HR Disproves Cost-Center Prejudice with 360-Degree Feedback from Panoramic Feedback

360-degree feedback from Panoramic Feedback helped increase the skills of hundreds of managers at an energy company last year, according to evaluations provided by their supervisors, peers, and direct reports. Concerned about being regarded as a cost center, human resources researchers demonstrated across-the-board improvement in the skills evaluated by the survey.

Currently, there are few methods to measure intangible human assets, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Aggregate reporting of 360-degree feedback results is beginning to change that. The energy producer (which requested anonymity) asked responders to rate the managers on the 30 behaviors crucial to its success. They included teamwork, leadership in safety, and continuous improvement.

HR and organization development professionals fully expected this feedback to inspire managers to improve their skills. But they lacked proof, until they discovered that Panoramic Feedback itself could help measure the changes. They used the tool’s special capabilities to aggregate the feedback received by managers. Comparing the averages over two consecutive years, researchers saw increases in every one of the 30 skills.

For more than half the skills, the improvements were so large as to exclude the possibility of statistical error. They attributed the improvement to the use of 360-degree feedback and training. The human resources people were delighted with the outcome, commented Esther Kohn-Bentley, CEO of Panoramic Feedback. They were worried about being seen as a cost center in the organization. We worked with them to develop a straightforward method to quantify their return on investment.

In many industries, the use of 360-degree feedback is growing. It recently became the tool most used by coaches when working with leaders (62% of coaches), according to a study released by Linkage Inc. late last year.

Summary
Aggregate reports from 360-degree feedback provider, Panoramic Feedback, helped an energy production company prove that HR initiatives had improved the skills of 400 of managers who received feedback from peers, direct reports, and supervisors.