A process in which you evaluate yourself on a set of criteria, your manager evaluates you, as do your peers and direct reports. You receive a gap analysis between how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Effective 360-degree feedback processes also include coaching sessions and development planning.

• Knowledge - understanding of job, industry, company
• Competencies - task proficiency
• Behaviours - patterns in relating to the environment (energy, optimism)

To the individual:

• The process helps individuals to understand how others perceive them
• Feedback is essential for learning
• Individuals can better manage their own performance and careers
• Quantifiable data on soft skills

To the team:

• Increases communication between team members
• Higher levels of trust and better communication as individuals identify the causes of breakdowns
• Better team environment as people discover how to treat others how they want to be treated
• Supports teamwork by involving team members in the development process
• Increased team effectiveness

To the organisation:

• Reinforced corporate culture by linking survey items to organisational leadership competencies and company values
• Better career development for employees
• Promote from within
• Improves customer service by having customers contribute to evaluation
• Conduct relevant training

• Start at the top
• Conduct a pilot
• Directly address, up front, the issues that are at the source of the resistance
• Focus on the benefits for the individual or group
• Utilize an external consultant to minimize fears of confidentiality and inappropriate data usage

Yes, when:

• the person receiving feedback is too new to the group or organisation
• there are not enough respondents who truly understand the full scope of the individual's responsibilities
• during a time of major change such as just before or after a merger or acquisition
• in an environment where there is a high degree of mistrust

Lyle Spencer and Charles Morrow in The Economic Value of Competencies: Measuring ROI, found that 360-degree feedback systems could yield a Return on Investment as high as 700 percent.