360-degree feedback explained

A 360-degree survey collects feedback on one person from multiple perspectives: their manager, their peers, their direct reports, and sometimes themselves. The platform supports this directly through three survey types: Leadership 360, Team 360, and Performance Review 360.

How a 360 survey works

For each subject (the person being rated):

1. You pick the subject.
2. You pick raters and assign each rater a category:
   • Self (the subject rating themselves)
   • Manager (their manager)
   • Peer (someone at the same level)
   • Direct report (someone reporting to them)
3. Each rater receives the same set of questions, tagged with their category.
4. Responses come back grouped by category, so you can compare: “what does the manager say versus what the peers say”.

Configuring a 360

When creating the survey:

1. Pick the subject from the employee selector.
2. Add raters one by one, choosing the category for each.
3. Set the survey questions. Most 360s use scale questions on leadership behaviours or team behaviours, plus a few open-text questions.
4. (Optional) Enable anonymity. Most 360 surveys benefit from anonymity, peers and direct reports give more honest feedback when their names won’t be tied to specific responses.

What the subject sees

Once responses are collected, the subject of a 360 typically gets a summary report. The platform’s report shows:

• Per question, the average score across each rater category
• How the subject’s self-rating compares to others’ ratings
• Open-text comments grouped by category (still without identifying individuals, if anonymity is on)

A 360 is most valuable when the subject can see the report and reflect on it, ideally with their manager or a coach.

When to use which type

• Leadership 360. For managers being assessed on leadership behaviours. Standard for senior people.
• Team 360. For an individual contributor being assessed by their team. Useful for performance review prep or career development.
• Performance Review 360. When you want 360 feedback to feed directly into a formal performance review cycle.

The three types are similar mechanically, the difference is the default question set and how the report is framed.

Privacy considerations

• Anonymity-on means the platform won’t show who said what.
• The aggregate report shows category-level summaries (manager-says, peers-say) without individual attribution.
• A category with only one rater (e.g. only one direct report) effectively isn’t anonymous — be careful here. If you must run a 360 with category sizes that small, consider grouping them with another category for the report.
• Open-text responses can sometimes be identifiable from style or content. Coach raters to focus on the behaviour, not the individual specifics.

Permissions

Setting up and viewing a 360 is admin/manager. The subject sees the final report when it’s shared with them.