Developing a 360 questionnaire

Specify the objective of the 360 process

Decide what behaviours you expect the people to display

Create behaviour statements

The number of statements in the questionnaire

STEP 1: Specify the objective of the 360 process

What outcome do you want from the 360 process? Such as:

To support professional or personal development/coaching

For example: An annual 360 process helps managers identify their strengths and development needs.

To solve a problem

For example: The need for managers to improve morale in an underperforming business unit.

To capitalise on an opportunity

For example: A new business opportunity requiring people with strong collaboration, teamwork and decision making skills - test these on potential managers using a 360 process.

To provide information for an important decision

For example: Comparing the leadership effectiveness of different managers as input into a decision regarding which manager will be promoted.

STEP 2: Decide what behaviours you expect the people to display

Situation specific behaviours

These will vary depending on the objective of the process - dealing with a problem, capitalising on an opportunity, professional development, etc.

Common behaviours

You should always consider a 360 process as an opportunity to reinforce the values or guiding principles of the organisation.

Although organisations can have many values, there are a few categories that should always be present.

Decisiveness: encompassing judgement, accountability, follow through, speed (not haste).

Without decisiveness you become slow, bureaucratic, uninspiring.

Trust: encompassing integrity, respect, professionalism.

Without trust you don't have your staff, clients or stakeholders on your side - its an up-hill battle.

Inclusiveness: encompassing consultation, collaboration, teamwork.

Without inclusiveness you lose the power of relationships and get worse information, decisions and implementation.

Check your thinking

Before you write/source any behaviour statements, consult with relevant staff, customers, stakeholders or managers to ensure you have the right kinds of behaviours in the diagnostic.

STEP 3: Create behaviour statements

Existing statements

Use existing statements wherever possible. These have already been validated and you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

For example:

• Most organisations have an explicit set of behaviours that underpin their Values
• Use a database of statements, such as the iedex statement catalogue.

Rules for writing new statements

Rule 1:
Use plain English - words that everyone who completes the document will understand easily.

Rule 2:
Test one behaviour at a time (eg. do not use statements such as "thinks clearly and acts decisively" because the person may be good at thinking clearly but not acting decisively, so how will ratters be able to score her accurately?).

Rule 3:
Mix specific behaviour statements with general ones.

Specific eg: Does not interrupt when someone is speaking
General eg: Is sensitive to the needs of other people

STEP 4: The number of statements in the questionnaire

Overall number of statements

There are no absolute rules for the number of statements in a 360 questionnaire - use as many or few as it takes to achieve your objective (Step 1).

The general guide is 30-50 statements per questionnaire.

Number of statements per Attribute

If we are assessing a person's leadership capability, we might use eight (8) Attributes:

1. Managing people
2. Interpersonal skills
3. Communication
4. Decision making
5. Strategic thinking
6. Ability to achieve results
7. Creativity
8. Relationship management

If each of these has 5 behaviour statements, the questionnaire will contain 40 statements.

Most commonly between 3 and 6 behaviour statements are found within each Attribute.

For a typical example of a complete questionnaire containing Capabilities-Attributes-Behaviours, follow the link below.

iedex leadership questionnaire