Hello! I am struggling with a work situation. Here is my 2nd question: How can we go about asking the company to do 360 reviews?
Question 1 from Issue #2 was: My manager does not accept criticism and I upset them when I disagree with them. So is there an effective way to be heard by a manager that doesn’t want to listen?
JOANNA, Vancouver CANADA
March 2026
Sarah’s take:
Okay, I’m going to take a guess here and assume that your two questions are related. Like, maybe you are hoping, in part, that some of the anonymous feedback you’ll get from the 360's will give your manager insight into how some of their behaviour is (negatively) impacting people.
First of all, full disclosure, I am not a fan of 360 reviews. I have two reasons: 1) People rarely provide enough context in their comments for them to be meaningful, and when it comes to how us humans behave in certain situations at work, context matters a lot. 2) 360’s are usually done because we have a hunch people are unhappy about something or someone and are unlikely to disclose it any other way. We are not looking for the good stuff in 360’s are we? We are looking for the hidden sh*t. That’s why they are anonymous and that’s also what makes them feel inherently negative (to me, anyway).
If your manager has ANY sense that you’re hoping a 360 will illuminate some of their own sh*t, it will be hard for them to get jazzed about doing one. So my question is, what do you want? Do you want to know something specific about someone or something? Confirmation on a hunch? Do you want to hear people’s thoughts? Feelings? Objective observations? Something else? And what are you hoping to use that information for?
This is the place to start the conversation with your manager. If you can both agree on what you want and why, it should be a lot easier to talk about what to do next and whether or not running 360’s makes sense.
Sandy’s take:
What is your WHY for wanting 360 degree reviews? Is it for your own development and growth, is it because you think all employees will benefit from having them done, is it because you want to find a way to give your boss feedback, is it all of the above, or is it something else? Getting clear on your WHY will help you frame your ask of your People and Culture team. Keep this in mind though. Introducing and implementing 360 reviews takes a lot of time and energy — from your P&C team who will be implementing them AND from all of the managers and employees who will be required to provide feedback. So, if it is helpful for your organization AND people are open to it, then 360 reviews can be awesome. But, if it is about providing feedback to your boss, then there could be a more efficient way to do that. And if your reason is the latter one, and you want some tips on that, feel free to write back and ask!
