People don’t bother with understanding. Really, they don’t. When I tweet something like “Maybe it’s…
Next time the HR department wants you to deliver evaluation forms of your team members, organize a 360 Degree Dinner. That's what I did with my team. And it was great.
Standard 360 degree evaluations are valuable, but somewhat cumbersome. You ask several people to give you feedback about a team member, either verbally or anonymously (via forms), and then you consolidate the results in one big evaluation. And you do this for each person in a team.
Wow, that's a lot of work…
But wait… there is a shortcut!
Invite the whole team for dinner, and tell them in advance that, before or after dinner, the team will evaluate each team member's performance, at the dinner table, face-to-face. You, as a manager or team leader, will volunteer to be the first one to be evaluated. This shows courage and respect. And it helps to loosen up the atmosphere, so that people know what to expect (and how to behave) when it's their turn to receive feedback. Plus, very important: thank every person who gives you honest, valuable, and constructive feedback. Because sometimes it's not easy to be honest. And you need to reward that.
Have one person ask everyone questions (about your performance) and let him take notes (possibly using the official HR form itself). When your evaluation is complete, continue with the next person at the table. And maybe then it's someone else's turn to take notes.
Why should you organize a 360 Degrees Dinner?
Can you think of more reasons?
The 360 Degree Dinner I had this Monday with my team was one of the most fulfilling evenings I had this year. They told me things about myself that I had never realized. And I was able to better formulate some people's issues with the help of fellow team members. We were all very pleased that we could have this conversation with each other. We all shared food, pain, fun, and drinks at the same time.
Naturally, I would advise you to have a 360 Degree Dinner only when you have a team of trusting, respectful and caring team members. If team members are not capable of giving or receiving open, honest and constructive feedback then you might have another problem to solve first…
(pictures by AMagill and @lemoentje)
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