360-Degree-Feedback #1: Why You Need It and How It Works

Jul 22, 2025 4 min reading

You may have already heard about 360-degree feedback at an HR conference or read about it in a professional journal. Perhaps it caught your attention, but at the same time, you thought: “Just another complicated HR initiative that will take up lots of time and eventually lead nowhere.” If you feel this way, you’re not alone. Many HR professionals have mixed feelings about this tool—often based on bad experiences or a lack of understanding of its true purpose.

What 360-Degree Feedback Actually Is

At its core, 360-degree feedback is very simple. Instead of an employee receiving feedback only from their direct supervisor, you get input from all directions—hence the name “360 degrees.” Specifically, feedback is gathered from:

The supervisor – who sees the achievement of goals and strategic thinking.
Colleagues – who witness daily collaboration and communication.
Direct reports – if the person being evaluated is in a leadership position, their perspective is invaluable.
The employee themselves – self-assessment allows for a comparison between self-perception and reality.
External partners – customers or suppliers, if they regularly work with the evaluated person.

Imagine it like assembling a puzzle. Traditional evaluation gives you one piece—the view of the supervisor. 360-degree feedback provides all the other important pieces so you see the complete picture rather than just a fragment.

Why Traditional Evaluation Isn’t Enough

Katka, an HR manager at a mid-sized manufacturing company, shared a story from her experience. They had a production manager who, according to the CEO, was “a great leader with excellent results.” The numbers confirmed it—his department had the lowest costs and the highest productivity.

However, when Katka started investigating the high turnover in that department, she uncovered something surprising. Through informal conversations with departing employees, she found out what was really happening in the team.

The manager was achieving short-term results at the cost of burnout. He had created an atmosphere of fear where people worked to their limits out of anxiety, not motivation. He had canceled training and machine maintenance to save costs. Instead of improving processes, he pushed for overtime. His communication style was destructive—he didn’t communicate clearly, didn’t delegate effectively, and when problems arose, he looked for scapegoats instead of solutions. Colleagues from other departments avoided him because he came off as arrogant and didn’t listen to their suggestions.

“On paper, it looked great for half a year, but then everything started falling apart. The best people left, machines began breaking down, and complaints rolled in. If we’d had 360-degree feedback, we would have seen signs of his destructive leadership style a year earlier and could have addressed it through development instead of dealing with the fallout of high turnover and declining results,” Katka says in hindsight.

When and Why 360-Degree Feedback Works

The key to success is understanding that 360-degree feedback is not a tool for punishment or reward. Nor is it a platform for settling scores with colleagues, even though, unfortunately, that sometimes happens. It’s a developmental tool, like giving someone a mirror to see how others perceive them. The goal isn’t to say, “You’re bad,” or “Here’s what others think of you,” but rather, “These are your strengths, and here’s where you can improve.”

This approach works best when:

You have a clearly defined development goal – For example, you want to develop future leaders or improve team communication. 360-degree feedback shows you where to start.
You create a safe environment – Employees need to trust that their honesty won’t be punished. This means complete anonymity for evaluators (except the supervisor) and clear communication that results won’t directly affect pay or promotions.
You focus on specific behaviors, not personality traits – Instead of “Jan is arrogant,” you focus on “Jan often interrupts others during meetings and doesn’t listen to their suggestions.”

What 360-Degree Feedback Can Give You

When implemented properly, 360-degree feedback offers several tangible benefits:

Better self-awareness among key people – Your managers will see for the first time how their teams perceive them. That alone can be a powerful catalyst for change.
Uncovering hidden issues – You might have a manager who reports excellently upwards, but their team sees them as uncommunicative. Or, conversely, you may discover individuals with leadership potential who don’t yet see it themselves.
More objective foundations for development plans – Instead of vague goals like “improve communication,” you’ll have concrete data on what exactly to improve and how.
Gradual cultivation of a feedback culture – Employees will get used to feedback as a normal and useful part of work.

What 360-Degree Feedback Is Not

It’s just as important to know what 360-degree feedback is not. It is not a tool for:

Making direct decisions about pay or promotions
Blaming people for team problems
Replacing traditional performance reviews
Offering a one-off “fix” for leadership issues

How to Start Thinking About Implementation

Before you dive into the practical steps, ask yourself a few key questions:

What is your main objective? Do you want to develop leaders? Improve team collaboration? Identify talent? A clear goal will shape the entire design of the process.
What is your company culture like? If your people aren’t used to open feedback, you’ll need to adapt the process and invest more in preparation.
Do you have leadership support? Without it, it won’t work. Leadership must not only approve the budget but actively support the process—and ideally participate themselves.
What resources do you have? 360-degree feedback requires time, energy, and often investment in technology or external services.

In the next part, we’ll look at how to properly set up the components of the system—from selecting reviewers to defining the competencies you’ll evaluate.