How Can 360-Degree Feedback: Activate Leadership Excellence

Feedback is a gift for leaders. Whether leaders proactively seek feedback with a GROWTH MINDSET to embrace new learning or ignore it with a FIXED MINDSET anchoring them in the status quo determines whether their leadership excellence will be activated as an individual, with their team, or across their enterprise.

360-Degree Feedback—Why it Matters!

Today, leaders are in a “fishbowl” with all eyes on their every move. What they say and how they say it impacts the environment they are creating as well as the emotional mood of their team. With so much at stake, it is important for leaders to understand “what it is like to be with them” and “how they are showing up.”

The biggest personal risk leaders have today is “Blind Spots.” Not seeing or realizing how their behavior is impacting a situation, what is really happening around them or not understanding the interpersonal dynamics at play with their teammates can affect enterprise growth and performance. These are risks that can be mitigated by receiving ongoing objective feedback.

Great leaders proactively seek out feedback, realizing its value. Most leaders, however, do not seek feedback out of fear. When they receive feedback on their Blind Spots, many unfortunately choose to “turn a Blind Eye,” ignoring the situation and causing exponential problems in their organizations that can take years to turn around.

360-Degree Feedback—A Structured vs. Informal Approach

While leaders need to consistently seek informal feedback, structured feedback approaches also exist, which can offer leaders insights for meaningful behavioral changes while ensuring confidentiality from those providing the feedback. This structured approach, often referred to as a 360-Degree Feedback Assessment, can be a game-changer for leaders looking to enhance their influence and impact in positive ways.

The fundamental approach in a structured 360-degree feedback assessment is to involve resources you regularly interact with in a holistic way. So beyond input from your supervisor or, in the case of a CEO or your board of directors, which may take place in a year-end performance review, 360-degree feedback typically also includes direct reports, peers, client stakeholders, as well as a self-assessment. Grounding your own perspective relative to the insights of others is a powerful way to uncover your blind spots!

Multi-Rater Assessments for Executive 360-Degree Feedback—A Closer Look!

The best way to structure a 360-degree assessment is to have (5) perspectives included, as outlined below. While the self and supervisor assessments will include only one individual, the peer, direct report, and stakeholder groups can typically include between 5-7 individuals in each area.

• Self-Assessment

An Executive begins the process by evaluating their own performance. This personal and honest assessment helps to set the stage for a relative comparison between self-perception and external perspectives. These gaps will point to potential blind spots.

• Peer Feedback

Colleagues at the same level in the organization can offer valuable insights given their day-to-day interpersonal interactions and observations. Feedback obtained through this lens can identify challenges and opportunities for enhancing collaborations together. This lens also helps identify potential communication and relationship gaps that are holding back increased performance and productivity in cross-functional areas.

• Direct Report Feedback

Direct reports, if offered safe space and confidentiality through a 360 assessment, can contribute valuable perspectives on an executive’s leadership style, communication, and ability to inspire a positive work environment. This lens of feedback can enhance a leader’s understanding of their impact on an individual level and with team dynamics.

• Supervisor Feedback

Superiors evaluate an executive’s performance, typically through the lens of goals, outcomes, and results. Providing insightful feedback on the softer skills and behavioral impact a leader is having tends to get less focus. A structured 360 feedback assessment, which blends both types of feedback, can be an entry point for both the leader and the supervisor in terms of strengthening their relationship as well as ensuring alignment on the leadership behaviors required to “live into” the organization’s cultural expectations.

• Stakeholder Feedback

Depending on the industry and organizational structure, external stakeholders such as clients, partners, or board members may also contribute feedback. This external perspective can be instructive for leaders with a broad organizational impact. It can also uncover strengths to leverage or gaps to be filled that can have a significant enterprise impact beyond the executive receiving direct feedback.

360 Degree Leadership Assessment—Design Choices

While many organizations will select an “off the shelf” standard 360 assessment for their executives, utilizing a custom-designed approach can offer significant advantages to both the executive and the company.

Your organizational culture has a language, models, and tools that it uses to get work done.

Each organization is unique. Enterprises that are invested in leadership development with structured programs can benefit most from a targeted, custom-designed 360-degree assessment that specifically measures performance against targeted company behaviors. When outcomes are shared back to an executive with a common language and contextual insights in a meaningful way, the impact is significantly greater for stimulating changes.

In our Customized Leadership Journey work, cultural surveys and 360-degree assessments are designed to reinforce the language, values, and lifecycle approaches that an organization is currently emphasizing. Over the course of multiple years, these assessments evolve to meet the changing needs of the organization, so they are always contemporary and, therefore, maximally effective.

360 Degree Leadership Assessment—The (2) Critical Approaches on Delivery

There are (2) practices that are essential in terms of how best to deliver the process of conducting a 360-degree executive leadership assessment.

1. Ensure Confidentiality

The first is to communicate and ensure that confidentiality will be applied. This means that sub-groups such as direct reports or peers have at least 5 participants so that comments made cannot be directly identified.

2. Administer the Results through an Outside Coach

The second is to ensure objectivity in discussing results by using an outside coach if possible. The value of the 360-degree assessment lies in the discussion, design of an action plan, and ensuring that it is a learning experience without judgment.

360 Degree Feedback Tools for Leaders—Accelerates Talent Development

One of the most significant benefits of a 360-degree assessment for executive leaders is that when blind spots are uncovered, and an action plan is put in place to address them, performance and development are often accelerated.

Tracking the themes and insights over a multi-year process through coaching, one to ones and supplemental informal feedback can take a leader to a whole new level in terms of how they are showing up as well as influencing others.

For C-Suite and Executive team leaders, giving a voice to critical stakeholders, embracing and appreciating the feedback you receive, and sharing your personal action plan for change could ignite a new level of engagement across your enterprise.

Pros + Cons of 360 Appraisals—-How You Use the Results Matters!

Used with the intention of providing an opportunity for learning and development, 360-appraisals offer valuable insight.

Alternatively, if used for the intention of “corrective action” or to validate the decision to remove an executive from their current role, it is a potential misuse of this tool.

Benefits to Expect from an Executive 360-Degree Feedback Exercise

• Comprehensive Insight

The multi-faceted nature of 360-degree feedback provides a comprehensive and holistic view of an executive’s performance, helping to uncover blind spots and areas for improvement.

• Enhanced Self-Awareness

By comparing self-perception with external feedback, executives gain a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. This increased self-awareness is a fundamental step toward personal and professional growth.

• Improved Team Dynamics

Identifying and addressing interpersonal challenges highlighted in peer and subordinate feedback can lead to more engaged and cohesive teams.

• Tailored Development Plans

With a detailed understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, executives can create targeted development plans to enhance their leadership capabilities over time.

• Organizational Alignment

Supervisor feedback helps ensure that an executive’s performance aligns with the organization’s overall strategy and performance goals as well as leadership behavioral expectations for their culture and talent community.

In the quest for activating leadership excellence in their cultures, organizations increasingly recognize the value of Executive 360-Degree Feedback.

While a structured Executive 360-Degree Feedback exercise offers numerous advantages, it is essential to navigate potential challenges. Ensuring the confidentiality of responses, providing constructive feedback in a non-judgmental way, and fostering a culture of trust and openness are critical elements in successfully implementing this tool.

A Complimentary Offer for C-SUITE Leaders—Try Our Leadership Rigor ® Assessments.

In our Customized Leadership Journey work with Private and Family Businesses, we design and deliver survey assessments on Cultural Engagement as well as various levels for 360-degree feedback.

Our Learning and Partnership Site (ericapeitler.com), has extensive resources for you to tap into, including a NEW Executive Assessment Center with (8) C-Suite level surveys to calibrate where you might currently be performing in this type of role.

Invite your executive leadership team to take them. Once completed, reach out to me and schedule a complimentary coaching call to review your results.

How to Leverage these Leadership Insights in Your Organization

If your organization is considering the need for transformational changes in your business model, your executive leadership team, your culture, or your talent bench, we can be your change partner.

Leadership training and skill-based learning have become a critical priority for CEOs given the dynamic challenges organizations are struggling with, including uncertain market conditions, employee turnover, and, most importantly, a lack of personal and cultural engagement.

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Introducing The Leadership Rigor Virtual Academy, an enterprise-level program that can give you the competitive advantage to secure cultural connectivity and talent engagement and build contemporary skills for today’s hybrid work environment.

In addition to great content that utilizes whiteboard animation and cutting-edge micro-learning techniques, our easy-to-use learning platform and high-touch program design + delivery are achieving levels of engagement that are off the charts!

Invite your organization to engage in a customized leadership learning journey where the future of work, an amazing employee experience and collaborative peer-to-peer learning all converge to accelerate your Business and Talent Growth!

Start your journey today at The Leadership Rigor Virtual Academy or email erica@ericapeitler.com