individual,” he adds.

Many employees today suffer from not having an accurate gauge of how well they are doing.

To make matters worse, social and cultural rules inhibit frank discussions about a person's performance - especially his/ her weaknesses.

One way in which many organisations are overcoming these barriers to increased efficiency and productivity is to introduce ‘360-degree feedback’.

360-degree feedback is a process in which system users (employees) evaluate themselves on a set of criteria. Evaluations of the system users are made also by their subordinates, peers, managers and customers.

Users receive a feedback report of how they perceive themselves against how others perceive them.

In the past, 360 degree feedback has suffered from the length of time the process takes and the amount of paper it consumes. Putting 360 online has led to dramatic reductions in time and if desired, a complete absence of paper. This information provides an effective way for employees to discover about their own performance, and, with help from one-to-one coaching, to resolve any problems and improve on the same.

Although the specific steps required in a 360 degree feedback process will vary from organisation to organisation, the following nine-step process is typical:

Determine organisational readiness for 360-degree feedback

Develop an appropriate survey and process given organisational needs and objectives

Generate enthusiasm among key decision makers and participants

Ensure that participants and managers have the skills to support the process:

Provide an orientation briefing

Administer the survey

Provide organisational summary data

Re-conduct the survey (in four to six months)