Recognizing and Developing “Rough Diamonds” in the Organization

September 14, 2009 5970 Comments2009-09-14+08%3A25%3A21Ben+Nash

To be able to make your high potential employees shine you must first identify the ones that need to be polished. To identify your “diamonds in the rough” you need a finely tuned employee performance/potential rating system that can delineate your stronger performers—those who have the potential for further development. Using a 360-degree assessment to compare an employee’s self evaluation with that of their manager, subordinates (if any), and their peers can be useful in pinpointing areas for inclusion in their Personal Development Plan (PDP).

Combining 360 feedback data for multiple employees provides talent managers and HR professionals with a better understanding of the dynamics of their organization’s talent pool and helps them to target their employee development budget to get the best “bang for the developmental buck.” Be careful when using a 360-degree feedback tool for employee performance appraisal however, as most companies now restrict 360 assessments for use in employee development only, and not for performance assessment. Many organizations have found that 360 feedback ratings can be problematic when raters know that they can influence an employees promotion or pay with their scores. 360 feedback tends to have less bias when raters understand that their feedback is only to be used to help create a PDP.