What Questions Should You Include in a 360-Degree Feedback Questionnaire?
A good 360-degree feedback questionnaire should ask people to rate specific, observable behaviours that are relevant to the participant’s role and level of responsibility.
The questions should cover the competencies required for effective performance — such as leadership, communication, decision making and people management — rather than asking respondents to make vague judgements about someone’s personality.
There are also two valid approaches to deciding exactly what those questions should be: using an established 360-degree feedback model appropriate to the participant’s management level, or creating a bespoke 360 based on the organisation’s own behavioural or competency framework and values.
What Should a 360-Degree Feedback Questionnaire Measure?
A 360 questionnaire should measure behaviours that people who work with the participant can reasonably observe.
For example, rather than asking whether someone is a “good communicator”, a questionnaire can assess specific behaviours such as whether they communicate effectively to different audiences, listen to other people’s views or keep colleagues informed about issues that affect them.
This makes the resulting feedback much more useful.
A participant can do relatively little with the feedback:
“You need to improve your communication.”
It is much easier to act on feedback showing that colleagues believe they communicate confidently but need to improve the timeliness with which they share information.
That distinction is fundamental to good 360 questionnaire design.
What Competencies Should Be Included?
The competencies will depend partly on the seniority and responsibilities of the people taking part.
For example, Protostar’s established 360 model for mid- and senior-level managers covers ten broad competency areas:
- Leadership
- Communication
- Change, Innovation and Adaptability
- Strategic Planning and Perspective
- Thinking and Decision Making
- Planning and Prioritising
- Managing and Building Teams
- People Management
- Personal Effectiveness
- Organisation and Industry Knowledge and Awareness
Within each competency are individual behaviours that respondents can assess.
This matters because a broad competency such as Leadership is too general on its own. Breaking it into observable behaviours helps reveal precisely where someone’s strengths and development needs lie.
The competencies appropriate for a first-line manager will not necessarily be the same as those required for a senior leader. That is why Protostar has different established 360 models for different levels of management rather than relying on one questionnaire for everyone.
Should You Use a Standard or Bespoke 360-Degree Feedback Questionnaire?
Both can work extremely well. The right choice depends on what the organisation wants the 360 programme to achieve.
An established 360 model
An established model can be an excellent choice when the organisation wants a comprehensive assessment of management or leadership capability but does not need the questionnaire to replicate its own competency framework.
The advantage is that the organisation can use an already-developed framework containing behaviours appropriate to the participant’s management level.
This avoids the need to design a new competency model simply to run a 360 programme.
At Protostar, we have established 360 models for different management levels. These provide a structured assessment across the competencies and behaviours relevant to those roles.
A bespoke 360 model
A bespoke questionnaire is more appropriate when an organisation already has a defined behavioural or competency framework and wants the 360 process to measure people directly against it.
The organisation’s values can also be incorporated.
For example, if a business has clearly defined the behaviours it expects its leaders to demonstrate when making decisions, developing people, working collaboratively or dealing with customers, those behaviours can form the basis of the 360 questionnaire.
The result is a 360 programme that doesn’t assess leadership against an external definition of good practice. It assesses people against what effective leadership means within that particular organisation.
This can be particularly valuable when the 360 forms part of a wider leadership development, culture or organisational change programme.
What Do Good 360 Questions Look Like?
Good 360 questions, or more accurately, “rating scale statements”, describe behaviours clearly enough for respondents to make a judgement based on what they have actually observed.
Examples might include:
- Provides clear direction to the team
- Encourages input, feedback and regular communication
- Takes responsibility and ownership for turning strategy into action
- Coaches others to develop their potential and improve their performance
- Makes sound and timely decisions after considering risks and alternatives
These are considerably more useful than subjective questions/statements such as:
- Is a natural leader
- Is inspirational
- Has a good personality
- Is strategic
The difference is observability.
Respondents should be assessing what somebody does, not trying to make a psychological judgement about what kind of person they are.
Should 360 Feedback Include Rating-Scale Questions?
Yes. A structured rating scale allows perceptions to be compared across individual behaviours and competency areas.
It also enables useful comparisons between the participant’s own assessment and the views of other people.
For example, Protostar’s reporting can separately show ratings from the participant, their manager, colleagues, direct reports and other relevant respondent groups.
That can reveal something much more useful than an overall score.
A manager might believe they are particularly strong in one behaviour while the people around them see it very differently. Conversely, other people may recognise a strength that the manager has underestimated.
These perception gaps can provide some of the most valuable development insights in the entire 360 process.
Respondents should also have the option to indicate when they have not observed enough of a particular behaviour to make a meaningful assessment. Forcing somebody to score a behaviour they have never witnessed simply introduces unreliable data.
Should a 360 Questionnaire Include Written Comments?
Yes. Quantitative ratings tell you where differences in perception exist; written comments can help explain why.
We normally combine behavioural ratings with opportunities for respondents to describe what the participant does well and what they could do differently to improve their performance.
Asking for observed examples can make those comments considerably more useful.
A numerical rating showing that someone needs to improve an aspect of leadership is helpful. Several colleagues independently explaining that they would benefit from clearer and more frequent direction provides much more actionable feedback.
Open comments can therefore add important context to the quantitative results.
Should You Ask the Same Questions of Everyone Providing Feedback?
Generally, there is considerable value in asking respondent groups to assess the same behaviours.
That allows the participant to compare their own perception with those of their manager, colleagues, direct reports and other groups.
Different groups may experience the same behaviour very differently.
For example, someone’s direct reports might rate their communication highly while colleagues elsewhere in the organisation have a different experience. That distinction could be lost if each group were answering completely different questions.
There may be circumstances where particular questions are relevant only to certain respondents, but unnecessary complexity should be avoided.
How Many Questions Should a 360-Degree Feedback Questionnaire Include?
There is no single ideal number.
The questionnaire needs enough behavioural statements to assess each competency properly, but adding more questions doesn’t automatically produce better feedback.
Too few questions can result in superficial conclusions. Too many can create respondent fatigue and reduce the quality of the feedback.
The appropriate length therefore depends on the number of competencies being assessed, the complexity of the role and whether an established or bespoke model is being used.
The key test is whether each question contributes useful information that can support development.
The Report Matters as Much as the Questionnaire
Even an excellent set of questions has limited value if the results are reduced to a single overall score.
A useful 360 report should help the participant understand patterns within the feedback.
For example, Protostar 360 degree feedback reports can show results by competency and individual behaviour, compare different respondent groups, highlight gaps between self-perception and the perceptions of others, include respondents’ written comments, and identify the participant’s strongest behaviours and principal development opportunities.
The purpose isn’t simply to tell somebody whether they have scored “well” or “badly”.
It is to help them understand how other people experience their behaviour and what they could do differently to become more effective.
Which Type of 360 Questionnaire Should You Choose?
If your organisation wants to develop managers against a comprehensive set of established leadership behaviours, a 360 model designed for the appropriate management level can provide everything required.
If you already have a behavioural or competency framework — or want leaders assessed explicitly against your organisation’s values and expectations — a bespoke 360 is likely to be more appropriate.
Neither approach should simply involve selecting a collection of generic questions from a question bank.
The questionnaire needs a coherent framework behind it, appropriate behaviours, a robust way of comparing perceptions and a report that turns those responses into useful development insight.
Need Help Designing a 360-Degree Feedback Programme?
Protostar provides both established and bespoke 360-degree feedback programmes.
Our established models are designed for different levels of management, while bespoke programmes can be developed around your organisation’s own behavioural or competency framework and values.
We manage the process from questionnaire and participant setup through to reporting and feedback, helping participants understand the results and turn them into practical development priorities.
Learn more about our 360 Feedback services or contact the Protostar team for an informal, no-obligation discussion about your leadership development objectives.