49 Examples of 360 Degree Feedback Questions

360-degree feedback questions form part of an employee evaluation methodology that seeks to gather insights about performance from all directions: from his or her self, peers, subordinates, superiors, and maybe even customers or suppliers.

Usually, reviews are exclusively performed by a manager, but this type of feedback aims to provide a holistic view of an employee's competencies, behavior, and work performance. 

When creating a 360-degree performance review, it is important to remember a few guidelines:

1. Maintain Consistency - The consistency of 360-degree feedback questions for individuals sharing the same position is crucial in ensuring fairness, objectivity, and comparability. By employing a standardized set of questions, organizations can accurately assess and compare the performance of individuals in similar roles.

Additionally, creating a quantitative measure of success in the workplace limits bias that could arise in reviews. Standardization provides transparency of the process and ensures employees know they are not being unfairly assessed compared to others. 

2. Deliver Questions with Clarity and Specificity - 360-degree feedback questions should monitor clear and specific aspects of an employee's performance to ensure accuracy, relevancy, and fairness in the evaluation. Focusing on well-defined behaviors or competencies makes it easier for raters to provide meaningful, actionable feedback.

Meanwhile, vague or overly broad questions can lead to misinterpretation, confusion, or bias, which undermines the reliability of the feedback.

Questions in 360 surveys should directly measure certain desirable traits in the workplace. By keeping questions specific, the feedback can be more effectively used to identify areas for improvement and formulate targeted development plans to improve those weaknesses.

3. Optimize Questionnaire Length - The length of 360-degree feedback questions plays a pivotal role in maintaining the balance between comprehensive evaluation and rater engagement. It's important to ensure that the feedback process is thorough enough to adequately assess an employee's performance across various competencies.

However, an overly lengthy questionnaire can lead to fatigue, reduced concentration, and potentially rushed or superficial responses.

Additionally, the goal of using a 360-degree performance review is to improve productivity and employee assistance. If a survey is too long, valuable time could be wasted on boring other employees. A carefully designed set of questions respects the rater's time while still providing valuable, nuanced insights. 

4. Select Appropriate Skills and Traits to Evaluate - Common characteristics that could be analyzed are leadership, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, communication, motivation, alignment, and efficiency.

Additionally, there should be closed and open-ended questions that address all of these criteria. The close-ended questions should ask to what extent an individual aligns with the question from a “Strongly Agree” level to a “Strongly Disagree” level. The open-ended questions should prompt the rater to answer with a free response. 

Here we provide examples of questions to ask during a 360 degree performance assessment. Our questions are organized into the following categories:

• Leadership
• Interpersonal skills
• Problem-solving
• Communication
• Motivation
• Organizational alignment 
• Efficiency

Leadership

Close-ended

1. The individual communicates the team's goals and objectives effectively.
2. The individual consistently demonstrates strategic thinking and decision-making abilities.
3. The individual motivates and inspires the team to achieve high performance.
4. The individual handles conflict and difficult situations effectively while maintaining respect and professionalism.
5. The individual actively seeks feedback and demonstrates a willingness to make improvements in their leadership style.

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Open-ended

1. How does this individual exhibit leadership traits that can guide his or her peers?
2. What is an example of a project in which this individual showed signs that he or she is a good leader?

Interpersonal skills

Close-ended

1. The individual communicates with colleagues, both verbally and in writing.
2. The individual demonstrates active listening and shows an understanding of others' perspectives.
3. The individual has a good ability to work with others in a team environment. 
4. The individual can handle disagreements or conflicts in a constructive and respectful manner
5. The individual builds and maintains professional relationships within the organization.

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Open-ended

1. How has this individual used interpersonal skills to aid productivity in the office?
2. How do you typically feel after conversing with this individual about a shared project?

Problem-solving

Close-ended

1. The individual can consistently apply logical and creative thinking to solve problems.
2. The individual can identify potential problems before they escalate.
3. The individual can effectively prioritize and address multiple problems simultaneously.
4. The individual effectively utilizes resources and collaborates with others to solve complex problems.
5. The individual is adept at finding solutions that align with the organization's strategic objectives.

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Open-ended

1. Are there any specific instances in which this individual adjusted under pressure
2. Can this individual be trusted to make decisions when under duress?
   

Communication

Close-ended

1. The individual clearly expresses their ideas and information in verbal conversations.
2. The individual can write clear, concise, and effective emails and reports.
3. The individual listens attentively and responds appropriately to others' viewpoints.
4. The individual communicates effectively during team meetings or presentations.
5. The individual communicates complex concepts or information in a way that is easy for others to understand.

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Open-ended

1. Do you feel heard and understood when talking with this individual?
2. Do you understand what this individual intends to convey when talking with him or her?

Motivation

Close-ended

1. This individual displays a positive attitude and enthusiasm toward their work.
2. The individual consistently meets their deadlines and achieves their targets.
3. The individual takes initiative in their tasks and responsibilities.
4. The individual seeks opportunities for professional growth and development.
5. The individual shows resilience and perseverance in the face of challenges or setbacks.

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Open-ended

1. How has this individual distributed a positive attitude in the workplace?
2. Do you feel this individual tries to produce work that is the highest quality that he or she can produce (even when they are struggling with challenges)?

Organizational Alignment

Close-ended

1. This individual understands and aligns their work with the organization's mission and strategic objectives.
2. The individual can consistently adhere to the organization's policies and standards.
3. The individual contributes to the overall positive culture and morale of the organization.
4. The individual actively participates in organizational initiatives and activities outside their job role.
5. The individual can effectively communicate the organization's goals and values to others.

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Open-ended

1. Can you list an example where you saw this individual adhere to the mentality of the company?
2. Can this individual be trusted to uphold the mentality of the company even when it is a more difficult course of action?

Efficiency

Close-ended

1. The individual consistently completes tasks on time without sacrificing quality.
2. The individual can effectively manage their workload and prioritize tasks according to urgency and importance.
3. The individual uses resources (time, tools, manpower) efficiently.
4. The individual can identify and implement methods for improving processes or procedures in their work.
5. The individual effectively minimizes waste or redundancies in their work.

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Open-ended

1. Do you feel that this worker uses time effectively? Why or why not?
2. Do you feel that you typically have to correct the work that this individual turns in? List some examples of when you have or have not had to correct him or her.

Leveraging Software for 360 Reviews

Like all performance reviews, 360-degree reviews can be difficult to keep track of. They can even be more difficult to organize than most other performance reviews. With this type of review, you gain helpful context that surrounds an employee; however, you lose a lot of the capability to effectively organize the performance reviews. With the number of questions and responses, the 360-degree review can be overbearing. However, there are tools to help. 

Performance management software like PerformYard plays an integral role in streamlining the process of 360-degree performance reviews. It can provide a central platform to create, distribute, and manage feedback surveys. Creating this platform can limit mistakes made in the data collection process. Additionally, PerformYard can increase the review’s ease of access.  Users can easily design personalized questionnaires, send them to the appropriate raters, and maintain anonymity where necessary. 

These software solutions also allow for automated reminders and tracking, ensuring that all stakeholders complete their evaluations within the set timeline. This enhances efficiency and participation rates, as individuals are less likely to forget or postpone their feedback responsibilities.

Moreover, performance management software significantly simplifies the process of analyzing and reporting feedback data. The software can automatically aggregate and present the results in an easily digestible format so that the results are easier to comprehend. 

Summing up, the 360-degree performance review is one of the best ways to truly understand the volume of an employee’s impact, but it can be extremely difficult to conduct. PerformYard not only can make the 360-degree review process more manageable, but it also makes the process more effective and valuable for all involved parties.