What is a 360-degree feedback survey?

When it comes to how your employees view their leaders, managers and co-workers throughout your organization, it’s important to get the full picture.

A 360-degree feedback survey collects confidential input on an employee’s behaviors and competencies from multiple perspectives. 

This comprehensive guide explains what 360-degree feedback is, walks you through creating a 360 survey, and shows you how to programmatize this system for continuous employee development and increased productivity.

360-degree employee feedback is a developmental assessment tool that gathers behavioral input from managers, peers, direct reports, and self-ratings to create a rounded view of how someone works with others. 

Raters describe concrete behaviors, collaboration habits, and leadership competencies based on what they see day to day. That makes 360 feedback better suited for development than for making pay or promotion decisions.

A key part of the process is self-assessment. Employees first rate their own behaviors and strengths. Then they compare those answers to feedback from managers, peers, and direct reports. The gaps and overlaps between those views confirm strengths, highlight blind spots, and point to specific areas for growth.

Many organizations keep the focus on growth by positioning 360 assessment as an input into coaching and development plans rather than a standalone performance score.

A defined, step-by-step process helps you conduct 360-degree feedback reviews that deliver reliable insights and actionable development plans. The six steps below outline what is measured, who participates, how feedback is collected, and how results inform development planning. 

Following a consistent workflow improves clarity for participants and strengthens the quality of the final report. Many organizations schedule the full cycle over 6–12 weeks to give each stage enough time without slowing momentum.

The survey is the foundation of your program, so focus on measuring actions, not abstract traits.

Or skip the survey design process and use our 360-degree Employee Evaluation Survey Template.

Anonymity is absolutely critical for getting honest, candid feedback.

Most importantly, explain these safeguards in all invitations and training so participants feel fully confident their feedback will remain anonymous.

Related reading: Anonymous employee survey usage, tips, best practices, and templates

Don't assume everyone understands the process—you need to prep both givers and receivers for success.

You want the process to be smooth and participation to be high across all rater groups.

Related reading: What day of the week should you send your survey?

Your goal in data analysis is to move beyond simple scores to find meaningful themes and patterns.

The debrief conversation is arguably the most valuable part of the entire process.

Creating a 360-degree employee feedback survey is easier when you start with a clear structure.

Our 360-degree Employee Evaluation Survey Template provides a consistent foundation you can tailor to each role and adapt to fit your organization’s goals and the behaviors you want to reinforce. With a template in place, you can move quickly from setup to collecting meaningful, actionable feedback.

You can use a template like this as a starting point, then add, remove, or edit items to fit your own competency model and language. 

Decide which competencies you want feedback on before creating your 360-degree survey questions. Pick a small, focused set so the survey stays clear, and the report is easy to interpret. For example:

Use these criteria to guide which behaviors you write items about and how you group questions in the report.

When selecting assessors, start with people who work closely with the employee: their manager, 3–5 peers, and 3–5 direct reports if they manage a team. You can invite the employee to suggest raters as well, since that often increases buy-in and ownership. Have a manager or HR partner review the list to avoid favoritism and make sure it reflects a balanced mix of perspectives.

Distribute the survey through email or your usual communication channels with clear instructions and deadlines. Explain the purpose of the 360 assessment, how anonymity works, and how long the survey will take to complete. Schedule a few simple reminders before the closing date and monitor response rates so each rater group is well represented.

Once results are in, schedule a one-on-one conversation to walk through the report. Highlight a few key strengths, a few priority growth areas, and any meaningful gaps between self-ratings and others’ perceptions. Use the discussion to co-create a small number of concrete development goals and agree on what support or follow-up will help.

Following up on how an employee has responded to 360 feedback is key to real change. Build in check-ins over the next three to six months to revisit goals, discuss what’s working, and adjust plans as needed. This steady follow-up turns a one-time survey into an ongoing development habit instead of a once-a-year event.

Strong 360 survey questions make it easy for raters to describe what they actually see at work. The goal is to connect every item back to your purpose and competency model, without leading people toward a “right” answer.

When you write or survey questions, keep these principles in mind:

Bear in mind that respondents are more inclined to participate in your survey when they are not forced to answer all of the questions. Therefore, allow most of your questions to be optional to answer.

Here are some examples of the types of questions that are asked on a 360 degree feedback survey.

Both traditional performance reviews and 360-degree feedback reviews assess how employees are doing, but they serve different purposes. Traditional reviews focus on results from a single manager’s perspective. 360-degree reviews add behavioral feedback from multiple people to show how those results are achieved.

Most organizations get the best results when they use a 360 assessment tool primarily for development. When 360-degree feedback survey scores are tied directly to pay or promotion, people may become more guarded or political, weakening trust and making the feedback less honest. Keeping 360 evaluations separate from compensation decisions helps maintain psychological safety and keeps the focus on learning and growth.

360-degree feedback surveys help people understand how their work is experienced by others, not just how they see themselves. When employees can compare multiple perspectives, they gain clearer insight into strengths, blind spots, and the behaviors that shape team culture.

Input from managers, peers, direct reports, and self-ratings creates a fuller picture than a single-rater review. Seeing how different groups experience the same behaviors helps people validate their strengths, spot blind areas, and adjust habits that may be holding them back.

360-degree reviews give teams a shared language for discussing collaboration, communication, and leadership. When patterns show up across several team members—for example, low scores on trust or communication—they can guide team-level discussions, help reset norms, and support stronger working relationships.

Build even more efficiency into your team when you work on employee surveys together.

Clear, behavior-based feedback makes it easier for employees to set focused development goals and follow-up actions. When results are rolled up across roles or departments, leaders can see recurring strengths and gaps and align coaching, processes, or support programs accordingly.

360-degree feedback helps employees understand which behaviors will support the roles they want next—whether that involves people leadership, project ownership, or cross-functional influence. Managers and coaches can use the results to shape richer career conversations and support long-term growth.

Aggregated results often reveal skills or behaviors that need strengthening at scale. Learning and development teams can use these insights to target training, mentoring, or resources that will have the greatest impact, rather than relying on anecdotal feedback.

Because multi-rater input reflects a wider set of experiences, it can reduce dependence on a single manager’s opinion and make it easier to spot outlier ratings. With thoughtful design, including clear questions, rater training, anonymity thresholds, and ongoing monitoring, it can also help surface rating patterns that may indicate bias and keep the process fair.

360-degree feedback offers meaningful insight, but it also comes with limitations that are important to understand before launching a review. These challenges don’t undermine the value of 360s; they simply highlight where thoughtful planning and communication matter most.

Some participants may be new to giving structured feedback. Without practice, comments may skew overly positive, overly cautious, or lack the behavioral detail needed to be useful. Clear instructions, examples, and a quick orientation can help raters feel more confident and provide stronger input.

Not every rater works closely enough with the person being reviewed to give meaningful feedback. In these cases, responses may be vague or incomplete. Encouraging raters to answer only what they can speak to and giving them the option to skip items keeps the results more accurate.

A 360 survey that tries to assess too many competencies or uses unclear wording can dilute the results. When this happens, employees may struggle to understand the key messages or take action on them. Keeping the questionnaire focused on the most important behaviors helps maintain clarity and relevance.

Running a 360 review takes time—from selecting rater groups to collecting responses to interpreting the final report. Most organizations plan for a 6–12 week cycle to give each phase enough space without losing momentum. The payoff is richer insight, but it requires intentional coordination.

360 reviews focus on observable behaviors, and they can support a wide range of culture and development goals as long as they’re targeted and well-timed.

In their book The Art and Science of 360 Degree Feedback, Richard Lepsinger and Antoinette D. Lucia recommend using 360s when a company wants to:

In practice, many teams use 360-degree feedback in a few repeatable ways.

Run a 360 evaluation for new managers once they’ve been in a role long enough for raters to see real behaviors. This is often around the 6–9 month mark, with an optional follow-up a year later. Focus questions on communication, coaching, delegation, and building trust with the team so new leaders get specific guidance on where to lean in and where to adjust.

For senior leaders, 360 assessments work best on a slower cadence, such as every 18–24 months, tied to major role changes or strategy shifts. Question sets often emphasize vision, alignment, decision-making, and cross-functional influence. This keeps the feedback focused on how effectively leaders set direction, remove blockers, and support other teams.

You can also run lighter 360 surveys after major projects or cross-functional initiatives to capture how collaboration worked across teams. In these cases, keep the questionnaire short and focused on behaviors like communication, clarity, ownership, and follow-through, and run the review within a few weeks of project close so examples are still fresh.

Across all these use cases, 360-degree feedback works best when people understand the purpose and believe the results will be used constructively. Make it clear up front that the goal is to support growth, not to catch people out, and follow through by using the insights to shape real development plans and follow-up conversations.

The next time performance reviews come up on your calendar, you may want to consider the option of using 360-feedback surveys in your team. It is a great way to help key members of your team develop in their careers and to build a positive culture inside the company.

Get started on your 360-degree feedback survey now with SurveyMonkey. Choose your plan, and use our 360 template today!