The use structured feedback processes – very often 360-degree or 180-degree multi-rater surveys – for leaders in our organizations, and as HR/OD we know how valuable these interactions are. But most organizations don’t use structured feedback for their technical experts. Why not?

In our experience, gained over many years of working with highly technical experts in a wide range of private and public sector organizations, there are three main reasons.

1 - It’s not been part of the talent strategy in the past, so we don’t think about it.

2 - There is myth that experts distrust feedback from non-experts. For example, we might have imagined an expert saying to us “You don’t have the technical knowledge to do what I do as an expert, so how could you possibly assess my performance?”

3 - The existing 360-degree surveys are not relevant to assessing the performance of senior subject matter experts.

The new age of assessments for experts

All three of these reasons for a lack of structured assessment for experts are now disappearing.

Firstly, the war for technical talent is real, and talent teams are increasingly thinking about the mission critical challenge of acquiring, retaining and energizing critical subject matter experts.

Secondly, our research demonstrates very clearly that experts actually strongly embrace structured feedback, provided the questions properly relate to the work they do and how they operate.

Thirdly, the Expertship360, with a global benchmark, is one of the new assessment tools that are now available to organizations to help their experts get the feedback they need to extend their influence and impact.

Guess what? It turns out experts love feedback

Before we list the many reasons why organizations should periodically and comprehensively provide feedback mechanisms for their experts, let’s burst one myth: that experts aren’t very good at receiving feedback. Our firm, Expertunity, has now executed many thousands of Expertship360 surveys for hundreds of clients. And we have extensive data on how experts have embraced the process.

• 94% of experts told us they found the 360-survey experience very valuable.

• 86% of participants told us they gained insights that would help them be a more effective expert in their organization.

Given the hundreds of thousands of data points we now have for this assessment, in 2025 we produced our first global benchmark, which enables participating experts to see how their ratings rank against the best experts in the world (we have delivered the assessment to subject matter experts in 16 countries so far (July 2026).

Two insights that OD and HR folks might find valuable:

• for most experts their 360-degree feedback is their first such experience in their career (even if they are 25 year veterans).

• Experts often feel us the only feedback they have had previously tends to be from their manager and relates only to their technical skills.

What makes the Expertship360 a unique and valuable experience for experts is that it measures the impact of their technical skills and the impact of their enterprise skills. Our global benchmark shows that the highest performing experts worldwide are highly capable in both sets of capabilities.

You can read more about What are enterprise skills, and why are they important for technical experts? here.

You can read about the Expertship Model, the capability framework which the Expertship360 is based on here.

Here are our six reasons why providing feedback to experts is a very smart move, and worth experimenting with immediately.

1. They love data.

They are experts, and experts are very often data-driven. Anecdotal feedback from random strangers or leaders doesn’t cut it - that isn’t scientific enough for them. But real data, from multiple respondents that they have selected - well, that’s data that has to be taken seriously.

2. They act on the data.

The biggest reason for providing experts with data is they - in the experience of the team at Expertunity - they act on it. Often with military precision. Once experts see a clear path to improve the value they deliver, they race along it. Nearly every expert we’ve ever met wants to be the best expert they can be. They just needed a roadmap. Structured feedback provides it.

3. It opens their eyes to how valued they really are.

Most experts can be nervous when embarking on an Expertship360 assessment that they’ll get negative feedback. In most cases the feedback they receive is positive and confirming. In fact, many respondents to the surveys talk about wonderfully expert the experts are. This is a source of surprise and pride for most experts - that ‘people out there’ understand the value they bring. Experts we have worked with don’t take this as a slap on the back, and reason to do nothing – they are motivated by positive feedback and seek to act so that positive feedback keeps coming their way.

4. It opens their eyes to how more valuable they could be to their colleagues, stakeholders and the wider organization.

In most surveys, respondents do also point out areas where experts could be more effective. Experts can explore how they are experienced by stakeholders in ways which surprise and disappoint them. From this, experts can build an action plan to become an even more valuable colleague and expert. And with an effectively managed and supported process they shape a Personal Growth Plan and execute it.

5. It changes their attitude towards work.

If your expert was stuck in a rut (what we call The Expert Trap), this type of feedback releases them. They have energy and a plan to improve their performance. To work towards Master Expert status. Technical Group Heads we work with often comment on how their participants attitude changes almost overnight. Properly structured feedback helps experts get their mojo back.

6. It changes their attitude towards stakeholders.

Undertaking a multi-rater structured assessment changes the conversation between stakeholders and experts. Suddenly the conversations are about partnership and relationship, not just a transactional action to be ticked off an experts’ to-do list. The assessments for experts have lasting impact when it comes to stakeholder relationships. To be clear: the assessments work for the stakeholders who respond as well as for the experts themselves.

What are you waiting for?

The Expertship360 survey, owned and operated by The Expertship Institute, is available worldwide. Expertunity, as one of the Institute’s delivery partners, can provide 360s to organizations in in the US, UK, Canada, Singapore, and in Australia in New South Wales. If you are in a different location, please contact the Institute directly (at www.expertship.com) and they will direct you to the relevant delivery partner in your location.

There are several ways you can start this initiative:

• With single experts being assessed.

• Via one of our Packages, where you 5 or 10 experts undertake the survey. This makes each individual survey far more affordable, and for large organizations it helps benchmark the effectiveness of the tool.

All surveys are very carefully delivered, with an induction call for 15 minutes to help the expert understand the survey, its confidentiality settings, and to shape an effective respondent list, and then there is a comprehensive report delivered and debriefed by a qualified Expertship Coach, and then the coach works with the expert to shape an meaningful and actionable Personal Growth Plan, leveraging the free online assets from the Expertship Institute such as the Expertship Growth Guide.

Contact us for an initial conversation, and to understand pricing.

Read what experts have to say about expertship.