360-Degree Feedback Assessments for Leaders
A 360-degree assessment shows a leader how their manager, peers, and direct reports see them at work, side by side with how they see themselves. We run the process from start to finish, keep rater responses confidential, and meet one on one with the leader to turn the report into next steps.
What a 360-Degree Feedback Assessment Measures
The leader’s manager, peers, and direct reports anonymously rate the leader on specific behaviors, and the leader rates themselves on the same questions. Our 360 measures seven areas of leadership behavior:
Leadership: Setting direction, making decisions, and earning the team’s trust.
Teamwork: Working with peers and other departments toward shared goals.
Interpersonal Communication and Interaction: Listening, sharing information clearly, and handling disagreement.
Management: Delegating, setting expectations, and giving feedback.
Work Habits: Organization, follow-through, and managing priorities.
Accountability: Owning results, meeting commitments, and holding others to theirs
Vision: Connecting the team’s work to where the organization is headed.
When to Run a 360-Degree Assessment for a Leader or Manager
Employers usually bring us in when a leader reaches a transition or a development decision.
A leader six to twelve months into a new role
By then the team has worked with them long enough to rate them fairly.
A high-potential manager or succession candidate
Before a bigger role, they need to know how they come across to people outside their own reporting line.
An entire leadership team
Running 360s for a group shows patterns across your leaders.
Our 360-Degree Assessment Process
1
We set the purpose and choose raters
We meet with you to confirm what you want to learn. We collaboratively choose raters, usually the leader’s manager, several peers, and their direct reports.
2
We run the survey confidentially
You get template messages to inform the raters. We send the survey links and reminders, and we answer rater questions.
3
Leader meets one on one with an ERC coach
We walk through the report together. The leader gets time to react, ask questions, and choose priorities.
4
Leader follows up with their raters
We coach the leader to thank raters and tell them which priorities they chose. Enhanced packages add a written action plan and follow-up coaching.
Frequently Asked Questions
Peer and direct report responses are confidential. ERC collects the data and reports each rater group’s scores as a combined result, so the leader sees patterns instead of individual answers. The leader’s manager is usually the exception, since there’s only one. When a group is too small to protect anonymity, such as a manager with two direct reports, we combine it with another group before reporting.
Most leaders have 8 to 12: their manager, at least three peers, and at least three direct reports.With fewer, one person’s opinion can skew the results. With many more, raters tire out and their comments get thinner.
We recommend using a 360 for development only. Once raters know their answers could affect someone’s pay or promotion, many soften their feedback and a few use it to settle scores. The report then serves neither purpose well. If leadership wants to connect results to reviews, talk with us first and we’ll help you decide what to share and how.
Yes, with a few adjustments. Small rater groups get combined to protect confidentiality. A leader with only a few direct reports may also lean more on peers for input. An outside party matters even more in a small company, where people can often guess who said what.
DiSC and similar tools ask a person to describe themselves and explain their natural style. A 360 collects ratings from the people who work with that person every day. Many leaders use both: DiSC helps explain why they approach work the way they do, and the 360 shows how that approach affects the people around them.
Every 360 includes a one-on-one debrief with an ERC coach. The leader leaves with two or three priorities. What the leader does next decides whether anything changes. In a study of 11,480 managers across eight companies, Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan found that leaders who discussed their priorities with coworkers and followed up regularly improved significantly. Leaders who skipped that follow-up improved barely more than chance would predict. Enhanced packages add an action plan and follow-up coaching, and leaders who want ongoing support can continue with middle management coaching.
About 18 months to two years after the first one works for most leaders. That gives them time to change how they work and gives raters time to see it. Retaking the same assessment shows what moved since the baseline.
Get Pricing or More Information
Share who you have in mind and what you want to learn. We’ll tell you whether a 360 fits, how it would run, and what it would cost.
