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Business & Workplace Languagenoun · /θriː sɪksti ˈfiːdbæk/

360 feedback

In simple English

360 feedback is a structured human resources practice commonly used in tech companies during annual reviews or development cycles. Unlike traditional top-down evaluations where only a manager assesses an employee, 360 feedback gathers input from people who interact with the person daily. This provides a more complete picture of how someone communicates, collaborates, and performs. In tech workplaces, 360 feedback often covers soft skills like teamwork, leadership, communication, and initiative—areas that complement technical skill assessments. The feedback is typically collected through surveys or questionnaires and presented anonymously to protect respondents and encourage honesty. Managers use this information to help employees identify development areas and strengths they may not be fully aware of.

Understanding how 360 feedback works as a performance evaluation tool and why companies use it in their development and review processes.

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness4/5
Versatility4/5
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticNeutral
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We are rolling out 360 feedback for all senior engineers this quarter.
✓The 360 feedback process revealed some blind spots in my communication style.
✓I found the 360 feedback really helpful for understanding how my team perceives my leadership.

Real examples

in a standup

"Our manager mentioned that 360 feedback results will be shared next week during one-on-ones."

in a performance review

"The 360 feedback from your peers highlighted that you are very collaborative but sometimes need to speak up more in meetings."

in a team meeting

"We decided to use 360 feedback to help our new tech lead understand how the team views her onboarding process."

Don't say this

Handle with care. 360 feedback is not a code review or quality assurance process—it is specifically about gathering performance feedback from multiple perspectives around an employee, not about evaluating code or products.

✕We need to do 360 feedback on this code before we merge it.
✓We need to do a code review on this before we merge it.— 360 feedback is about evaluating a person's performance and soft skills, not code quality or technical deliverables.
✕The 360 feedback told me I should use a different programming language.
✓The 360 feedback told me I should be more open to feedback from junior developers.— 360 feedback addresses interpersonal and professional behaviors, not technical preferences or tooling decisions.

Other forms

noun

360 feedback

"360 feedback is an important part of our annual performance cycle."

noun

360 feedback process

"The 360 feedback process takes about four weeks to complete."

noun

360 feedback results

"My 360 feedback results showed that I excel at problem-solving."

Often used with

give 360 feedbackUsed when someone provides input in a 360 feedback survey
receive 360 feedbackUsed when an employee gets their compiled feedback results
360 feedback processThe complete structured system for collecting and delivering feedback
360 feedback resultsThe compiled data and insights from all respondents
implement 360 feedbackTo introduce or start using 360 feedback in an organization

Similar words

multi-rater feedbackMore technical term emphasizing feedback from multiple sources; less commonly used in everyday workplace language
comprehensive feedbackMore general term that can apply to any detailed evaluation, not specifically 360-degree
peer feedbackOnly covers feedback from colleagues at the same level, whereas 360 includes all directions

Opposites

one-way feedbackdownward feedbacktop-down evaluation

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Complete the sentence

1. Next month, we will be participating in the _______ process to help our manager understand team dynamics.

Spot the mistake

2. Which sentence uses 360 feedback correctly?

Pick the most natural phrasing

3. Your company is introducing a new employee evaluation system. How would you naturally describe it?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this in natural tech English using 360 feedback: 'Our company wants to get opinions about how employees work from their bosses, colleagues, and team members.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "360 feedback" in a standup this week?

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