This 360° Performance Evaluation template provides you with a set of questions you can ask each of your team members to complete about themselves and the rest of the team to assess performance. This is an extremely useful tool to find out how each member's contribution and performance is perceived.
360-degree feedback should be solicited from a team members immediate work circle including subordinates, peers, and supervisors. It can also include feedback from external sources, such as suppliers and customers or other interested parties. This type of assessment can be used as input to the performance appraisal process or the personal/professional development planning process.
Research suggests that this type of feedback tends to assign lower ratings to specific skills than team members would assign to themselves in a self-rating exercise. There is also evidence to suggest that people who have known the team member for between one and three years give the most accurate assessments. This is presumably because they have known the team member for sufficient time to overcome first impressions but not so long as to have become close friends.
This type of feedback can be used for team members who are not in a supervisory role. In these cases the assessment is not strictly speaking 360 degrees because none of it will come from subordinates. However, it can help individuals become more effective in their job particularly if feedback from customers and suppliers is taken into account.
Your own organization may have an accepted policy regarding 360 degree feedback and you should check with your HR or personnel department before implementing this tool.