When you’re evaluating employee performance, 360 feedback is a great way to get an overall picture of the situation. This type of performance report incorporates feedback from senior leaders, team members, direct reports, peers, and other colleagues. It’s more than just a matter of deciding whether someone is performing well—it also helps identify issues for professional development. However, the usefulness of 360 feedback depends on the questions you ask.
360 feedback questions are often answered using a rating scale, such as between one and 10. There are typically 50 to 100 questions, including a few open-ended questions to allow respondents to elaborate on their feedback. The feedback is integrated into a comprehensive report.
Use these 360 feedback questions during your next performance review
Try these questions to help get comprehensive, actionable feedback for your employee development.
Closed 360 feedback questions
The following closed questions, often with yes-or-no or scaled-based answers, make it possible to get specific information from your employees:
- Does the employee spot problematic situations or issues with projects? This question measures whether an employee is able, willing, and comfortable with spotting problems and speaking up.
- Does the employee work without managerial supervision? Team members who need to be micromanaged may divert important resources from other employees and projects. This can help you identify whether they need help being independent.
- How would you rate the employee’s decision-making skills? If an employee consistently makes poor decisions—and others notice—it’s important to find out why it happens and what can be done to fix it.
- Does the employee take initiative? Employees who notice problems and come up with solutions demonstrate initiative. This can demonstrate whether they take initiative overall, or only with certain teams, projects, or roles.
- Does the employee have creative problem-solving solutions? Find out whether your colleagues think an employee works or thinks outside the box.
- Does the employee’s work style fit in with the company goals and objectives? It’s important to ensure your employee’s work style supports your company’s goals and objectives—can they handle the demands of the job?
- Is the employee accountable for project results? Find out whether an employee comfortably accepts accountability for the results of their and/or their team’s successes and failures.
- Does the employee contribute to problem-solving discussions? An employee can be incredibly creative yet never speak up. This question helps to discern what’s happening behind the scenes.
- How would you rate the employee’s communication skills? Most jobs require excellent communication skills, whether you’re communicating in code, marketing slogans, legal briefs, or something else entirely. Feel free to ask tailored follow-up questions to decide at what kind of communication they excel.
- How often does the employee ask questions when they need clarification? Does the employee muddle through and make costly, time-consuming mistakes?
- How would you rate the employee’s collaboration skills? Depending on the industry and individual role, some jobs require more collaboration than others.
- Is the employee someone others can turn to in times of need? This question helps identify whether the employee is reliable, dependable, and has good leadership skills.
- How well does the employee manage their stress levels? Avoiding burnout is one of the key challenges in the modern workforce. Finding out whether employees manage their stress well, and how it manifests, can help you understand more about them and their role.
- Does the employee appear to enjoy their work? While no one should be penalized for not enjoying their work all the time—after all, most people need a job to survive—you can use this question to determine whether any adjustments need to be made. For example, it can help you identify whether new job duties are to blame, or if they’re not suited for a particular project, role, or team.
- Is the employee respectful to subordinates? This question is key for managers. It’s important to know whether managers and other senior employees treat their subordinates with respect. It can also help you identify who might be a good fit for a managerial role.
- Does the employee consider other colleagues’ opinions when making decisions? Whether the employee is an executive, senior employee, manager, or other person with authority, it’s still wise to consider others’ opinions before making decisions. This question reveals how receptive they are to outside feedback.
- How responsive is the employee to their subordinates’ concerns? Similar to the previous question, this inquiry reveals the employee’s priorities. Someone who fails to address team concerns may not be suited to manage direct reports.
Open-ended 360 feedback questions
Finally, consider these open-ended questions to find out more about how your team member fits into the company as a whole:
- Where does this employee excel, and why? Although specific, closed questions like the selections above can help you identify a worker’s strengths, open-ended questions allow respondents to go into more detail.
- Where does this employee need to improve, and why? Similarly, this question can provide more insight into whether an employee is struggling, and what the reason may be.
- What are three or four words you’d use to describe this employee? Depending on the role, asking this question can tell you how well the employee and their work is received.
- What’s an example of a time this person’s work achieved a company goal or objective? Finally, the answer to this can provide illuminating results—especially because it demonstrates how other employees understand these goals and objectives. You’ll quickly learn whether the employee fits into the company culture, whether a new role might be appropriate, and more.
Create 360 feedback surveys with Voiceform
Filling out performance reviews and surveys with 360 feedback questions can be time-consuming. With Voiceform’s audio- and video-enabled survey tools, you can get multimedia feedback—and more detail than a simple multiple-choice survey can offer. Encourage your respondents to share more by signing up for a free trial or book a demo today.
