Creating a strong feedback culture is not a one-off intervention; it is a journey. Organisations often aspire to be places where feedback flows freely, is received well and used in a positive way to make things even better. Yet achieving this requires clear intent and a development pathway that grows people and strengthens the organisation’s feedback culture over time.
The Lumus360 feedback culture maturity model provides a simple, visual way to understand how organisations typically evolve their feedback capability. It highlights the key stages most teams and organisations move through as they progress from avoidance to becoming confident champions of feedback. 360 feedback is a great way to accelerate the early stages of building feedback.
The model outlines five recognisable stages of development. While organisations may move through them at different speeds (and occasionally slip backwards), the journey is broadly consistent.
At this stage, people generally lack the skills, confidence and psychological safety to give or receive balanced feedback. Typical themes at this level include:
The feedback giver:
The feedback receiver:
With low confidence and limited experience on both sides, feedback is typically avoided or handled superficially.
The first stage of growing feedback maturity focuses on creating the conditions for both the feedback giver and the recipient to feel safe and in control. We can achieve this by providing the following
For the feedback giver:
For the feedback recipient:
Together, these conditions help build confidence on both sides and mark the first step in building organisational feedback capability.
At this stage, the basics of giving and receiving feedback are established. The focus now shifts to encouraging more in-the-moment openness, shared responsibility and constructive dialogue. It becomes about putting mechanisms in place that enable feedback to be used as a natural and routine part of everyday work.
Ideas for mechanisms that support this include:
These mechanisms help feedback become embedded, expected and genuinely useful, strengthening openness and accountability.
At this stage, the focus is on setting clear expectations that encourage people to actively seek feedback and have direct, timely conversations. With skill, confidence and trust already established, feedback becomes more proactive and self-directed.
Organisational expectations at this stage could include:
Here, feedback becomes more fluid and continuous, supported by a shared expectation that everyone contributes to and benefits from it.
At this stage, feedback is fully embedded in the organisation’s culture, instinctive and “how we do things here”. New joiners quickly understand that open dialogue, shared learning and constructive challenge is normal and expected. This is the hallmark of a truly feedback-mature organisation, where feedback drives growth, collaboration and innovation.
When thoughtfully implemented, 360 feedback provides practical benefits that help accelerate feedback maturity, particularly during the early stages of culture development. The table below highlights how 360 feedback supports both feedback givers (respondents) and feedback receivers (participants) as they progress through the first two stages of the feedback culture maturity model.
| Feedback Maturity Level | Feedback Giver (Respondent) | Feedback Receiver (Participant) |
|---|---|---|
Safe and in-control 
|
It provides the feedback giver (respondent) with:
|
It provides the feedback receiver (participant) with:
|
Open and accountable 
|
For feedback givers (respondents) by:
|
For feedback receivers (participants) by:
|
By making feedback easier, safer and more constructive for both sides, 360 feedback helps organisations move through the stages of maturity, from cautious beginnings to a confident, feedback-rich culture.
Q. What is the Lumus360 Feedback Culture Maturity Model?
A. The Lumus360 Feedback Culture Maturity Model is a simple, visual framework that illustrates how organisations typically evolve their feedback maturity. It outlines five stages from Avoidance through to Feedback Champion showing how people and approaches can be developed over time.
Q. How can 360 feedback help build a feedback culture?
A. 360 feedback can support organisations in taking the first steps by providing a safe and structured way to practise giving and receiving feedback. Because the process is guided and often anonymous, it reduces anxiety, builds trust and develops the confidence needed for more open feedback conversations.
Q. At what stage of feedback maturity should an organisation introduce 360 feedback?
A. It is particularly helpful in the Safe and in-control and Open and accountable stages of maturity. During these stages, people are developing the confidence, trust and skills to use feedback constructively and the structure of a 360 process helps them practise and refine those abilities in a supported way.
Q. What does a ‘Feedback Champion’ culture look like?
A. Feedback Champion culture is one where feedback is fully embedded and instinctive, it’s simply “how we do things here”. Feedback is continuous, open and energising, with everyone contributing to shared learning and improvement environment.
