All licensed doctors in the UK, around 230,000 individuals, will be required to go through a revalidation process in order to demonstrate to the General Medical Council that they are up to date and fit to practice. This process will be undertaken every five years and, in the fullness of time, is likely to be extended to other medical disciplines.
This article examines the lessons learned from the 360 degree appraisal system, which forms an essential component of the full revalidation process, and how the lessons learned may translate into other public and private sector organisations.
360 degree feedback is far from new and commercially it has been used since the 1950s, but in the UK it was probably the adoption by some NHS health authorities and trusts that tested its viability. Hence, it now forms one of the key information-gathering platforms of the broader revalidation programme.
Our own experience of managing the 360 degree appraisal process includes working with over 80 NHS trusts including around 250,000 users and incorporating responses from 100,000 patients.
The key lessons learned should not come as a surprise to HR professionals, but equally I would also imagine that it is easy for many organisations to not get them right.
Firstly, the process must be straightforward, streamlined and proportionate. Any appraisal process must be workable in the environment in which your stakeholders work. This is critically important as it is very easy to over engineer a process that may look great on paper, but won't get the buy-in of staff or which will be rejected by other third parties such as customers or suppliers.
It is also essential that the system works for the HR managers; that they can keep control and it is not costly or bureaucratic. Most importantly it must deliver results that are meaningful and actionable.
In common with the revalidation of doctors, it is also essential to consider who is 'line-managing' the process; for the doctors' revalidation process a clinician will hold the post of responsible officer, for example.
Secondly, it is important to think about how any 360 degree appraisal will work with other elements of an annual appraisal process. Appraisals should be objective and constructive and give you a solid and measurable overview of an individual's performance. And they should be supported by other measures, such as monitoring of Continuous Professional Development or specific and quantifiable business measures.
The important factor is that all components work together and provide a holistic picture. The other key criterion, which is also highlighted by the General Medical Council in its work on revalidation, is that once revalidation is up and running it should become part of a doctor's 'working life' and thus the time taken to complete the appraisal will be reduced.
Finally, it is important to manage expectations. The 360 degree appraisal is a means to an end, not the solution in its entirety. The results need to mean something to both the individual and the organisation and there needs to be an agreed way forward which is actioned and reviewed in order to benefit from the insight brought by the process.
Joanna Parker-Swift, CEO, Equiniti 360 Clinical
