A 360-degree leadership assessment collects structured feedback from peers, direct reports, supervisors, and other stakeholders to give you a multi-perspective view of how your leadership behaviors land in practice. When designed and executed with rigor, 360 assessments create the conditions for focused development and measurable behavior change.
In modern organizations, 360-degree assessments have become a cornerstone of leadership development. Soliciting 360-degree feedback from supervisors, peers, direct reports, and stakeholders aims to provide leaders with a holistic view of their key strengths and development needs. However, the effectiveness of these assessments depends not only on the data collected but on the quality of the feedback exchanged. This is where feedback literacy becomes essential.
360-degree feedback processes have been used in organizations since the 1950s, when the Esso Research and Engineering Group (now known as ExxonMobil) became the first company to document its use of multi-rater feedback processes. Despite 360-degree feedback being used for three-quarters of a century now, there has not been a specific and consistent process in place to evaluate the effectiveness of these processes. This article will address this gap and outline the “360 Process Impact Model.”
Receiving 360-degree feedback is not always easy. At times, the feedback reveals perceptions others have about us that we never realized. Maybe they never shared the feedback that they have now shared in the 360 process. Maybe they did but we did not really hear it or receive it well.
