Our 360-degree feedback tool provides a holistic view of an employee’s skills and capabilities by incorporating feedback from peers, managers, and self-assessments. This enables employees to understand their strengths and areas for growth from multiple perspectives and organizations to better align their talent pool with business goals.

360-degree feedback, or multi-rater feedback, can often replace traditional performance review frameworks with a fairer, more accurate assessment of an employee’s skills, performance, and happiness. By choosing 360-degree feedback methods, organizations can streamline resource allocation and employee retention. With defined steps that adapt to any hierarchy or role distribution, 360 feedback delivers a comprehensive view of employee satisfaction and growth potential. Check out our in-depth 360-degree feedback resource page to learn more.

To implement a 360-degree feedback process effectively, your organization should follow an established framework that has a track record for success. An existing template, with guidance on identifying objectives and monitoring participants' development, can take a lot of the guesswork out of the process. Check out the Explorance 8-step 360-degree feedback process timeline to learn more.

The main benefit of 360-degree feedback is that it provides a well-rounded perspective on an individual's performance by gathering information from multiple sources. Those sources can include managers, peers, direct reports, customers, and third-party vendors. This comprehensive skill assessment can offer insights that traditional top-down evaluations might lack.

The best way to use 360-degree feedback starts by setting clear development goals. Once those objectives are established, gather input from diverse sources using structured tools like Explorance Blue to empower employees to provide constructive and actionable feedback. Finally, develop follow-up plans and create a supportive environment to reach the development goals initially set.

The main difference between 360-degree feedback and appraisals is that the former focuses on behaviors and skills, while the latter evaluates job performance against more specific metrics or KPIs. In a 360-feedback scenario, administrators gather anonymous input from multiple sources for developmental purposes. Appraisals involve formal evaluations from supervisors for decisions on pay and promotions.