FAQs About 360 Feedback
What is 360 Feedback?
360 Feedback is a concept that started in the early 1980s as a partial solution to the shortcomings and limitations of expecting one person to judge the performance of another and communicate that feedback with clarity, respect, empathy, and credibility.

Why did 360 Feedback become so popular?
It simply made sense and produced better results because:
   • Many managers were not particularly skilled or assertive in providing candid      and timely feedback to their Direct Reports.
   • A person's direct manager often had a limited opportunity to observe the      employee's behavior over a wide range of situations.
   • Individuals who did not like or respect their manager often discounted that      manager's feedback and were unmotivated to take any corrective actions      suggested by the feedback.
   • Top-down performance appraisal discussions often were too brief and too      stressful for both the manager and the employee to create a climate where      the feedback was heard, understood, accepted, and acted upon.

Is 360 Feedback a panacea for the flaws in traditional, top-down Performance Management systems?
Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple! While 360 Feedback has the potential to produce highly credible, candid, actionable feedback*, there are many potential pitfalls!! Even if you use the best possible web-based technology on the market, successful implementation requires a great deal of groundwork ("preparing the soil") to prepare both the subjects of the feedback and those who will provide the feedback. Selecting or crafting the right questions and rating scale are also very important. Those receiving the 360 Feedback must get guidance on how to respond when the feedback is not particularly favorable. Lack of skilled coaching on interpreting the results and developing a plan to move forward can nullify all the effort that went before a feedback report gets produced. In some ways a 360 feedback process that is poorly conceived or poorly implemented can be worse than none at all!

*Feedback is "actionable" when it clearly identifies behavior to continue, start, stop, or modify. Feedback is not actionable if it leaves the receiver without a clear sense of what steps to take to improve effectiveness.