Introduction

Hello, I'm Nakaguchi from KINTO Technologies' Mobile App Development Group. I lead the iOS team for the KINTO Kantan Moushikomi App (the “KINTO Easy Application app”), which allows users to customize their car preferences and conveniently submit applications directly from their phones. As part of our team building efforts, we conducted a 180-degree feedback session, and I would like to share here the details of this initiative.
If you’re interested, please check out this article on our team’s retrospective, which was another initiative carried out by our team.

Background

Recently, a group of volunteers within our company organized a group reading session "GitLab ni manabu sekai saisentan no remote soshiki no tsukurikata: Dokumento no katsuyo de office nashi demo saidai no seika o dasu global kigyo no shikumi". You can learn more about this group reading session in Learning from GitLab: How to Create the World's Most Advanced Remote Organization.
This group reading session was truly inspiring to me, and I wanted to bring some of the insights back to my team. Among the various topics we discussed, I was particularly interested in the concept of 360-degree feedback.
360-degree feedback is an evaluation method where an employee receives feedback from multiple perspectives, including colleagues, superiors, and subordinates.
In general, feedback tends to be given from superiors to subordinates. Personally, I’ve always believed that feedback between colleagues, or from co-workers to supervisors, is equally important. This led me to consider implementing 360-degree feedback within our team.
However, during the session, we also identified that the 360-degree feedback has potential drawbacks, such as a broad range of respondents and evaluations given to an employee from individuals who may not be directly involved in the employee's work. In counteracting the drawbacks, I learned about the 180-degree feedback method limiting the respondents to just the team members and decided to introduce it to my team.

Objectives

Through the 180-degree feedback process, I aimed to achieve the following objectives:

• Identify the discrepancy between the roles the team expects each member to fulfill and others each member perceives for themselves.
• Recognize individual strengths and weaknesses, and use these insights for future growth
• Create an opportunity for team members to express their honest opinions about each other.
• Foster team unity by encouraging team members to be considerate of their peers' feelings through the survey process.
  I believed that this 180-degree feedback would be a great opportunity for members to understand each other, thereby improving the quality of relationships within the team.

Implementation Method

• Target members:
  • 1 team Leader
  • 6 engineers
• Survey method
  • We conducted an anonymous survey using Microsoft Forms.
  • Each member answered the following questions for all other members except themselves:
    1. Quantitative evaluation (5-point scale):
       1. Questions regarding proactivity
       2. Questions regarding openness to others
       3. Questions regarding decision making attitude
       4. Questions regarding perseverance
       5. Questions regarding learning from new experiences
       6. Questions regarding initiative
    2. Qualitative evaluation (free text):
       1. Questions regarding self-strengths
       2. Questions regarding areas for improvement
       3. Words of appreciation to the target members

Considerations to proceed the survey

• To ensure team members positively engage in the process, we, in advance, shared the background and objectives of the feedback at 1-on-1 meetings.
• To reinforce the anonymity of the survey, we conducted a pre-test survey and shared the results.
• To avoid a low response rate caused by insufficient time to complete the survey, we allocated specific time for its completion.
• As feedbacks may include harsh or negative comments about target members, we added a question to allow respondents to express their gratitude to the others at the end of the survey. (This helps to end the survey on a positive note and makes it easier for recipients to accept the feedback constructively.)
• As a team leader, I wanted to show my team members that I am open-minded to share my feedback results, including self-improvement areas, with them. (However, I did not pressure the team members to share their own feedback results.)

Summary of My Feedback Results

I have summarized my feedback results below.

Strengths

• High communication skills and approachability: for example, I actively participate in meetings and make an effort to explain things clearly.
• Eagerness to learn and share knowledge with others: I consistently stay updated on new technology trends and share this information through Slack and meetings.
• Efforts to improve teamwork: I regularly organize team events to strengthen the bonds among team members.
• Strong information-gathering skills and quick response: I promptly address issues as they arise and communicate accurate information to relevant parties.
• Compassionate and reliable leader: I listen to any concerns from team members and appropriately provide them with advice.

Areas for Improvement

• Understanding of product specifications: at times, I proceed with development without fully understanding the specifications of the features.
• Improvement to organize task tickets more frequently: the prioritization of tickets is sometimes insufficient, which causes important tasks to be delayed.
• Improvement to clearly explain the background and purpose of implementing initiatives: insufficient communication leaves the purpose of some initiatives unclear, resulting in a lack of understanding among team members.
• Improvement to take more risks: I may be too cautious when approaching new initiatives, which can result in missed opportunities.
  My feedback results showed that the areas I consciously focus on were recognized as strengths, which was very pleasing. On the other hand, the feedback on areas for improvement allowed me to recognize not only the aspects I was aware of but also those I had not realized. This feedback will help me grow further.
  Additionally, the words of appreciation from team members at the end boosted my motivation significantly. I am committed to continuing to contribute to the team even more in the future.

Team Strengths and Areas for Improvement Identified Through 180-degree Feedback

I also summarized the feedback as an overall team.

Team strength

• Diverse technical skills and leadership: each member has strong technical skills and leadership abilities.
• Communication skills: communication within the team is active, and information is shared effectively.
• Problem-solving ability: the team actively tackles technical challenges and complex tasks.
• Learning motivation: there is a strong commitment to acquiring new knowledge and technical skills, leading to continuous growth.

Areas for improvement for the entire team

• Improving information sharing efficiency: finding more efficient ways to share new technical skills and project-related information.
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities: further clarifying roles and responsibilities to fully leverage each team member’s abilities.
• Developing a broader perspective: emphasizing the importance of sharing the project’s overall vision and objectives among the team members.
• Technical skill sharing and knowledge management: promoting the cross-sharing of technical knowledge within the team to enhance the skills of all members.
  Additionally, I have summarized each team member’s strengths and roles in the diagram below.
  

Post-Retrospective Survey

After conducting the 180-degree feedback, we carried out a survey to gather feedback on the process. (out of 7 responses).

• Change in evaluation
  • Before: 7.29 -> After: 9.19
• NPS (What is NPS?)
  • 57
• Would you like to conduct 180-degree feedback on a regular basis (e.g. every six months)?
  • 86% answered “Yes”
• AI summary of "How satisfied did you feel after you participated?" (free text)

The survey results indicate that respondents felt they gained a deeper self-awareness and were able to identify their own challenges.
Additionally, through feedback from others, they were able to gain new perspectives that they might not have noticed otherwise.
By receiving specific evaluations and areas for improvement, they felt that their future course of action become clearer.
These results suggest that the survey was an effective tool for self-reflection.

Conclusion

In conducting the 180-degree feedback, we encountered a few operational challenges.

• The average scores were generally high, making it difficult to differentiate between responses.
• The timing coincided with changes in team members, which resulted in failing to provide feedback to certain team members in an appropriate manner.
  However, overall, I felt that the feedback process was well-received and satisfying for the team, including myself. As evidenced by the survey results, the team members are highly interested in continuing this process regularly, and I plan to carry on with these efforts in the future.
  Through this feedback, I was able to identify areas for improvement both for myself and the team as a whole, which I intend to leverage for future growth. I also hope that each team members can also recognize their own areas for improvement and use this as an opportunity for growth.