If we can live for years without seeing a complete picture of our physical selves, imagine what we fail to recognize about our less visible qualities: our behavior, talents, attitudes, potential.

That's the thought behind multi-rater feedback. When a person is observed from many angles, from the viewpoint of peers, bosses, direct reports, even customers, we can develop a more complete and accurate picture of the person's strengths and developmental needs. How well does a person analyze issues? Handle challenges? Demonstrate integrity? Inspire, empower, and lead others? With multi-rater feedback, you can provide a person with that rare, overdue glimpse that only others see.

Multi-rater feedback really does work, which accounts for its increasing popularity as a tool for human resource development. But major problems can arise if a multi-rater feedback assessment program is poorly designed or executed. We've seen six pitfalls that can sidetrack your good intentions and sabotage your success in using multi-rater feedback.

Some organizations make the mistake of hastily adopting a multi-rater assessment program just because they've heard it worked for someone else. But for it to work for your organization, you must thoroughly think through the important issues and develop firm objectives. What do you expect to get from the assessment? What do you want participants to gain? Who should be surveyed and why? What groups should be included? Omitted? Is it for performance appraisal or developmental purposes? Unless you have a good idea what your organization can gain from multi-rater assessment, you set yourself up for disappointment.

There is an inclination in many organizations to focus developmental efforts only on problem areas or problem people. What about the others? Even stellar performers need to improve in some areas. And what message do you send when feedback is provided only for correctional purposes? If multi-rater feedback is given only to problem employees, assessment is seen as a punishment -- something for those on the way out. Rather, multi-rater feedback can be leveraged fully if it is positioned as a perk provided to all key people by a company that values feedback and development.

People are naturally apprehensive about being assessed.

Sharing information about the process can mitigate their anxiety. For example, can you provide a compelling reason for conducting an assessment? Can you give your people an idea of what will be expected of them after they get the feedback? Will there be follow-through activities to help participants fulfill the organization's expectations? Who will see the results and how will they be used?

Answers to these questions are critical because they can greatly influence the quality of the information you'll receive. We know people tend to be less candid when they know a participant's boss will see the results. People also tend to give higher ratings for performance appraisals, since that affects a person's position or pay. When results are used only for developmental purposes, respondents are usually more forthcoming, because they trust that their input will be used constructively.

One key to success is to maximize each participant's involvement in the program. Letting people have a say in who will complete the questionnaires and how the results will be used gives them more confidence in the process. Involvement allows them to buy into the program, and this "buy-in" brings greater commitment.

One thing you cannot afford to do is change the ground rules after the process has begun. Changing who gets the results or how the data will be used after the fact will undermine the whole process. It will affect future participation, and probably damage trust within the organization.

Everybody seems to be providing multi-rater feedback assessment tools. How do you know which are the best? It's more than a matter of cost.

Clear objectives can help you decide if an existing "off-the-shelf" instrument will serve your needs, or if you should consider a customized approach because your objectives call for company-specific precision and specificity not available otherwise.

Keep in mind that overly generic multi-rater feedback tools are also easier to discount by the participant because assessed categories may not be specific enough to his or her job, or to your organization. A participant may dismiss the findings because they don't expressly reflect "what I do" on the job.

One final caveat: In the rush to fill a market niche, some entrepreneurs with inadequate credentials have entered the field of multi-rater feedback. Constructing an accurate, legally defensible assessment instrument is easier said than done and requires experts in the field of human appraisal, such as organizational psychologists. Whether off the shelf or customized, this expertise is critical for you to get what you are paying for and what you are leading your people to expect..

A general guideline for selecting a multi-rater feedback instrument is to pick one available from a reputable company that can provide the expertise to give accurate and believable feedback in the performance, behavior, and attitude areas you want addressed.

Feedback results are of little value unless a participant uses them for personal development, to strengthen strengths and overcome the weaknesses identified. We have found that, unfortunately, unless participants build an action plan for addressing feedback results, little happens afterwards.

Some assessment tools may be comparatively inexpensive; but feedback is often minimal, and a follow-up action plan is usually nonexistent. Other economy packages offer computer generated "action plans," but think about it: how personal and specific can these be?

Each participant should build his or her own action plan, perhaps with help from a supervisor or Human Resources. You can get payback from the multi-rater feedback process if feedback results are interpreted and delivered to a participant by a psychologist. The psychologist can also help each participant develop a personal action plan that will result in behavior change on the job. While the cost is higher, the difference in results compares to investment advice offered by your broker versus that found in an in-flight magazine.

Many organizations fail to get their money's worth from multi-rater assessment, and fail to fulfill expectations that something will change, because the process stops after results are generated. They simply "check the box" and move on. But as with everything else, the real payoff comes in the follow-through. Expectations set by the organization, and its support in prodding and aiding each participant's efforts to change will make the difference between an assessment event and a successful, ongoing development process.

Again, we've found that people almost always need help keeping on track with their development wishes and intentions. How the organization supports this ongoing effort is critical. Do they require the participant to share his or her action plan with the supervisor? Are there systems in place for tracking feedback results and action plans? Is progress on the action plan part of the performance review? Does the organization use the collective results to develop formal and informal training for participants (for example, some companies use group assessment reports as a needs assessment for training)? Is the company willing to pay to have the psychologist, who gave the initial feedback, call participants every six months to gauge their improvement, offer advice, and answer questions? How strong and visible is the organization's commitment to the continuous improvement of its human resources?

The pitfalls above are real. We've seen all of them in our work with companies. Each should be considered and addressed before any organization seriously considers using multi-rater feedback. By heeding the pitfalls and avoiding these traps, however, you're sure to find a multi-rater assessment program that will fit you like a good suit of clothes.

We were a pioneer in the development of multi-rater feedback assessment.  We have been using multi-rater feedback in a variety of settings throughout much of our 40 year history in industries such as retailing, financial services, petrochemicals, and manufacturing.

So, whether you choose one of our economical standard programs or work with us to build an assessment process tailored to the precise needs of your organization, you will know that Psychological Associates has the knowledge and experience to give you the most reliable multi-rater feedback program available.

To learn more about building high-performing organizations, departments, teams or individuals, call us at 1-800-345-6525. For more information on multi-rater feedback, ask about our:

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