How to provide 360 feedback that helps your employees grow

Giving feedback in the workplace can be challenging. If the feedback provided is too firm, people can shut down. If it’s too soft, sometimes nothing changes. So, it’s a tough balance.

That’s why 360 feedback exists. When it’s done properly, it can be one of the best tools for improving employee performance. For the employee, it means not just hearing it from a manager, but from teammates, and maybe even clients. Essentially, 360 feedback can give people a much clearer view of how they’re showing up and where they can grow.

In this article, we explain exactly what 360 degree feedback is and how to roll it out without making things awkward or counterproductive. We also share how to build a solid 360 feedback process, and we provide some tips for avoiding the usual traps.

What is 360 feedback?

360 feedback is when an employee receives feedback from a bunch of different people they work with instead of only their manager. Think team members, direct reports, cross-functional peers, and sometimes even clients or suppliers. It offers a more thorough, well-rounded view of how they’re doing in their role.

That’s why it’s called 360 degree feedback. It's not just a top-down view; it involves input from all angles. Teams mostly use this kind of feedback to support employee development. The objective of 360 feedback is to provide helpful, honest, and constructive evaluation.

It’s a big shift from traditional performance reviews, where everything comes from one manager and once a year. In most of those kinds of reviews, the feedback is often rushed or based on one-off moments. With 360 feedback, a broader picture of how someone works with others day to day is presented. That makes it a much stronger tool for human resources teams and managers who actually want to improve employee performance, instead of just talking about it.

When should you use 360 performance feedback?

While 360 feedback is a powerful tool, it isn’t right for every situation. It works best when you want a complete picture of how someone shows up, rather than just what they do. Here are some scenarios when it makes the most sense to use it:

• You want to support employee development, not just track performance
• You're trying to improve soft skills like communication, leadership or collaboration
• The employee works with lots of people across different teams
• You’re building a stronger feedback process across the business
• You're looking for a fairer way to run performance reviews
• You want to provide more constructive feedback, and less surface-level stuff

If you only want to check on KPIs or project outcomes, a regular one-on-one review might be fine. But if you care about the full picture, 360 feedback can give you a lot more useful insight.

How to provide 360 degree feedback

Rolling out 360 degree feedback can feel like a big job, but it doesn’t need to be. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide that works:

Step 1: Define the purpose of the feedback

Before you do anything, get clear on why you’re doing this. Is it about career development? Is it part of a performance evaluation? Is it something you're using to shape future training or promotion decisions?

If you don’t know what you want from the process, the feedback might end up being all over the place. Set the goal first. Then let everyone involved know why it matters.

Example: You’ve got a high-potential team member who’s looking to step into a leadership role. Instead of merely assessing past performance, you want feedback from their peers and reports to help shape a development plan. You let the feedback group know the goal of this 360 degree feedback process is to support the employee's career growth.

Step 2: Choose who will give and receive feedback

Think carefully about who’s giving the feedback. It needs to be people who work alongside the employee, as well as managers or supervisors. That can include other team members, direct reports, project leads, and anyone else who sees their day-to-day work.

This is what makes it multi-rater feedback, instead of just one opinion at the top. The more relevant perspectives, the better the insights.

Example: You’re collecting feedback for a product manager. You include:

• Their direct manager
• Two engineers they work with daily
• A designer they recently shared a project with
• Their marketing counterpart
• One junior team member who reports to them

Step 3: Create structured, role-relevant questions

Don’t just ask general stuff like 'How do you think they’re doing?' That's not helpful. You need clear, structured questions that link to the person’s actual role.

Make sure the questions cover both professional development and personal development. Keep it short and focused. Ask about real behaviours, not vague traits.

Example: Instead of 'Are they a good communicator?', ask:

• 'When working on cross-functional projects, does this person clearly share updates and next steps?'
• 'What’s one thing they could do more (or less)of to improve team collaboration?'

Step 4: Use an anonymous, consistent collection method

People usually give more honest answers when they feel safe. That’s why anonymous responses can work best. Consider using an employee survey tool that keeps everything private and consistent across the board.

It’s also a good idea to use a system that keeps track of which groups the feedback is coming from. For example, peers, direct reports, or clients. But without showing names. That way, you can spot patterns. For instance, if all the feedback from peers is glowing, but the feedback from direct reports is negative, that tells you something important. Maybe they’re great with teammates but struggling in a leadership role. Without that breakdown, you’d miss it.

Example: You notice one employee is getting glowing feedback from peers and leadership. But you also spot that they get consistently lower feedback from their direct reports. The anonymity means people felt safe to share it. And now you’ve got a signal the employee might need support with people management.

Step 5: Deliver the feedback constructively

Now comes the harder part. You need to provide feedback that the person can hear and act on. The goal is personal development, not a roast.

Start with what they’re doing well. Then move into what they could improve. Be specific. Don’t dump the whole thing on them at once. Talk through it. Help them make sense of it. If you’re a manager, your job here is to coach, rather than present a report.

Example: Instead of saying 'Your team thinks you don’t listen,' try:

'There was a theme from your team’s feedback around meetings. A few mentioned that decisions sometimes feel rushed, or that ideas don’t always land. One person said they’d love more time to contribute. Let’s talk about ways to slow things down a bit and get more voices in the room.'

Now the feedback is grounded, specific, and something you can really work on together.

Step 6: Follow up with goals and action plans

Feedback means nothing without follow-up. Sit down with the employee and turn the insights into clear goals.

What do they want to work on? What support do they need? What’s the next step in their career development? Put together a plan and check in regularly. Otherwise, the feedback goes 'in a drawer' and can get forgotten.

Example: Let’s say the employee wants to work on clearer communication in stakeholder meetings. You agree on a goal to send weekly summaries after each meeting. And you lock in a coaching session to help them prep. You set a follow-up check-in for four weeks later to see how it’s all going. And if there's progress, you celebrate it!

Common 360 feedback mistakes to avoid

360 degree feedback can do a lot of good. But only if you use it properly. A rushed or sloppy process can cause more harm than help. So before you begin, familiarise yourself with these common traps.

Making it personal or vague

360 feedback should be honest, but not harsh. It should focus on how someone works, not who they are as a person. That means no personal digs, no sweeping statements, and no guessing at intentions.

You also want to avoid vague responses like 'could improve communication.' You need clear, actionable feedback the person can really work on. What should they do more of? What should they do differently? Be specific.

Not preparing managers to deliver feedback

A lot of companies forget this part. They collect the feedback, then dump it on the manager and say, 'Good luck.'

Without proper preparation, feedback providers might say something sensitive. Then the employee might react defensively. Managers need training to handle these chats with care. Give them a simple structure to follow and tips on how to have the conversation in a way that feels safe and useful.

Using it only once a year

If you only use 360 degree feedback during annual reviews, you’re missing the point. Feedback works best when it’s part of regular development, not a one-off event.

The longer you wait, the less relevant the feedback becomes. People forget the details. The person can’t act on it. Keep it regular and keep it useful.

Ignoring the results

If you do nothing with the feedback, people may stop wanting to give it. Employees take the time to share their thoughts as part of the 360 degree feedback process because they think it’ll make a difference. So if managers just file it away and move on, it wastes everyone’s time. And people lose trust in the whole process.

Use employee feedback like you’d use any good data. Look at it, talk about it, and most importantly, do something with it. Then follow up later. That’s how you turn feedback into real progress.

Best practices for giving 360 degree performance feedback

Of course, not every piece of feedback will land perfectly, but you can give yourself and your team the best shot by following these tried-and-tested best practices:

Keep it specific and actionable

Vague feedback is useless. As mentioned, saying someone should 'communicate better' or 'be more confident' doesn’t really help them grow. For 360 degree feedback to support employee growth, it needs to be tied to real examples and clear actions.

Try to link the feedback back to the person’s actual work. What should they keep doing? What needs to change? Use your feedback process to guide the conversation and encourage the employee to self evaluate too. The best outcomes happen when the employee completes the process with clear next steps and a shared understanding of what success looks like.

Balance positives with areas for improvement

No one wants to feel like they’re being picked apart. That’s why it’s important to highlight what’s working and not just what’s missing. Good performance appraisals strike a balance between celebrating wins and identifying development areas.

Focus on the critical competencies needed for the role, and help the employee see how they’re tracking. Make the conversation forward-looking instead of judgmental. That’s often what turns feedback into momentum.

Be clear about the context behind feedback

Feedback can feel confusing or even threatening if people don’t understand the 'why' behind it. When sharing 360 feedback, explain where the insights came from, how the process works, and what it’s meant to support.

If you’re using anonymous feedback, say so upfront. And always clarify who’s involved and how the feedback was collected. A clear, consistent feedback process helps people trust the system. And trust is essential for good employee feedback to land well.

Ensure psychological safety for all participants

People need to feel safe to be honest, both when giving and receiving feedback. That’s where psychological safety comes in. If you want useful insights, you need to create a culture where no one is punished for speaking up.

That includes how you handle negative feedback. If someone shares something tough, don’t let it turn into a blame game. Focus on self awareness, development, and solutions. Otherwise, you risk people shutting down or holding back.

Avoid surprises (this isn’t the time for first-time criticisms)

360 degree feedback isn't the place to spring brand new criticisms on someone. If it’s the first time they’re hearing it, that’s a failure in the feedback process. It's not on them.

This is where proper training comes in. Managers should be coached on how to deliver feedback thoughtfully. And teams should understand how 360 feedback fits into your business priorities. If feedback is part of your workplace culture, not just an annual event, you can avoid blindsiding people and can build stronger relationships across the board.

How software can help with 360 degree feedback

Running 360 feedback manually is fine when you’ve got five people. But once your team grows, it can become a logistical nightmare. Chasing people for responses, keeping things anonymous, sorting feedback into something useful... It can feel a bit like a full-time job.

The good news is that innovative HR software can make a big difference. It can take the admin load off your shoulders and make the process faster, cleaner, and actually helpful. Here’s how good software can help:

• Protects anonymity so people can be honest: When people know their feedback can’t be traced back to them, they’re more likely to say what they really think. Guaranteed anonymity is a large part of how you get feedback that’s useful and not fluffy or filtered.
• Spots patterns you’d probably miss: When you group feedback properly, like by peer, direct report, manager, etc, it can be a lot easier to see what’s really going on. You might find someone’s great with clients but struggling to lead their team. That's an insight you can use.
• Cuts admin time: Without spreadsheets and manual reminders, you can save a lot of admin work and time. Good feedback software can chase responses and pull it all together so you don’t have to.
• Turns feedback into action: Beyond helping you collect the feedback, great tools can help you do something with it. For instance, turning comments into goals, or tracking changes over time.
• Keeps things consistent: With good performance management software, everyone can follow the same process, answer the same questions, and get the same kind of report. Without anybody having to 'wing it', the entire feedback process can feel more fair.

The bottom line is that while software doesn’t replace the conversation, it can make it easier to have a good one.

Build high-performing teams with Rippling

If you’re serious about using 360 feedback to improve performance, you need a system that makes it easy to collect, share, and act on that feedback. And without adding hours of admin! That’s exactly what Rippling can do. 

With Rippling, you can build customisable review cycles that include peer feedback, upward feedback, and self-assessments. Running a company-wide review or a small team check-in? Rippling helps you create a process that works for your business.

You can:

• Choose who gives feedback
• Collect feedback anonymously
• Automatically schedule and send review cycles
• Tie individual goals directly to feedback and track progress over time
• Get a clear view of how each employee is performing, without needing to do any manual work

For teams that want to go deeper, Rippling’s survey tool also lets you run regular employee surveys. These can be particularly useful to get a feel for how people are experiencing the feedback process, where the culture is tracking, and how engagement is shifting over time. You can send pulse surveys or build more detailed ones. Either way, they're all fully anonymous and easy to report on.

Rippling is more than just a performance tool. It connects with everything else you need to manage your team. As an all-in-one workforce management platform, Rippling combines HR, Payroll, IT, and Spend Management in one place.

If you'd like to create a feedback culture, that’s not just a one-time event, but something scalable, Rippling can give you the structure, automation, and insight to do it properly.

360 feedback FAQs

What’s an example of good 360 feedback?

Generally speaking, a great piece of 360 degree feedback is honest, specific, and directly tied to employee performance. For example:

'In cross-team meetings, Sam outlines timelines and next steps with a great deal of clarity, which is wonderful for helping everyone stay aligned. One area to improve might be active listening, though. A few teammates mentioned that ideas can sometimes be cut off mid-sentence. So, giving more space in discussions could really do great things for collaboration.'

This feedback gives credit where it's due. But it also offers something the employee can work on to make things even better. That’s part of what makes 360 degree feedback so useful. It reflects how someone shows up to others, not just what they deliver.

What’s 360 vs 180 feedback?

The difference is in how many perspectives are involved:

• 180 feedback comes from one direction: usually the employee’s direct manager. It’s comparable to traditional performance reviews, where feedback is top-down.
• 360 feedback brings in multiple perspectives. For example, the perspectives of peers, reports, and cross-functional teammates. So, instead of hearing a singular view, the employee gets a well-rounded picture of how they show up across the business.

180 feedback can work well when you just want a manager’s take. But if you want a bigger picture, 360 degree feedback is often the way to go.

Is 360 degree feedback good or bad?

It really comes down to how you use it. When done well, 360 degree feedback is one of the most effective tools for giving feedback that truly supports talent development. It can help employees see how they’re perceived by different groups. This can be especially helpful for soft skills like leadership or communication.

But if it’s rushed or handled poorly, it can sometimes be more harmful than beneficial. For example, if the feedback is ambiguous or negative feedback is delivered without adequate support. The key to making 360 degree feedback successful is structure, clarity, and excellent follow-through. The feedback itself is just the start. What you do with it matters much more.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of 360-degree feedback?

Some of the advantages can include:

• Getting a more complete picture of someone’s strengths and blind spots.
• Supporting self-evaluation (because employees can compare their own perspective to others).
• Data collection that enables you to identify patterns over time. For example, how someone’s leadership skills develop across review cycles.

Some of the disadvantages might be:

• If anonymity isn’t guaranteed, people might not be honest.
• If feedback isn’t delivered properly, it can lead to confusion or defensiveness.
• It can take more time to coordinate this kind of feedback process. Especially without the right tools in place.

What questions should I ask for 360 feedback?

Make sure to ask precise, role-relevant questions that relate directly to the employee’s work. Skip the generic stuff and get super specific. Here are a few great examples of questions you can include in your 360 feedback or performance appraisals:

• 'How well does this person share information with the team during projects?'
• 'What’s one behaviour this person exhibits that helps them succeed in their role?'
• 'What’s one area where this person could improve to make collaboration easier?'
• 'How does this person deal with pressure or shifting priorities?'

In a nutshell, focus on the how, what, and why of their impact on others.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.