The limitation of professional coaching is that, except in rare cases, the coach is not present in the context in which the difficult employee operates and is unable to provide directly observed feedback. This puts the coachee in a position to tell the coach their version of "truth" without the coach being able to effectively challenge that perception.

360° feedback is a tool for gathering perceptions of the coachee's work from the people with whom they come into contact. It can be carried out on just a few targeted individuals or on a 360° basis on direct reports, peers, senior managers and even customers, partners and external suppliers.

The aim is to share with the coachee the results (collected anonymously but returned in aggregate form so as not to create conflict) of what people think of him or her.

This allows the coach to initiate reflections in the coachee based on evidence from subjective assessments, but usually very indicative of how much and how the employee is seen by others.