How to Give 360-Degree Feedback Employees and Managers [with Examples]

There are many types of employee performance appraisals. One effective and common type is the 360-degree feedback.

Generally, company performance evaluations can be stressful and uncomfortable, especially when there is negative feedback. An employee gets called into their manager’s office to discuss their shortcomings in detail.

But that’s not the way it has to be. For an evaluation to be effective, it shouldn’t be a one-sided communication. With 360-degree reviews, employees can walk out with a better understanding of their strengths and areas where they need to improve.

In this article, we’ll discuss what 360 degree feedback is, its importance, and provide some 360 feedback examples.

What is 360-degree feedback?

A 360-degree appraisal or 360-degree feedback is a review process where a manager collects feedback on an employee’s performance from different perspectives. Usually other team members.

This type of appraisal helps managers understand how team members view their colleagues’ performance in different areas.

Conducting a 360-degree appraisal, you’ll need to collect data to get a comprehensive view of an employee’s strengths and weaknesses.

The data collection process involves collecting insights from various people the employee interacts with.

These include, but aren’t limited to, team members and peers, partners, direct reports, clients, collaborators, suppliers, as well as direct and indirect managers.

It’s worth mentioning that 360-degree performance appraisals are typically used to evaluate individual employees rather than teams.

360-degree feedback can also be used for self-evaluation, which  can improve productivity and performance in the future.

Why is 360-degree feedback important?

Performance appraisals are important because they help managers and HR teams

• Measure employee performance
• Offer ideas into developing and upskilling employees
• Uncover potential in employees (that may not be worked-related)
• Discover potential leaders
• Decide who deserves a promotion or raise (and who doesn’t)

Done right, performance reviews can be an opportunity to improve employee-manager relationships and let employees share ideas and concerns.

Accordingly, 360-degree or multi-rater feedback involves getting managers, peers, direct reports, and sometimes even customers, consultants, and vendors to be part of the feedback process.

This is to provide an overall analysis of an employee’s performance in the organization and reward them accordingly.

Besides the benefits of regular performance reviews, here are several reasons why 360 feedback is a great type of review for companies. It provides a comprehensive evaluation of an employee’s performance from different perspectives.

• promotes a culture of openness and transparency within a team and an organization.
• identifies potential leaders, from other team members’ perspectives.
• identifies areas where employees need support or guidance (based on their peers’ opinions).
• aligns individual goals with organizational objectives, leading to improved organizational performance and greater success.

360-degree feedback examples for employees and managers

If you want to speed up the feedback process and complete performance reviews on time, here’s what you need to do: Re-frame negative feedback as constructive criticism.

Giving honest feedback is crucial, but it’s equally essential to provide actionable tips to help team members improve. Instead of  just criticizing them.

The following 360-degree feedback examples will help you give honest but actionable feedback to your team members.

These tips and statements can be used by managers giving feedback to employees or senior managers giving feedback to middle managers and team leaders.

Communication

When giving positive 360 feedback about communication, you can say:

• Your outstanding communication skills shine when handling challenging situations with clients.
• Your patient and empathetic approach leads to mutual understanding and win-win solutions.
• The way you handled [name a specific situation] shows what a great communicator you are and fosters a harmonious, collaborative work environment.

Constructive (Negative) 360 Feedback Examples:

• Be clearer in expressing yourself to avoid miscommunication and confusion
• Being proactive can help you avoid future problems with customers and colleagues

Creativity & Problem-solving

Here’s how to give positive 360 feedback about creativity & problem solving. You can say:

• Your innovative approach to our marketing campaign showed creativity and brought in several qualified leads. You’re an excellent problem-solver, which makes our customers happy.
• Thank you for quickly resolving the email marketing platform issue and keeping our subscribers.
• We trust your quick thinking and creative skills in moments of crisis.

 Constructive (Negative)  360 Feedback Examples:

• If a new manager panics the moment they encounter a problem, ask them to consider trying to solve minor issues on their own with their peers/team on your own before seeking help
• Having great ideas : engage in individual problem solving before meetings.
• To be more creative with your designs/content, you need to think beyond traditional ideas.

Attention to details

Attention is important for any role. Here are some positive 360 feedback examples you can use when commending employees about their attentiveness.

• Your meticulous code reviews and thorough testing ensured significantly fewer bugs in the product and increased customer satisfaction.
• Your excellent attention to detail in handling administrative tasks and employee records has helped all departments run smoothly.

Constructive (Negative) 360 Feedback Examples:

• Be sure to review reports more thoroughly including consistency with colors and fonts in presentation slides.

Organization & Efficiency

When giving positive 360 feedback about organization & efficiency, you can say:

• We are thrilled to have you as our office manager! Your systematic approach has completely transformed our operations, exceeded my expectations, and created more time for the team.
• You have done an excellent job, and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you on hitting our sales and marketing targets.
• Your strategic focus, efficiency, and persistence have been crucial to our success. Keep up the great work!

Constructive (Negative) 360 feedback examples for organization and efficiency:

• Please be punctual. Arriving late impacts team morale and can result in salary cuts.
• Label files appropriately so the team is on the same page and to ensure nothing goes missing.

Conclusion 

360-degree feedback is an effective way to gather comprehensive and objective qualitative feedback.

You can use these 360 feedback examples for managers and peers as a template when conducting your performance reviews.

Remember, giving feedback is a skill that both managers and employees should learn.

Need help crafting a comprehensive 360-degree feedback system for your teams and company? Get in touch with Tawzef. Our team is ready to help. 

Further reading: 

• Team Performance Review: How to Evaluate Teams [Quick Guide]
• How to Conduct a Sales Performance Appraisal [Guide]
• How can technology increase productivity in the workplace?
• Performance Appraisal vs Performance Management: What Are the Differences?
• Here’s What You Need to Know about Training and Development Programs for Employees
• How to Manage Multiple Teams: Follow These 8 Tips