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360 Feedback Examples For Peers & Managers

BY
Andrew Langat
November 2, 2022
An executive writing a feedback for his peer.
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360-degree feedback allows employees to receive constructive feedback from various sources, including other team members, customers, and managers. This type of feedback, also known as multi-rater feedback, can be extremely beneficial as a review system to facilitate Individual success.

For organizations, It offers well-rounded qualitative feedback on employee performance and allows them to identify areas where they may need to improve to further enhance employee development.

For employees, it can provide a complete picture of their performance - usually honest feedback. This way, they learn their strengths and weakness, adjust behaviors, and develop skills for optimum performance critical for career development.

For managers, it offers room to deliver balanced and constructive criticism to employees, facilitating a better understanding of an employee.

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What is 360-Degree Feedback?

360-degree feedback is a job performance review process where employees receive anonymous feedback from multiple sources: direct reports, other team members, managers, and customers. This confidential feedback is typically provided through a questionnaire or survey.

360-degree feedback is a great way to provide employee feedback on how others perceive them. As a subjective tool, among others, it measures the following:

  • How an employee carry themselves at work,
  • How an employee communicate
  • How an employee collaborate
  • Team member's opinions on a given employee

On the other hand, 360-degree feedback does not measure employee performance objectives, job suitability, or absolutes such as conversion rates, attendance, etc.

When used effectively, 360-degree feedback can be a valuable tool for improving individual and organizational performance as it boosts employee motivation and ensures continuous professional development.

360-degree feedback has widespread acceptance, and over 90% of Fortune 500 companies, including Meta, and Netflix, regularly use it to learn more about their employees.

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Examples of 360-Degree Feedback Questions

360-degree feedback can best be given by asking closed and open-ended questions. Such questions offer a window into analyzing performance by offering deeper insights. Some samples question on Key themes include:

Handling Criticism

Question: Please rate {enter name} on how they handle criticism.

Workplace Strengths

Question: Please rate {enter name} on what you believe is their strength

Working Independently

Question: Can you say this employee{enter name} works independently?

Time Management

Question: How well does this employee{enter name} manage their time?

Communication Skills?

Question: What areas of your communication skills do you need Improvement?

Creativity

Questions: Do you think this {employee} offers creative solutions to your group?

Team Member

Question: Does this employee regularly follow up on new ideas?

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Examples of 360-Degree Feedback Responses

360-degree feedback can generate two responses - either positive or in need of improvement. In this context, we shall offer feedback examples on leadership, communication, teamwork, productivity, attendance, and interpersonal skills.

Leadership Skills Feedback Examples

Positive Feedback: "This person shows traits of a confident team leader. They show capacity in problem-solving and resolving conflicts."

"This person has shown great leadership and is able to resolve conflicts among team members"

Needs Improvement: "This employee is not great at meeting deadlines and inducting new hires."

Communication Skills Feedback Examples

Positive Feedback: "This employee communicates effectively and is typically collected when doing presentations."

Needs Improvement: "This irregular communication with direct reports may need improvement."

Teamwork Skills Feedback Examples

Positive Feedback: "This employee is a valuable team member and can be relied upon to solve problems."

Needs Improvement: "This employee may need more performance management to refine core competencies."

Productivity Feedback Examples

Positive feedback: "This employee delivers quality work and meets deadlines. Moreover, they offer important perspectives that have helped drive the project in the right direction.

Needs Improvement: "This employee might need constant supervision of a line manager to meet performance levels."

Attendance Feedback Examples

Positive Feedback: "This employee is always a team player and has been available for all team meetings."

Needs Improvement: "The employee performance might improve if they regularly meet deadlines on assigned tasks."

Interpersonal Skills Feedback Examples

Positive Feedback: "Even when disagreeing with others, this person differentiates personal and professional disagreements, and his interpersonal skills show great professionalism.

Needs Improvement: "The employees regularly don't show great interpersonal skills, which have led to acrimonious situations during problem-solving."

An executive filling out a 360 degree feedback form for his peer.

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How Can Managers Effectively Use 360 Feedback?

Managers can use 360 feedback to realize certain objectives, such as.

First, they can use it to classify areas of improvement. Managers can pinpoint specific areas that need work by understanding what their employees think of their performance based on employee feedback.

Secondly, managers can use 360 feedback to set their goals and objectives. By understanding what employees expect, managers can set realistic goals to help them improve their tasks effectively.

Finally, managers can use 360 feedback to create action plans. By understanding what needs to be done to improve their performance, managers can develop specific plans of action that will help them achieve their goals.

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What are the Advantages of 360-Degree Feedback?

Some of the advantages of 360-degree feedback include the following:

  • Allows employees to receive feedback from various sources, creating a more accurate picture of performance. This facilitates them in understanding the core areas of improvement.
  • Unlike other performance reviews that focus solely on results, it provides employees with a well-rounded view.
  • Promotes a culture of open communication and feedback. This allows psychological safety to become part of the organization's culture.
  • Assist employees in aligning with company values.
  • The knowledge that team members' opinions, customers, or managers will give input on performance makes an employee motivated to deliver across different fronts.
  • Promotes self-awareness. Employees better understand how others(peers, team members) think of them, etc. This way, they can answer questions such as: are they, good team members? What behavior can they improve? Etc.
  • It can assist managers in better assigning duties, such as which employee is best placed in leading work groups, etc.
  • It promotes a culture of accountability in an organization. This cuts across the board - for team members, peers, direct reports, and leadership.
  • It can offer insights into training gaps. This will further enhance core competencies and boost motivation.

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What are the Disadvantages of 360-degree Feedback?

  • 360-degree feedback can be time-consuming and expensive to implement, especially if feedback is sought from multiple sources.
  • There is a risk of creating negative feelings or conflict if the feedback is not handled properly.
  • The results of 360-degree feedback can be difficult to interpret, especially with many participants.
  • Some people may be reluctant to participate in 360-degree feedback, either because they are afraid of giving negative feedback or because they do not want to receive it.
  • There is a potential for abuse if 360-degree feedback is used as a tool for criticism rather than development.
  • Finding qualified people to give feedback can be difficult, especially if the participants are in different locations.
  • Co-workers can conspire to offer good reviews among themselves
  • Repetitive negative feedback without a remedy for improvement can increase stress levels, affecting job performance.

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Tips for Giving Effective 360-Degree Feedback

You might be required to regularly organize 360-degree feedback as a group leader or manager. When done right, it has a great potential to generate good feedback that can be a catalyst for change. Here as are some tips for organizing one:

  • Clearly explain what 360-degree feedback is and why you want to use it in measuring performance. Inform participants not to take it personally but rather see the result of this exercise as a window to understanding themselves better. This is important for this and when you intend to carry out other feedback assessments, such as the Start, Stop, and Continue feedback.
  • Involve leadership and management. Involving an organization's top leadership ensures you commit to implementing the outcome.
  • Avoid giving criticism that is vague or nonspecific. When critiquing employees' performance, it's important to be as specific as possible. This way, the person receiving the feedback can understand what they need to work on, and they won't feel like you're just nitpicking.
  • Critique the behavior, not the person. When giving feedback, it's important to focus on the behavior you want to change rather than attacking the person themselves this way; you provide feedback that focuses solely on correcting undesired behavior.
  • For example, instead of saying, "you're lazy, "Try, "I noticed you didn't take the initiative to work on that project."
  • Use "I" statements. When giving feedback, use "I" statements so that the person receiving them doesn't feel like you're attacking them. For example, instead of saying, "you're lazy," try, "I noticed that you didn't take the initiative to work on that project."
  • Avoid using absolutes. Avoid using absolutes such as "always" or "never." For example, instead of saying, "you never take the initiative," try, "I noticed that you didn't take the initiative to work on that project."
  • Be specific. When giving feedback, be specific about what you want the person to do differently. For example, instead of saying, "I noticed that you didn't take the initiative to work on that project," try, "I'd like you to take the initiative to work on that project."
  • For large organizations with many employees, start with a pilot group. This assists in refining the process before full implementation.
  • For best results, ensure that anonymity is assured for all participants. This will boost employees' motivation to participate in the activity and encourage honest feedback.
  • Finally, act on the results. This enhances employees' motivation to participate in future feedback, knowing that it improves them.
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How Highrise Can Help

Are you looking at implementing 360-degree feedback in your organization to boost employee engagement, and you don't know how to get started? Or do you want to make the process more serious in your organization?

At Highrise, we have great ideas for getting started and solutions to ensure employees grow with your organization as part of our Coaching for Executives and Leaders.

Get in touch to arrange a Demo on how to get started.

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AUTHOR
Andrew Langat
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Andrew Langat is an experienced content specialist in Leadership, Productivity, Education, Fintech, and Research. He is an avid reader and loves swimming as a hobby. He believes that quality content should be actionable and helpful.