Having worked here at factors360 for a number of months now, after starting with little knowledge of 360 degree feedback appraisals, I have been impressed by how powerful a tool the 360 process is. Since starting this blog I have been constantly on the lookout for useful articles relating to 360 degree feedback in order to help me improve my own knowledge of the subject, but also to gather useful information for you guys who read this blog.

One article I found recently was  posted by John G. Agno on his Coaching Tips blog. I think it gives a very good summary of the way 360 feedback’s system of gathering the views of multiple raters can provide the appraisee with a ‘well-rounded impression of how others view their own work’, helping them to focus on areas they might need to address in order to improve how others view their performance.

The article also lists some useful tips for running a successful appraisal.

The whole article can be found here: http://coachingtip.blogs.com/coaching_tip/2007/07/what-is-multi-r.html

We are always keen to hear your views on anything 360 related, so feel free to let us know what you think…….

We have taken a few photos of the aftermath of the recent fire which badly damaged the Swan and Royal Hotel here in Clitheroe which show just how lucky we were to escape with no damage to our offices.

View of Swan and Royal from Castle Street

The first picture shows the Hotel from the front, looking completely undamaged – only the white hoardings suggest something is amiss (our front entrance is the brown door to the left).

The view from the ramparts of Clitheroe Castle shows a different story, the roof at the rear has been severely damaged and the people who were trapped inside this area had a very lucky escape.

View of Swan and Royal from Clitheroe Castle

The next photo was taken from our car park to the rear of our building and shows how close the fire was, and how incredibly lucky we were.I write this blog from the office in the corner on the first floor of the white building – just a little too close for comfort I think!!

This is a close-up view. I reckon if I had managed to find a toasting fork and a couple of loaves I could havepoked it out of the window and supplied the guys from the Clitheroe Fire Brigade with tea and toast all night!

By the way the good news is that the hotel is going to be rebuilt, but from talking to the contractors involved it looks like it will be a long job, anything up to a year.  It would have been a shame if it had been demolished, because as I discovered after a few Google searches, the place has had quite a history. Ghandi stayed there in the 1930’s and Winston Churchill stayed there during the second World War in 1942 when he came to meet Sir Frank Whittle, often referred to as the founder of the jet age, who was at  that time based at the Rolls Royce factory in Barnoldswick where he was developing his jet engine.

This last photo shows a group of contractors working on their battle plan to rebuild the Hotel. Note the boarded-up windows belonging to our neighbouring businesses who were less fortunate than ourselves. Over the past week there has been a steady stream of people carrying out boxes and filing cabinets – it looks like they will have to relocate for the foreseeable future.

 By the way, does anyone out there know the collective noun for a large group of people wearing hard hats and carrying clipboards?

Answers on a postcard please…………………..

Our lunchtime pub retreat the Swan and Royal in Clitheroe went up in flames late Saturday night.

See the articles in the local and national press:

Clitheroe Advertiser

BBC News

Our office shares an adjoining wall with the pub. So we were called out to allow Fireman Sam and his pals into our office to check the temperature of the walls !!

You know those contingency plans that are fully thought through but never tested – well as from now we can categorically state OURS WORKS.

Shut down the primary server – move the systems to a different server (in a cooler spot) and up-load all the live data from the mirror array – 15 minutes off-line…

Not bad for a group of guys with serious on-going hangovers – well it was Saturday night !!!

New beer venue required

The original design concept for factors360 was for us to deliver a package which was quick and easy to learn and use, and which was primarily aimed at low-volume users.  factors360 has gained an increasing number of clients running high-volume 360 degree feedback programmes. 

Based on feedback from some of these users, we have identified a number of areas where we can enhance the user-interface, and the speed of operation of the system (especially where a large number of appraisals are being processed simultaneously). 

We will be implementing system enhancements over the coming weeks, which will deliver improvements in system performance and efficiency for our end-users. 

Watch this space for more news……………….. 

………………We  welcome feedback and suggestions from our customers, as we believe that is the way for us to ensure that our product delivers for all end-users.

We were recently asked what exactly is the difference between our Factors360 and Reactive360 360 degree appraisal products. Hopefully this article will help to clarify the major differences, and help you to decide which system is best suited to your requirements.

Ok, let’s start with the history….

 reactive360 appraisal system was designed with the corporate user in mind. Based on our experience working with numerous large organisations we knew that many clients needed the ability to customise their 360 degree appraisal process to fit with their exact requirements, for example the ability to brand not only the report, but also the nomination process, welcome screen and questionnaires. They also wanted the ability to modify the questionnaires by using their own questions, targeted to precisely match the characteristics of their organisation. The reactive360 questionnaire module was designed to do this. It has a set of sample questions, a selection of scoring scales, and options for custom questions, text-response questions etc. Whether you want to use our questions, your questions or any combination of the two, it’s possible with reactive360.

Custom report options are available. The reactive360 team are on hand to discuss additional customising options, for example a branded nomination process, branded welcome screens etc, and also management of the nomination and/or appraisal process. We can print high quality reports (at a small additional cost) and send them to you by courier.

reactive360 feedback and appraisal system remains a significantly lower cost option than the alternative systems on the market. If you don’t believe us, just try asking some of our competitors if you can have custom-branding of  questionnaires and reports for FREE!

If reactive360 is so good, why do we need another system as well, i.e. factors360 ?

A number of our clients told us they would prefer a simpler-to-use system at reduced cost. They didn’t need the ‘bells and whistles’, just a straightforward, easy-to-use system.

So the design team set to work once again. After numerous hours of head-scratching, keyboard bashing, and gallons of coffee they emerged from the development lab with factors360. In line with their remit they had put together a system which was very easy to use, quick to learn and operate, and with a new membership-based payment system which gives the user the ability to run an extremely cost-effective but high-quality 360 degree appraisal process.

 With factors360 you have 3 fixed questionnaire sets, customisable themes enabling you to change the  colour scheme of the final report and add your own images/branding to it if required, and a choice of membership options which enable you to run as many appraisals as you want at no additional cost, as long as your membership is current.

For a direct comparison of all the features of factors360 and reactive360 take a look at our feature comparison chart

You can get instant access to both factors360 and reactive360, try them both for free.