I did finally get the results of the 360 degree review I’d attempted via Checkster.com (see my original posts here), although I got responses from only 3 of the 10 people I was allowed to contact. The report is pretty comprehensive, starting with two large stats: Probability of re-hire, and Overall Performance, both expressed as percentages. This is followed by three text-response areas: Top 3 Strengths, Significant Accomplishments, and Top 3 Areas Of Improvement. Then there is a gap analysis, where your perception of your own attributes is compared to that of your reviewers, followed by your ranking in performance attributes. There are more sections, including some on leadership, Promotability, Flow, and the Peter Principle. You get a link to use for sharing the report, and there’s even a way to see how the people you shared it with share it which is nice.
Like I said the report is pretty comprehensive and would really be useful if enough responses could be obtained to make it more valid. Three isn’t enough by a long shot, and as I said before 10 invitations isn’t likely to get 3 responses except maybe in the mellinial crowd.
This morning I got an email from Yves Lermusi, CEO of Checkster, who wrote:
Steve,
Your review of Checkster was forwarded to me and we take
user feedback very seriously.First, thank you for using Checkster and write about it.
I want to take a couple of minutes to address some of your
feedback.1. We limited the free version to 10 people that you can
invite, the paying version for employer includes a max of 25. The reason
behind this and also the fact that it is open for 7 days only, is the fact that
we are pushing people to ask feedback more often to monitor progress. But
we hear you and maybe we will make a distinction between a version “at
large” where you can invite many people and our traditional “checkup”
that is fast and short.2. The email automation (ie. Import from address book,…)
is coming in our next version.
I was happy to see the email because I think it’s important for companies to respond to their user’s feedback. Here’s my response:
Hello Yves,Thanks for responding.
Understood on the email address book import.
As or #1 though, I think the point is still being missed. The approach
that Checkster is taking assumes that the only people anyone will
approach for feedback are those who will respond and respond quickly.
Those people are friends or subordinates, who’s feedback is not often
impartial. Or likely to change over time. Real, genuine and useful
feedback comes from folks who aren’t so close, and therefore aren’t as
likely to respond or respond quickly. The design of your product makes
getting feedback from these people virtually impossible. For example, I
contacted my president. He’s a very positive and feedback oriented guy,
but he travels a lot and with a company to run it may take him a while
to get to my request. I’m 42, and this may be different for 20-somethings working
in groups of 20-somethings, which may be common in high-tech companies
on the coasts. I suspect for the rest of us in the flyover states
there’s a lot more generational diversity in the workplace. You need to
accommodate generations who aren’t as feedback focused as the Gen Y /
Millennium generation.
At the end of the day Yves has to respond to his paying customers, which are companies who may have very different needs than I. Still, I hope he’ll consider the changes I’ve suggested as I think it will make the product much more effective.
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