TN144 360-degree reviews for churches?

First published on this website in February 2023

Synopsis

The default system for employee reviews is an annual appraisal or 'Personal Development Review' with a line manager. But this is not the only method available. What are known as ‘360-degree reviews’ are now popular in the secular world. These notes explain how these work and explore their possible value in church work.

The notes describe the features of such reviews along with their advantages and potential problems. But are they appropriate for churches? They are already used in some Minister review schemes but the Notes list some possible dangers before explaining how to run them well.

All this is then applied first to Ministers and then to church staff and voluntary leaders. There are ideas for who might populate the different review groups in a church setting, how to explain the scheme to reviewers who have not met it before or have an unhelpful overview from their work environment, and lists of possible question types.

The basic advice is to keep it all very simple.