360-DEGREE FEEDBACK. The self-development tool every good leader must try.
- miriamm6
- Mar 24, 2022
- 2 min read
Photo Credit: Mapbox on Unsplash
So you believe you’re a well-rounded popular leader…
... you believe you’re fair, communicate well, delegate as much as possible, that you’ve built an office culture in which everyone prospers, everyone feels comfortable and ideas flow.
You believe your brand screams “Coach Leader”.
And then you try the 360-degree survey and the results leave you feeling blindsided!
Turns out, how you perceive yourself and your leadership style is not how others (namely your peers/team/colleagues), perceive you.
You feel shame, embarrassment, perhaps even anger or, resentment… How could they have got you so wrong, you ask ?
First things first
Well, first of all, well done for taking the 360-degree feedback exercise and second, you’re not alone.
Many leaders who have taken the 360-degree exercise have often been taken aback by some of the honest feedback in relation to their habits and/or actions of which they were totally unaware or worse, unaware of the impact these actions were having on some team members.
Perhaps your intention was to achieve goal A and yet the impact of your action(s) is resulting in goal B.
Perhaps you'd assumed or simply blamed the stressful work environment on Ron & Judy, the engineers who are too slow in fixing bugs and yet it now turns out, the person responsible for these delays and team frustrations is actually you because..
... you’re too slow in making decisions...
... you leave everything until the last minute ...
... you don’t delegate enough.
While honest feedback can be brutal at the best of times, if it comes from people who know or work with you then this should be seen as an opportunity for self-development.
If you're running a department where there's too much telling, perhaps now is the time for some listening?
It takes guts for people who work with you (especially those reporting to you), to give you 100% honest feedback?
After all, who would want to burn their bridges or risk their jobs?
What if they need a reference from you in two years time?
Do you really think because no one has brought up any issues during their appraisals or one-to-ones that this means all is well in terms of team dynamics or other issues?
This is why the anonymity that the 360 feedback affords is so vital and is why it's now such a crucial development tool for any leader who is serious about building a culture in which all can flourish.
A culture where innovation and ideas are welcomed and shared.
Where concerns are raised instead of covered up,
where people take ownership…
However, such environments don’t simply appear.
They are built by leaders who can see their own blind spots and can identify the gaps and are ready to work on themselves.
Data has shown that time and time again, more people quit their jobs because of their managers rather than the job itself.
And yet, instead of getting to the root cause of this problem, companies simply replace staff and start the whole process again.
Remember, people observe action & communication so the right thing to do is to ensure your actions align with your brand.
To learn more about the 360-degree feedback or to book your FREE 15 mins consultation with me, click buttons below