- Only admins can create and edit feedback runs.
- A 360° dashboard is created automatically when the run is activated.
- Once a run is scheduled or active, most settings are locked. See How do I schedule a run and what can I still change once it is active?.
Step 1: Create the run
- In the main navigation, click 360° Feedback.
- Click Create Run.
- Enter a Name — for example “360° Leadership Feedback Q1 2026” — and
Step 2: Details
Fill in the basics:- Name — Used throughout the product and in emails. It must be unique.
- Welcome message (optional) — Shown to reviewers when they start the survey. Leave blank to use the default text.
- Goodbye message (optional) — Shown to reviewers after they submit. Leave blank to use the default text.
Step 3: Survey Type
Choose how many perspectives should give feedback:- 90° — Manager only. One-sided view, easy to implement.
- 180° — Self + Manager. Compares self-perception with the manager’s view.
- 270° — Self + Manager + Direct Reports. Multi-level leadership view.
- 360° — Self + Manager + Peers + Direct Reports. The most comprehensive format.
Step 4: Questions
Choose where the questionnaire comes from:- Template — Start from one of the science-based questionnaires provided by Honestly. You can still edit every question afterwards.
- Create manually — Build the questionnaire from scratch.
- Scale Question — Rate a competency or statement on a graduated scale (e.g. 1–5).
- Open Question — Allow reviewers to give qualitative comments in their own words.
- Text block — A non-interactive text area to introduce or explain a section. It does not produce an answer.
- All scale questions must be assigned a dimension before you can schedule the run. A warning appears in the Schedule tab if any are missing.
- Avoid mixing different rating scales in one questionnaire — a warning is shown if you do, because it limits comparability in the dashboard.
- Questions can no longer be edited once the run is scheduled or active.
Step 5: Feedback Recipients
On the Feedback Recipients tab you choose who the feedback is for. A separate survey is created for each recipient. You can add recipients in two ways:- By attribute — Select one or more attribute values on the left (for example Department = Sales). Every matching employee is added.
- By individual search — Search for employees by name and add them one by one.
Step 6: Reviewers
The Reviewers tab lets you configure, for each recipient, who will give feedback and in which perspective.- Click a recipient to edit their reviewer list.
- Reviewers are grouped per perspective — Self , Manager , Peers , Reports — depending on which perspectives are active.
Automatic suggestions from your org structure
When you add a recipient on the Feedback Recipients tab, Honestly pre-fills their reviewer list using the reports-to relationships in your employee data. You don’t need to start from a blank list. For every newly added recipient, the following reviewers are suggested:
Auto-assignment happens only once per recipient — when they are first added to the run. Edits you make afterwards (adding more people or removing suggestions) are preserved.
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Suggestions rely on the reports-to relationship (
reports_to_id/import_id) being maintained in your employee data. If a recipient has no manager on file, the Manager perspective starts empty. If no one reports to them, the Reports perspective starts empty. - Direct Reports and Peers are capped at 2 suggestions each — this is a starting point, not a complete list. Review every recipient and add more reviewers where appropriate.
- The recipient is never suggested as their own manager, peer, or report.
Refining the list
For every perspective you can still:- Add more reviewers. Search for employees by name and add them.
- Remove suggestions. Click the remove icon next to any reviewer, including auto-assigned ones, if they shouldn’t give feedback for this recipient.
Step 7: Anonymity
Set the minimum number of responses required per perspective before results are shown in the dashboard. This tab has its own article: How does anonymity work in 360° Feedback?Step 8: Permissions
Decide who — beyond admins and the recipient — can see the results. By default only admins and the recipient see their results; you can optionally grant direct managers access to their reports’ results. See Who can see the results of a 360° feedback run?.Step 9: Notifications
Customise the subject line and body of the initial email reviewers and recipients receive when the run becomes active. See How do I configure notification emails?.Step 10: Schedule
On the last tab you see a full summary of the run (number of recipients, number of reviewers, anonymity thresholds) and set:- Activation date and time — When invitations are sent and the run becomes Active.
- Deactivation date and time — When the run closes and becomes Completed.
- You can only schedule a run that has at least one recipient, a questionnaire, and dimensions on all quantitative questions.
- Up until the activation date, you can still come back and adjust a few low-risk settings. Most settings, however, become read-only once the run is scheduled.