• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
QuestionPro

QuestionPro

questionpro logo
  • Products
    survey software iconSurvey softwareOur flagship survey solution. Sophisticated tools to get the answers you need.research edition iconResearch SuiteTuned for researchers. Get more insights. Response based pricing.CX iconCXExperiences change the world. Deliver the best with our CX management software.WF iconWorkforceEmpower your work leaders, make informed decisions and drive employee engagement.
  • Solutions
    IndustriesGamingAutomotiveSports and eventsEducationGovernment
    Travel & HospitalityFinancial ServicesHealthcareCannabisTechnology
    Use CaseNPS+CommunitiesAudienceContactless surveysMobile
    LivePollsMember ExperienceGDPRPositive People Science360 Feedback Surveys
  • Resources
    BlogeBooksSurvey TemplatesCase StudiesTrainingHelp center
  • Features
  • Pricing
Language
  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
Call Us
+1 800 531 0228 +1 (647) 956-1242 +52 999 402 4079 +49 301 663 5782 +44 20 3650 3166 +81-3-6869-1954 +61 2 8074 5080 +971 529 852 540
Log In Log In
SIGN UP FREE

Home Workforce

360 degree survey: Why it’s important for leadership development

360 degree feedback survey

We are living in an always-on era, where there is an ongoing stream of information in both our social and work lives. As such, honesty in communication has become of critical importance in navigating this complicated world. Let’s talk about the importance of a 360 degree survey and leadership development.

As organizational leaders, what can we do to create a space for a positive and constructive exchange of information? Are there ways to improve without radical reinvention? And if so, what changes will be easy to implement and measure? We’d love to share with you more about how you can develop, evaluate, and take your leaders to the next level. Would you like to know more? Please read on. 

What is a 360 degree survey?

Also known as 360 degree feedback or 360 assessment, a 360 degree survey is a powerful way to receive advice from the people a person works most closely with—including managers, peers, direct reports, and other people they interact with (e.g., clients or vendors).

The key is that this is not your typical top-down performance review, but rather a collection of perspectives from a variety of sources, centered on growth and development. It is indispensable information that empowers leaders with insightful, timely and valuable insights to better develop themselves and better lead their people.

Why conduct a 360 degree feedback survey?

Conducting a 360 degree feedback survey is one of the most effective ways to provide constructive and actionable insights for leaders to grow and develop. Here are some ways a company can use this powerful tool to benefit from feedback:

  • To create and build an honest feedback culture

A healthy company workplace culture comes from a straightforward, honest and well-timed employee feedback loop between all levels of an organization. If employees feel comfortable sharing what they think about management, and vice versa, they are more likely to be happy and engaged.

This exchange of performance feedback and forward-looking advice not only helps leaders get a clearer picture and a roadmap of the best way they can contribute to the organization, but will also have an impact on transforming the organization’s culture as a whole as there is no better way to lead change than by example.

  • To support individual development plans

Development should be the key output of a 360-degree feedback survey. The primary goal of these assessments is to find out how others feel about your leaders, regardless of their position in an organization, and to apply data to help them become a better leader overall.

Oftentimes development conversations and coaching happen between the person and their direct manager, and while this is useful, it is only a partial view of how a person can improve. For a leader to be better aware of how their interactions impact others, having the various viewpoints gathered from 360 feedback is infinitely more useful for development than a unilateral input from a person’s manager themselves.  

  • To understand the perspective of others

Again, most often traditional performance reviews are biased based solely on a manager’s perspective of the employee’s performance.

At best, the manager may send a few emails with open-ended questions to several colleagues to solicit additional input, and while this is better than not asking for input at all, the results are often difficult to consolidate into meaningful insights and actions.

Since 360 feedback necessarily provides viewpoints of different individuals, they can be a great way to find out about the differences in perceptions between leaders and peers without adding strain to professional relationships. 

  • Focus on the competencies that actually matter

360 degree surveys have a great ability to block out the noise and let leaders focus on what’s important for their organization and its people. And while you will still get a ton of data from several sources, the kind of feedback that you end up with will be tailored to the actual competencies and behaviors that are the most important to the organization.

It ultimately can be used for leadership development and to help drive change. While there are competencies that are usually important across a variety of organizations, there are also certain competencies that may be unique to provide alignment and support to unique organization values. 

What to ask in a 360 degree survey review

There are a number of different 360 review frameworks available on the market, often informed by academics or consultants. The right approach for your organization will be heavily informed by your unique culture and the competencies that you find important for your leaders to have.

Regardless of how you choose the questions, here are some guidelines we’d suggest for you to consider.  

  • Clearly define what competencies are important for your organization. Then, ask a small group of clear questions to evaluate each specific competency, so you can get information from more than a single angle or item. 
  • Use clear, concise and universal language, which reflects how employees speak in your organization; be as technical or light as you need to be so that it can be understood by absolutely everyone. This will greatly improve the quality of the information obtained.
  • Decide on a scale wording that will be the most conducive to making sure those providing feedback feel comfortable sharing it, that the feedback will be received as constructive rather than judgmental from the person being reviewed. Likert-type scales are most commonly used, and combining them with a set of optional, open-ended questions will provide a great balance of quantitative and qualitative data for development.

Implementing a successful 360 degree survey process

Some organizations partner with consultancies for their 360 degree feedback process, while others prefer to launch the assessment with in-house teams. Whichever approach you select, there are a few steps that will help make sure your program is successful.

steps to 360 feedback process survey

  1. Consider a rollout timeline for your organization – does it make sense to put all leaders through the feedback process at once, or implement it through several waives?
  2. Clearly communicate the purpose of the feedback from the beginning, to foster both trust but also excitement of the value that this process will bring forth.
  3. Send the survey to both the person being evaluated for self-evaluation as well as those evaluating them. Set reminders and communicate a desired completion timeline.
  4. Come up with the plan for the leaders to most effectively take action on the results. Will they be working with HR on their developmental opportunities, be offered group trainings, or partnered with an executive coach, for example?

Consultancies

We support and partner with consultancies who have developed their own models to empower different kinds of leaders. We can help you bring your leadership philosophy to life in an even more profound way with our powerful 360 technology.

HR teams

Our 360 degree platform is intuitive and easy to use to create your leadership survey. With our out of the box assessment you can measure the most critical and contemporary competencies, such as inclusive leadership, resilience, team capacity management, and much more. 

Ready to start rolling out 360 reviews in your organization? 360 feedback software is much more than a platform to share observations of behaviors, it has the power to help transform the way someone leads the organization. At QuestionPro, we want to make sure no matter how you approach leadership development, that we can effectively accompany you on this journey. 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

About the author
Guille Santana
View all posts by Guille Santana

Primary Sidebar

Take your people experience to the next level!

Try our Employee Experience Survey and Analytics platform

Learn more

RELATED ARTICLES

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

Customer Empathy: What It Is, Importance & How to Build

Oct 10,2022

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

eMobility (Electromobility): Definition & Benefits

Jun 08,2022

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

Release Notes - August 2021

Sep 02,2021

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

  • Academic
  • Academic Research
  • Academic Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessments
  • Audience
  • Brand Awareness
  • Brand Awareness
  • Branding
  • Business
  • Business
  • Case Studies
  • Communities
  • Consumer Insights
  • Consumer Insights
  • Customer effort score
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Customer Experience IN
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Research
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • CX
  • Decision Making
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Retention
  • Employee Retention
  • Employee Retention
  • Employee Retention
  • Enterprise
  • Events
  • Forms
  • Friday Five
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Guest Post
  • Insights Hub
  • Intercept
  • Life@QuestionPro
  • LivePolls
  • Market Research
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Marketing
  • Marktonderzoek
  • medewerkersonderzoek
  • Mobile
  • Mobile
  • Mobile App
  • Mobile diaries
  • Mobile Surveys
  • New Features
  • non-profit
  • NPS
  • Online Communities
  • Polls
  • Question Types
  • Questionnaire
  • QuestionPro
  • QuestionPro Products
  • QuestionPro Products
  • Release Notes
  • Research
  • Research Tools and Apps
  • Revenue at Risk
  • Startups
  • Survey Templates
  • Surveys
  • Surveys
  • Tech News
  • Tips
  • Training
  • Training Tips
  • Trending
  • Uncategorized
  • Video Learning Series
  • VOC
  • Webinar
  • Webinars
  • What’s Coming Up
  • Workforce
  • Workforce
  • Workforce
  • Workforce Intelligence
  • Workforce Intelligence
  • Workforce Intelligence

Footer

MORE LIKE THIS

Find out how the Service Profit Chain increases profits by giving great customer service and keeping workers interested.

Service Profit Chain: What it Is + Step-by-Step Guide

Jun 2, 2023

When it comes to research, ethics is a crucial component that guides how we conduct our studies. Learn everything about it.

Ethics in Research: Understanding its Importance + Best Practices

Jun 1, 2023

Unleash Servqual power: Recognize this model for evaluating service excellence and providing excellent customer experiences. Learn how now!

Servqual: What it Is + How To Understand the Model

May 31, 2023

Understanding customer behavior can drive remarkable experiences and foster long-term customer loyalty.

Behavior Science: The Delight of CX Management — Tuesday CX

May 30, 2023

Other categories

  • Academic
  • Academic Research
  • Academic Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessments
  • Audience
  • Brand Awareness
  • Brand Awareness
  • Branding
  • Business
  • Business
  • Case Studies
  • Communities
  • Consumer Insights
  • Consumer Insights
  • Customer effort score
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Customer Experience IN
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Research
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • CX
  • Decision Making
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Retention
  • Employee Retention
  • Employee Retention
  • Employee Retention
  • Enterprise
  • Events
  • Forms
  • Friday Five
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Guest Post
  • Insights Hub
  • Intercept
  • Life@QuestionPro
  • LivePolls
  • Market Research
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Marketing
  • Marktonderzoek
  • medewerkersonderzoek
  • Mobile
  • Mobile
  • Mobile App
  • Mobile diaries
  • Mobile Surveys
  • New Features
  • non-profit
  • NPS
  • Online Communities
  • Polls
  • Question Types
  • Questionnaire
  • QuestionPro
  • QuestionPro Products
  • QuestionPro Products
  • Release Notes
  • Research
  • Research Tools and Apps
  • Revenue at Risk
  • Startups
  • Survey Templates
  • Surveys
  • Surveys
  • Tech News
  • Tips
  • Training
  • Training Tips
  • Trending
  • Uncategorized
  • Video Learning Series
  • VOC
  • Webinar
  • Webinars
  • What’s Coming Up
  • Workforce
  • Workforce
  • Workforce
  • Workforce Intelligence
  • Workforce Intelligence
  • Workforce Intelligence

questionpro-logo-nw
Help center Live Chat SIGN UP FREE
  • Sample questions
  • Sample reports
  • Survey logic
  • Branding
  • Integrations
  • Professional services
  • Security
  • Survey Software
  • Customer Experience
  • Workforce
  • Communities
  • Audience
  • Polls Explore the QuestionPro Poll Software - The World's leading Online Poll Maker & Creator. Create online polls, distribute them using email and multiple other options and start analyzing poll results.
  • Research Edition
  • LivePolls
  • InsightsHub
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • eBooks
  • Survey Templates
  • Case Studies
  • Training
  • Webinars
  • Coronavirus Resources
  • All Plans
  • Nonprofit
  • Academic
  • Qualtrics Alternative Explore the list of features that QuestionPro has compared to Qualtrics and learn how you can get more, for less.
  • SurveyMonkey Alternative
  • VisionCritical Alternative
  • Medallia Alternative
  • Likert Scale Complete Likert Scale Questions, Examples and Surveys for 5, 7 and 9 point scales. Learn everything about Likert Scale with corresponding example for each question and survey demonstrations.
  • Conjoint Analysis
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) Learn everything about Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the Net Promoter Question. Get a clear view on the universal Net Promoter Score Formula, how to undertake Net Promoter Score Calculation followed by a simple Net Promoter Score Example.
  • Offline Surveys
  • Customer Satisfaction Surveys
  • Employee Survey Software Employee survey software & tool to create, send and analyze employee surveys. Get real-time analysis for employee satisfaction, engagement, work culture and map your employee experience from onboarding to exit!
  • Market Research Survey Software Real-time, automated and advanced market research survey software & tool to create surveys, collect data and analyze results for actionable market insights.
  • GDPR & EU Compliance
  • Employee Experience
  • Customer Journey
  • About us
  • Executive Team
  • In the news
  • Testimonials
  • Advisory Board
  • Careers
  • Brand
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us

QuestionPro in your language

  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • Svenska (Swedish)

Awards & certificates

  • survey-leader-asia-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-asiapacific-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-enterprise-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-europe-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-latinamerica-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-middleeast-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-mid-market-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-small-business-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-unitedkingdom-leader-2023
  • survey-momentumleader-leader-2023
  • bbb-acredited
The Experience Journal

Find innovative ideas about Experience Management from the experts

  • © 2022 QuestionPro Survey Software | +1 (800) 531 0228
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use