360 Feedback is an opportunity where managers, direct reports, and cross functional team members will give feedback to each other. There will not be ratings associated with the feedback. This is about investing in each other to help our team members succeed and grow, while also receiving valuable feedback for our own development.
Next 360 Feedback Cycle
In Q2 FY'22 we will launch our next 360 feedback cycle. From the People Group we encourage team members to gather feedback from peers, their manager and team members.
Please note: for 360 feedback cycle we will only include team members with a hire date of before June 1st in the automatic email communications. If you are a team member with a hire date of post June 1st and you want to be added, please reach out to the People Specialist team (#people-connect) to be manually added.
We utilize the tool Culture Amp to administer the 360.
Team members who started at GitLab in the last 90 days are welcome to but not expected to participate in the 360 feedback process. However, you can still use the 360 process to provide feedback around talent acquisition, onboarding or any other aspect at GitLab. All team member input is valuable.
Managers will be assigned as the coach for their direct reports. It is important that all managers review and send out the 360 feedback within 48 hours once the survey closes and you are sent the results.
This section outlines the process for the 360 cycle using the tool Culture Amp. Culture Amp is a tool that makes it easy to collect, understand and act on team member feedback. It helps improve engagement, the experience and effectiveness of every team member. We have recorded a training overview of the 360 process via Culture Amp for your review and created a slide-deck to provide guidance on 360-Feedback, kindly review before you give feedback.
Why do we have 360 Reviews?
Feedback received in a 360 review can be used for organizational growth, team development and your own personal development. Here are 5 ways that team members can benefit from a 360 review.
A 360 review also ties into our core values of Collaboration, Efficiency and Transparency.
During this 360 review we will be using the Individual Effectiveness 360 survey. This survey consists of 13 questions in 4 different focus areas. These focus areas are the following:
*Manager feedback will only show up when as a team member you are giving your manager feedback. This section will not be included in feedback to co-workers or direct reports.
Team members have 7 days to nominate reviewers before the survey launches. Once the survey has launched, team members will be asked to complete their self review and provide feedback on peers within 21 days (3 weeks). Once the feedback section is closed managers will have 7 days to send the results to the team member. Managers and team members should complete all 360 review conversations within 21 (3 weeks) days after the feedback section closes.
In Culture Amp, a reviewer is anyone who is requested to provide feedback for a team member. Reviewers can be managers, direct reports or co-workers. Here are some best practices for selecting reviewers:
Remember you want to hear honest feedback so select reviewers you know will provide you meaningful data. In general, comments should be to the point and include specific examples. Helping your team member understand the impact of what they are, or are not doing, is an important part of making that feedback actionable. Feedback will be anonymous, however each team member is given a unique email link to provide feedback so please do not share. In Culture Amp reviewers are listed in 3 categories:
Feedback will not be tied back to a specific reviewer, however you only have 1 manager so you know that any feedback in that section came from directly from your manager. If you nominated 10 team members to provide feedback all 10 will be listed however any feedback is not tied directly back to a specific team member.
If you feel overwhelmed by the number of team members that have requested feedback from you, keep in mind that you are providing your team members with a gift: the ability to learn and grow from the feedback they receive. However, you may not have feedback related to each of the questions asked. That is ok. If you don't have anything meaningful to provide, you can put not-applicable. Focus on the team member and the questions for which you have meaningful and helpful feedback. If you feel like you are not in a position to complete a meaningful review in general, please let the team member know as soon as possible, so they can select another reviewer instead. Here are 5 Tips for Providing Effective Individual Feedback in a 360 Process:
If you would like to learn more, we held a Delivering Feedback Live Learning course on 2020-06-08.
General Tips:
Managers: It is very important to remember that your team members may be receiving incomplete feedback. GitLab team-members are not being asked to provide comprehensive feedback. We completed the compensation review prior to this 360 feedback cycle to limit concerns around providing feedback being punitive or rewarding. Feedback is valuable for feedback's sake. To learn and grow, or understand yourself a bit better. The feedback that your team member receives may reinforce excellent or under performance you have already observed, but shouldn't be the only data point you use in evaluating performance. In cases where you’ve identified your top performer, we should learn from what makes that person successful to share with others. In cases where unsatisfactory performance is identified, you should also address that timely and honestly. The feedback included through the 360 process may help in talking through examples of strengths or improvement areas, but you should not wait for the 360 Feedback process to address performance matters.
360 Feedback Result: Once the survey closes managers we advise to send out the completed review to their direct reports within 48 hours. Managers and the team member should schedule time within the next 2 weeks to go over the results and create a development plan. Giving and receiving feedback can be hard for both the manager and the team members, remember to be open minded and calm. Be open minded to the fact that others may see something that you do not. If you disagree with the feedback, others may be seeing something that you are not aware of- we called these blind spots earlier. Allow for the fact that other may be right, and use that possibility to look within yourself. Managers, feedback should never be a surprise! It is meant to guide, mentor, support, enhance and to help the team member grow. Try and maintain the model that feedback is a gift- it is data. More data is always better because it provides us with choices we wouldn't otherwise have.
This section outlines the conversation for a manager to have with their direct report after the cycle has closed. Peer feedback is not meant to evaluate performance specifically, but instead assist in giving feedback to help the team member grow and develop within their role.
We recorded a training on this subject:
Be open to engaging in the conversation. Your peers have taken the time to provide you with their feedback. And the purpose of this feedback is to help you develop and reach your full potential. The perception they have of you is important information for you to have and to build into an action plan.
Before going into the conversation and reviewing feedback, check out the page on receiving feedback.
Be accepting of positive feedback. Instead of deflecting compliments, hear and internalise them. They are strong indicators of where you have successfully developed your skills. Remember to maintain a focus on them so you can continue to develop the skill.
During the meeting:
If you would like to learn more, we held a Receiving Feedback Live Learning course on 2020-02-25.
Once feedback has been delivered, a manager and direct report both have the option to create an Action Plan in Culture Amp. This part of the process is up to the manager’s discretion, and you may also choose to follow up in 1:1 meetings or via other processes.
If you choose to discuss 360 feedback during your 1:1, here are a few questions we recommend including in the discussion:
Note: Be sure to share these questions with your team member ahead of time so they have a chance to reflect and are able to come prepared for the discussion.
Examples of actions to take following the conversation and depending on area of focus:
If a team member becomes a manager to direct reports after the 360 Feedback cycle has completed, and would like to see their new direct reports' 360 Feedback reports, the new manager must reach out to the direct reports directly to ask permission for either the previous manager to download and send the reports, or for the direct reports to download their own reports and send them directly to the new manager. Any approval should be in writing by email, not Slack.
