Archive for Employee Feedback
Performance Reviews – Keep, Dump or Change?
Posted by: | CommentsTake a look at your organization’s review process. Are your performance reviews an annual occurrence or a year-long performance and feedback process? Your performance reviews are probably working well only if your organization successfully:
1) Makes accountability linked to key business drivers part of the performance management system.
2) Communicates consistently and effectively to all employees while involving them in managing their own performance year-round.
3) Spends at least as much time developing employees as it does evaluating them.
If that sounds far from what’s happening, take comfort. Most organizations do not engage in effective performance reviews and feedback according to these criteria. Not surprisingly, most employees feel formal annual performance reviews are a waste of time. Key reasons why most performance review sytems are misguided are that:
1) Almost everyone hates performance reviews. Most managers consider performance reviews as one of their most disliked tasks. Employees usually dislike and distrust the process.
2) Performance reviews overemphasize quantifiable data at the expense of more nuanced factors. Many employees’ most valuable and important contributions to a workplace may not fit into ratings, scores or check boxes that appear on traditional performance reviews.
3) The existence of annual performance reviews become an excuse for not evaluating performance the rest of the year. When managers don’t give employees ongoing specific, timely, and relevant feedback (both good and bad), they fail to be an effective manager.
In most cases, performance reviews are not only a waste of time but also often can undermine motivation and hamper workplace happiness.
In light of this, for the vast majority of organizations, I suggest you consider moving from having formal performance-management reviews to an alternative that benefits your organization and its employees. Ensure that all employees receive constant feedback and appreciation in person and/or using one of the online tools available so that they know at any given time what they do well and what to improve.
Contact us by emailing info@suggestionguru.com or calling 818-478-8211 to discuss options for achieving your performance management goals with a year-round solution that really works. We’ll talk to you to assess the right fit, which could be anything from Rypple to InputLadder to several others.
If yours is one of the RARE organizations who has the time, money and resources to truly achieve best practices on performance reviews, the following are a list of providers to consider (alphabetical order; none currently singled out for recommended – this list is for your convenience):
Acadia Human Capital Solutions – Acadia Performance Management Tool
Cognology
Cornerstone Performance Appraisal Software by Cornerstone OnDemand
Element 78 Solutions – Carbon360
EmpXtrack by Saigun Technologies
EPIC Software – EPIC
ETS – Employee Performance Management
Halogen eAppraisal by Halogen Software
Jakoba Software – Employee Performance Management Solution
NuView Systems – NuViewHR
PeopleStreme – Performance Management
Pilat HR Solutions – HR Pulse
Plateau Performance by Plateau Systems
ReviewSNAP by Applied Training Systems
SilkRoad technology – WingSpan
StepStone Solutions – Performance Management
SuccessFactors Performance Review Software by SuccessFactors
Talent Platform by iCIMS
TrakStar Professional by Promantek
Ultimate Software – UltiPro
viaPeople – viaPeople Performance Evaluation
Workstream – Workstream TalentCenter
If after seeing the work that lies ahead in choosing a solution, let alone the challenges of properly implementing it, you want to talk, call us at 818-478-8211 or email info@suggestionguru.com today. If you’ve decided to explore less cumbersome, more flexible solutions, we can get you up and running within days at a fraction of the cost of traditional performance review systems.
Exciting Ways to Use Rypple
Posted by: | CommentsCheck out some fantastic uses for Rypple below. These have been excerpted from Rypple’s blog:
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Personal Feedback (AKA: “What do you think about me?”)
What’s it about?: The classic! Many people want quick, actionable feedback
on a specific task, deliverable, or behavior. Personal feedback helps
Rypplers to improve and advance their careers.
Sample Request: “What’s one thing you liked about the presentation I gave
today and one thing you would suggest I change for next time?”
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Customer Outreach (AKA: “How is our company doing serving you?”)
What it’s about: Knowing what your customers think about the service you
provide is key whether you’re kicking off a project, running a promotion, or
simply running your business! Knowledge is power.
Sample Request: “Do you feel your recent project kickoff meeting has set you
up for success? How can we best support you moving forward?”
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Team Feedback (AKA: “What do you think about us?”)
What’s it about?: It’s about US. How are we doing as a team? What feedback
do you have for the group?
Sample Request: “How we can improve and collaboration and communication
within our team?”
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The Micro-Poll (AKA: “Hey Everyone! Can I quickly get your thoughts on
this?”)
What’s it about: Forget email or long surveys that people hate filling out
(or don’t bother responding to)! Asking a large group one simple question is
a surefire way to get the quick answers you’re looking for!
Sample Request: “What was the highlight of this year’s user conference for
you? What’s one thing we can improve for next year?”
———————–
Decision Support (AKA: “What do you think about this idea?”)
What’s it about: Need to make a decision and want input from others?
Getting everyone together and slowly coaxing out suggestions takes too long!
Meetings can be painful when everyone is gauging their opinion by what
everyone else is saying.
Sample Request: “What do you think our team’s top priorities should be for
2009?”
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Executive Outreach (AKA: “How have we been treating you?”)
What it’s about: Engage your people by showing them that their feedback
matters!
Sample Requests: “What do you like best about working here and how can we
make our company an even better place to work for you?”
———————–
Rapid Peer Reviews (AKA: “What do you think about this person?”)
What it’s about: Supplement those hard-to-organize (and costly) 360 reviews!
Quickly ask for feedback to help coach your team to success.
Sample Request: “Briefly describe your experience working with John Smith
during Q2 of 2009.”
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Review of Input Ladder
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Overview
Input Ladder is an employee relations company that provides an innovative employee feedback platform. Designed to facilitate open-communication, Input Ladder allows employees to communicate with management and choose to do so either anonymously or by identifying themselves. Input Ladder offers various services, which includes an HR Docs section that serves as an online filing cabinet to post valuable internal documents that employees can access from home, work or elsewhere.
Recommended by Suggestion Guru for:
- Teams or departments of 5-50 people.
- Organizations of 10-100 people with minimal layers or hierarchy.
- Organizations wanting innovative ways to communicate about new initiatives, hear about employee conflicts, receive suggestions, get complaints and solicit basic comments.
- Companies seeking tools to boost employee productivity, company morale, and team cohesion.
- Cultures that believe employees will become more productive when people are given the opportunity to speak freely.
Not recommended by Suggestion Guru for organizations with:
- Employees who do not have Web access
- Micromanaging or overly controlling senior leadership who are uncomfortable with publicly visible feedback.
- Companies with a teenage or adolescent workforce or companies with employees who tend to use offensive language during verbal speech
Features
- The individual who provides feedback can be anonymous or identified. No name will appear when you post an anonymous comment unless the user prefers to. Feedback that is posted as a public comment, which means all employees can view the comment, can be responded to by company administrator.
- Anonymous feedback is NOT visible, identified feedback is visible. In both cases, the name of the feedback giver is not publicly visible? Feedback that is posted as a public comment, which means all employees can view the comment, can be responded to by company administrator. Feedback that is posted privately, which means that only the administrator can view the comment, cannot be responded to.
Special Features:
- The HR Docs section, or human resources documents section, is an online filing cabinet. This area is used for management to post valuable internal documents for employees to access. Once uploaded, a user can download the document directly to their computer. For example, a manager can post documents that workers may need to access from home.
- Instructional Aids: Input Ladder will create and send 8 ½ x 11 poster sheets that inform and explain how users can access their company’s account on Input Ladder.
- IP Tracking Access: Upon request, Input Ladder will provide the IP address ( Internet Protocol Address Number) for specific comments (This is typically used for inquiries involving legal matters)
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Introductory Emails to Employees
Pricing
Suggestion Guru Subscribers benefit from the value-added services of Input Ladder. There are 4 available packages, ranging from $29.99 to $69.99 per month. Each package offers unique features and each offer a different amount of available comments.
For example, for the Basic Package, at a price of $29.99 per month, you can receive 100 monthly comments, with 24/7 user support. For $49.99 per month, you can receive 1,000 comments per month, 24/7 user support and Instructional Aid posters that will inform employees on how to use Input Ladder.
The two larger packages offer 5,000 and 10,000 comments per month, respectively, at a monthly rate of $59.99 and $69.99, respectively. Each of these packages have additional features such as an online filing cabinet that allows users to remotely access documents on InputLadder.com, or IP Tracking which allows management to have access to IP Address numbers, primarily for protection during legal issues.
Each package can be paid, monthly with a one-year commitment, or can be paid all up front. Unlike other systems, Input Ladder is priced based on features and volume of comments, not the number of users.
FAQs
Available at http://www.InputLadder.com
Review of “My Review Room”
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Overview
MyReviewRoom (www.myreviewroom.com) to help teams facilitate application acceptance, evaluation and decision making. The review process used in MyReviewRoom’s private virtual room is totally customer-configurable and provides unique advanced capabilities that are both easy to use and affordable. The review process can be implemented in a matter of minutes to manage feedback on applications and any document/video submissions.
Recommended by Suggestion Guru for managing:
• Employment candidate evaluation, tracking and decision making
• Employee Performance Review (360 review)
• Any externally focused competitions for community support, PR, etc. (scholarships, essay contests, internship admissions, grants, etc)
Not Recommended by Suggestion Guru for:
• For reviews requiring only simple polling
• One to One dialogs between individuals
• For public reviews/ratings
Features
• Reduce Costs and Simplify the Management of the review process through automated communications, tracking, real-time results, reduction in face to face meetings, and more
• Go green– Reduce paper, mailings, travel to meetings, and allow participants to join on their own time
• Enable greater participation by applicants, reviewers, recommenders/references, … while lowering overhead
• The commenting system allows for generic & granular comments on documents, pictures, and videos. ReviewRoom organizes comments and supports threaded discussions. Also, complete evaluation/ranking surveys are supported (FluidSurveys.com is built-in to provide the full benefit of easily creating entry and ranking forms, as well as conducting expansive data analysis)
• Model the ReviewRoom process to match your exact requirements including forms, required tasks, scheduling, work flow, branding, access permissions, etc. Quickly re-configure your ReviewRoom for new applications in a matter of minutes.
• Reinforce your image as a leading edge organization leveraging ReviewRoom’s uniquely advanced and cost-effective web-based collaboration capabilities
• All services are available through the web and can easily be linked to an existing website
Special Features:
• Can be branded to match the customer’s desired look
• Additional types of user groups can be included such as mentors to provide constructive feedback to participants. Recommenders can also be included to provide confidential references
• Data can be analyzed with charts, crosstabs, pivot tables, filters, and more. Administrators can use these analysis tools in real-time to come up with useful statistics with a click of a button and export data for presentations as needed.
• Optionally include reference documents and managed discussion topics
• Supports self-registration which can include team members
• Messaging is supported between all users
• Supports download of information for offline viewing
Pricing
Depending on the uses/features you need in your review room, the prices range from $299/year for the Pro version, to $995/year for the Ultra, to $2995 for Enterprise. The key difference is mainly in the variety of user groups supported and the amount of admin control. Video submissions are also supported at the Enterprise level. Additional information on pricing, including detailed feature lists are available at http://myreviewroom.com/pricing/.
FAQs
Most questions are answered on http://myreviewroom.com, which includes descriptions of uses, capabilities by user group, a short video, and other information. Demos are available on request to richf@chide.it.
FluidSurveys for Employee Feedback
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Overview
FluidSurveys allows you to make advanced online surveys and polls while showcasing a very simple drag ‘n drop interface. FluidSurveys has all the typical features that you’d expect in a tool of its kind, except it’s much more intuitive. As a result of the application’s design, what used to take hours to do in other tools can now be done in minutes. The simple layout makes everything easy, from dragging and dropping questions into your surveys to administering changes within your survey.
Recommended by Suggestion Guru for:
- Time-strapped survey administrators, whether for employee-related topics or customer satisfaction.
- Organizations with IT departments that need assurance that a survey provider meet World Wide Web Consortium’s Accessibility Guidelines (both Priority 1 and Priority 2) in addition to 508 Compliance Standards, as well as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections for extra security.
- Situations where you are only doing one survey in six months, since they are one of the rare companies that does not require a subscription. (You pay a one time fee and can create a survey with unlimited responses. You can access the data gathered with this survey at anytime. You can continue gathering data with this survey until you please.)
- Surveys requiring functional enhancements by the vendor (typically there is no charge for these as long as the enhancement is useful to others)
Not Recommended by Suggestion Guru for:
- Organizations than need independently commissioned normative data.
- Organizations where employees don’t have Web access
Features
- Export results into PowerPoint, as well as PDF, Word, Excel and SPSS
- View tabular and graphical results in real time
- Create cross tabulations and filters quickly and easily
- Design yourself with user-friendly interface, including drag n’ drop feature (see more below)
- Advanced data extraction, branching, piping and more with wizards for ease of use
- Support website integration, prompting, polling
- Customize your survey URL
- Multi-user role management for use across organizations
Special Features?
• One of the distinguishing features of FluidSurveys.com is the drag and drop interface in its survey editor. Creating a survey using drag and drop is extremely fast and easy. Traditionally, researchers would create their surveys in a Text Editor (such as Microsoft Word) and then spend the time to “program” their survey onto an online tool. Using FluidSurveys’ intuitive and free flow editor, you can create your surveys on FluidSurveys.com directly. This will save you the time and the hassle of creating your questions twice! Multi-lingual surveys are managed as one for combined data analysis.
Pricing
Depending on the features you need, the prices range from $19/month for the Pro version to $59/month for the Ultra to special pricing for Enterprise use. The key difference between Pro and Ultra is in advanced branching, question types and publishing options. Enterprise comes with support for role management, SPSS export, and panel management integration.
If you are unsure, you can learn more from the website…or just call Suggestion Guru to review which is right for your needs.
FAQs
Most questions are answered on the features page, which is available at http://fluidsurveys.com/features.
Demos are available on request to richf@chide.it.
Save Time with One Call
Posted by: | CommentsWhen looking for a solution, does the prospect of calling around to multiple vendors seem daunting?
How do you know which is right for your specific needs?
Turn to Suggestion Guru to save time and gain the peace-of-mind of having a trusted advisor to help narrow down your solutions.
You’ll hear what your options are, as well as the pros and cons of each approach.
If you look for Web-based feedback solutions and surveys relating to employee engagement, you have literally over a hundred to choose from, including:
Review of Coworkers.com
Posted by: | Comments
Feedback Enthusiast.
Does this sound like you…or who you aspire to be? Then I’d like to give you a checklist of sorts–for the kinds of features you will find in the feedback solution package offered by Coworkers.com.
- You are an individual or conultant who wants to take control of your professional reputation by gathering genuine, in-depth, sometimes anonymous, feedback from coworkers your career
- You want to get honest, unbiased, specific professional feedback from your coworkers. You want to be able to manage your feedback — and who sees it — throughout their career, not just for what you are currently doing.
- You’re committed to ongoing improvement. You want to get ahead by learning where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and monitoring how your feedback changes over time.
- You want to set and analyze goals to improve their effectiveness.
Have I got your interest? Well, read on to see if the following user features and/or benefits would enrich and energize your professional life.
- Users connect with current and former colleagues for honest and, if desired, anonymous feedback on their professional profile, their overall work performance, and the quality and effectiveness of deliverables or specific milestones.
- Users can customize a review template to specific industries, companies, or projects.
- Requested feedback can range from simple commentary to detailed critique.
- Requests are sent via email and/or links that are easy to embed in social networks, blogs, etc.
- With a single click, users can receive statistical details that address questions such as: “how am I doing at work over time?”, “how are my interpersonal skills vs. my productivity?”, or “how am I seen by subordinates vs. supervisors?” This ongoing, analytical approach to work performance puts more practical information in the hands of the worker than is usually provided via traditional annual reviews, sporadic bursts of feedback via email or water cooler chat, or online business networking sites.
- Users can proactively send work evaluations to colleagues via email on an ad hoc basis. The anonymous response and public/private features encourage candor.
- Users control what feedback is collected and which is seen. By selectively displaying reviews and ratings via their public profiles, users can proactively bolster their professional reputations.
Best match for the feedback enthusiast?
Pricing
Most of the functionality on Coworkers is free of charge, and with a paid Pro account you get some more advanced features (scheduled requests, file uploads, etc.): http://www.coworkers.com/pro. Pro is $29.95 (25% off list price of $39.95) with the SuggestionGuru discount.
Rypple: Your Questions Answered!
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is Rypple?
Rypple is simply the best way to get useful feedback. It’s quick, direct, and easy. Successful people have friends, mentors, managers, and clients they view as trusted advisers. These people can give real, useful feedback but it’s often hard for them to give helpful advice. Rypple fixes this by giving you control. You choose your advisers, questions relevant to you, when and how often you ask for feedback, and what to do with it.
Is Rypple private and confidential?
Yes! Only you can see the questions you’ve asked and the responses you’ve received. The identity of each respondent is carefully protected, even from the person who asked the question, so that they can feel free to be completely honest. Companies providing Rypple to their employees don’t have access to the questions and answers but can see aggregated statistics and TouchBase worksheets.
Why is Rypple better than email or face-to-face feedback?
Email and face-to-face meetings are good but they take too long and are not anonymous. Rypple lets you ask and answer questions when it’s convenient. Both you and your advisers enjoy complete privacy: comments are not linked to the names of your advisers; and others (including your boss) don’t see what people are saying about you. Best of all, Rypple keeps all your feedback in one place so you know how you’re doing over time.
How long does it take?
Rypple is often faster than sending an email! It takes about two minutes to ask a question and select the advisers you want to send it to. It takes a couple of minutes for them to give clear, short, and direct feedback. We save everyone’s time by only asking one question at a time and limiting its length (140 characters) and the length of the responses (200 characters).
Manager Feedback Tools: Overview of Rypple
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Rypple: A Full-Featured Employee Feedback Tool for Managers
Rypple is a powerful, multi-faceted product that comes in multiple service packages with discounted pricing for Suggestion Guru subscribers. To determine which level is right for you, please call us at 818-478-8211.Or email us at info@suggestionguru.com
If you are trying to evaluate whether Rypple has the features you are seeking, the overview below should provide you with a good starting point!
And if you want to see the features for yourself, you can get a free trial by signing up through the FREE TRIAL page.
Overview
Consistently achieve better results. Rypple helps your employees learn and execute faster by getting honest and actionable feedback from colleagues, clients, and advisers.
- Personal Feedback: Reach your personal goals faster with quick, actionable feedback from trusted advisers.
- Decision Support: Make informed decisions based on your advisers’ honest and actionable feedback.
- Customer Engagement: Understand what your customers think every day. Protect, defend, and grow revenue.
- Rapid Peer Reviews: Enhance periodic and formal 360s with regular, quick, and actionable feedback.
- Team Feedback: Learn about your team’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Quick Pulse: Use Rypple to regularly find out what your organization really thinks.
Features
Personal and team feedback
Reach your personal and organizational goals faster with quick, actionable feedback from trusted advisers. Learn about your team’s strengths and weaknesses through honest answers delivered by Rypple’s proven response rate. Reach out to customers and unlock additional revenue by learning what they really think.
TouchBase professional development
TouchBase is fast, valuable professional development that works. Move to rapid, regular and meaningful coaching and collaboration through ten minute TouchBase worksheet sessions. Engage your high performers with frequent feedback, continuous improvement, and highly focused execution. All plans include a free trial of TouchBase.
Rapid peer reviews
Enhance periodic and formal 360s with regular, quick, and actionable feedback. Rypple facilitates frequent peer reviews by giving managers an on-demand tool to easily send reviews to their teams. Requests take less than three minutes to complete and are much more honest thanks to Rypple’s adviser identity protection.
Instant Community
Rypple starts building your company’s feedback community from the moment your first request is sent. Discover great questions through the built-in voting system. Prioritize training and education budgets by learning about the areas and skills your people are most focused on improving.
Quick pulse polling
Give your employees a tool to find out what your organization really thinks. QuickPulse shares the same platform as Rypple’s personal feedback and Peer Review tools, bringing the same high response rate, honesty, and speed to your internal surveys.
Organizational analytics
Stay on top of your company’s learning and professional development. Rypple’s Organizational Analytics provides views into the most popular tags and questions, response rates, TouchBase sessions, and training opportunities. Track usage and efficiency in dashboards or export to common formats for further analysis.
Technical
SaaS (software as a service) Product
- It’s quick and easy to deploy and requires no additional infrastructure investment other than a reliable Internet connection. The benefit of SaaS include:
- No client or server software to install or maintain
- No need to buy additional hardware or servers — instant scalability
- Lower initial costs due to the monthly subscription model
- Significantly shorter deployment times get you up and running in days, not weeks
- Accessibility to the application from any Internet-connected computer
- Always up-to-date with the latest features at no extra charge
- No need to maintain a labor-intensive patch and upgrade process
- Reduced reliance on IT staff for software support
System Requirements
Web-based and hosted on the Intuit Workplace. Delivered to your web browser using Adobe Flash technology and will work with any browser that supports Flash.
Technical Support
Support is included with all accounts. Learn More: [http://www.rypple.com Rypple]
Tech Support Telephone
(888)-479-7753
Tech Support URL
http://getsatisfaction.com/rypple/products/rypple_rypple_ipp
