360-Degree Feedback

360-degree feedback is an assessment method in which an employee receives structured, usually anonymous feedback from multiple perspectives around them — their manager, peers, direct reports, sometimes internal or external customers — combined with a self-assessment. The name reflects the full circle of viewpoints, in contrast to traditional top-down review by the manager alone. The method's core value is exposing blind spots: systematic gaps between self-perception and how others experience a person's behavior, which single-source feedback rarely reveals. Standard practice runs 360s through dedicated survey tools or performance platforms, with competency-based questionnaires, a minimum number of raters per category to protect anonymity, and a facilitated debrief of the resulting report. The critical design decision — supported consistently by organizational research — is purpose: 360-degree feedback works well for development (feeding coaching plans and leadership programs) and poorly as direct input to pay and promotion decisions, because evaluative stakes reliably distort ratings through leniency, alliances, and retaliation fears. Common implementation failures include vague questionnaires, no follow-up after the report, and running 360s in low-trust cultures where anonymity is doubted. Done well, the 360 is a standard component of leadership development: results identify development priorities, which translate into coaching and learning paths, increasingly managed and tracked through the organization's learning platform.