One of the best signatures of an efficiently operated company is its ability to collect feedback on its employees and managers. You can read about the case studies I wrote on companies who adopted performance review feedback systems here to find out more about the impact of having these systems. Today, I’ll outline a proposed set of steps a CEO can take to set up a 360 review system for the first time.
Three Steps that a CEO can take to set up a feedback system from scratch
Set context, explain the why, and get buy-in
- It’s normal for your team to express fear around feedback. Different cultures and backgrounds may posit individuals more sensitive to expressing and receiving feedback. With all that, acknowledge that this may initially be a new and uncomfortable experience. Reiterate that you firmly believe in its benefits. Explain that you will be soliciting and acting on feedback. And ask the team what would make them agree to participate in one cycle.
- The proposed scope at this point is for the execs to collect a little feedback from their direct reports and their manager. The target individuals being reviewed are the exec team, including the CEO.
Give clear instructions
Step 1: Pick your accountability partner — It’s important that the CEO has an assistant, HR counterpart, Chief of Staff or Operations person to help execute the below steps.
Step 2: Pick feedback givers — The simplest construction of 360 feedback is 1 direct report, 1 peer, and 1 manager. Typically companies will increase the number of direct reports so that each direct report will have a chance to write the review.
Step 3: Pick a feedback structure — Feedback can be collected in many different ways. Mochary Method champions Absolute Feedback (command F for “Absolute Feedback” in Feedback written by Matt Mochary) as the gold standard for feedback collection.
Learn more about Absolute Feedback
People also need to know where they stand on an absolute basis. Do not wait until year-end Performance Reviews. Most people have constant anxiety when they aren't sure where they stand. Giving absolute feedback regularly (at least monthly in a 1-1) will eliminate this anxiety. The bad news is less anxiety-inducing than no news.
To give it, state:
- Your current rating for your job function, 1-5, is …
*4-5 is above expectation
*3 is at expectation, and you can outperform by following next-level guidance.
*2 is below expectation, and you can quickly improve with next-level guidance.
*1 is far below expectation. I am now putting you on a written Performance Improvement Plan. - What you did that I liked is ...
- What you need to do to get to the next level is …
Adaptations of Absolute Feedback
Some of my clients felt like the 1-5 rating didn’t fit the corporate culture. They have adapted the philosophy of Absolute Feedback with different wordings:
- Below expectation, meeting expectation, and above expectation
- A, B, C, D, E, F
Executive Coach Faith Meyer created a Job Responsibilities Rubric which can be used to structure feedback as well. It’s more complicated than Absolute Feedback, but provides some companies the much-needed nuance when many aspects of one’s work is being evaluated.
In this write-up, I am only discussing feedback that are not anonymous. This gives the feedback giver and receiver a chance to connect and co-create next steps.
Step 4: Set a timeframe — A sample timeframe of this implementation could be:
- Feedback givers have 1-2 weeks to write the review
- Feedback receivers have 1-2 weeks to schedule 1-1s with each feedback giver to discuss the feedback. The feedback receiver will meet with their manager last. In this meeting, they are not only going through their manager’s feedback to them, and also feedback they received from others.
Step 5: Pick a tool to log company feedback — It’s important that all feedback are being documented. There are many software that facilitate the process, which I am not an expert to have an opinion on. I do know that for smaller companies, this process has been done on Notion, Google Docs, and Google Sheets, or wherever 1-1 meeting notes are already taken.
Review feedback with each of your executive team members 1-1. Then, propose the next steps for implementing the system
- Ask to see a list of actions your exec is committed to taking as a result of this process. Track them in your company’s to-do list software so that you can keep them accountable.
- Ask for their feedback on the whole process and check in on if they’re willing to run it with their direct reports. If not, ask them what needs to be implemented. Share findings from this process in a group executive meeting.
- Assuming there is further buy-in, ask your direct reports to implement steps 1-3 with their direct reports.
- Now that the system has been run once, decide on a frequency, and appoint 1 DRI at the company to carry it forward and be responsible for improvements.
This is by not the only answer to setting up a 360 system. However, most of my clients find it helpful to see an example and then adapt it to their unique team. If you have more tips and learnings, I’d love to see them at sabrina@myevergrowth.com.
About the Author
Sabrina Wang is a CEO coach for extraordinary leaders of Series A to Unicorn companies. She is a founder, CEO, and operator who brings real-life experiences in building products and scaling revenue into her coaching. She is a writer, creative, and trained meditation teacher.
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