360 degree test: Feedback evaluation

Before you start thinking about the questions and writing up a list of people to ask, think about how you want to ask them. There is no free and convenient tool I know. Closest tho is SayAt.Me

E-mail
I guess this is the most usable contact tool people use. Just write your letter and send it out to the chosen ones.

Answers you get would probably be not so sincere as they could be...

NB! Whatever you do, use the BCC! Don't add contact straight on the "to:" line. BCC is nice and disguised way to send this kind of a message.

Paid services
There are some tools you can use for professional purposes (for hiring personnel). Just search Google, say: "360 degree test".

Free online tools
There is one concrete tool I like the most on the web. It's SayAtMe. It's free, it's easy, it's anonymous, it't cool! You can't ask several questions tho..

Combo
You can combine some of the tools and get better results.

My recommendation:
Use e-mail to contact people and set some specific questions. Direct them at your profile on http://sayat.me.

This way you can get very honest as everyone can stay anonymous. The bad thing is that you never know who have answered and who haven't.

When thinking up those questions think of: "Why do you need to know that?" or "How will I use the answers?".

If it's about setting your long-term goals then you may want to know how people see you in 10 years or what they see you doing great and at the same time, what they think you could never handle.

If you use those answers in your CV (as I did) then you may want to ask up straight what others think your strengths and weaknesses are etc.

I also suggest to ask something personal like: "What are the activities you both could get involved?" I asked that question and the answers surprised me. In a positive way.

The best questions follow those principles:

1. Ask as few questions as possible. Ask the questions you really need to. The less time it takes to answer your questions, the more people will actually give you feedback. It's best if ask up to 3 questions, but whatever you do, just don't cross the Magic 10. (Actually, there is no magic.. it's just way too much already..)


2. K.I.S.S. Keep it short & simple.


3. Ask both sides. If you want to know about your strengths then also ask about your weaknesses and so on.

When asking for this kind of a feedback you want to get as objective answers as possible. Your mom would never say anything bad about you. It's very important to make up a list of people you know on a very different profile. That's why it is called 360-degree test.

And yes, there are people who know you better that some other people.. you also have to take this in consideration.

Think of some categories how did you meet people you know and make a list:

• Childhood friends


• Classmates


• Work mates


• Foreigners you may know


• Random people

Write up 4 names in every category so that 2 of them are those who you think know you better and 2 who you think know you less.

It doesn't matter how many names does the list contain. What's important is that they are very different people you met on different periods of time.

Whatever tools you choose to use and however long your contact list will become, you need to track your results.

Always keep a list of those who have already answered and those who haven't yet. It is crucial to have at least 1 answer from every category of people you listed up.

If you see that lots of people just don't react, call them. Or maybe write someone else.

And don't forget to thank those who answer you!

It's totally up to you how you use the results you got.

You can use them for self development purposes (I did), use them on your CV (I did) or however you like to use them.

Appreciate those who took the time to answer you and don't waste the results.