There are two basic types of 360 Assessments : quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative, or numeric (typically digital) 360’s have some advantages: they are easily compared across leaders, so if you are assessing a team, or a series of leaders in succession, you can have a common language for the group. We do this often with leadership teams: have everyone utilize the same tool so that there is a common understanding of the results and it can be used to assess the team as a whole, in addition to the individual.
Quantitative tools can also provide less context and fewer examples of behavior for the leader being evaluated. You cannot typically customize these tools.
At Arden Coaching, we most frequently use the Leadership Circle Profile as our 360 assessment tool. This tool has been created based on extensive research and its correlation to Leadership Effectiveness is incredibly high. There are leader, manager and culture survey version that allow us to work with a company at many levels using a suite of tools that relate to one another.
There are other quantitative 360 assessment tools as well; we sometimes use an emotional intelligence 360 tool, depending on what the coaching client is working on.
Qualitative 360’s are conducted via anonymous interviews the coach does with stakeholders. One of the profound advantages to this approach is that in this process, the coach and client can hone the tool to the specific needs of the leder being evaluated: questions can be asked that correlate specifically to the leader’s goals, personalizing the 360. A huge amount of context and cultural data is gathered in this process as well, giving a great advantage to the leader when they are interested in examples or the impact of the behaviors in question. The leader receives an extensive report, sharing the results from those interviewed.
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IF you’re uncertain as to which type of 360 will yield you the best results, consult with our experts to determine the best approach for you and your leaders.