What is the best and most powerful use of 360-degree feedback?
What’s the purpose of 360-degree feedback? What are the most powerful ways to use it? The technology for collecting and reporting multi-source feedback was developed in the 1980s. Its original purpose was to diagnose leadership performance. By assessing a comprehensive set of skill areas, leaders obtained quantitative and qualitative information about strengths and areas that need improvement. Other innovative uses for multi-source feedback have evolved over the decades. However, when most people hear about 360-degree feedback, they still think of its traditional use: a global diagnostic of competence and skill. A much more powerful application of 360-degree feedback goes beyond the diagnosis to support changes in behavior. A doctor’s diagnosis can reveal the disease, but this information can’t cure it. Likewise, 360-degree feedback can identify priority areas for improvement, but this information isn’t enough to improve work habits. Changing a behavior pattern may require instruction,
