What are the benefits and challenges of 360-degree feedback for leaders?

Developing self awareness is one of the most key priorities as a leader. So is building a culture where we invite insights from each other on how to grow. “Feedback” is not always the best term. Changing the language, such as to 360-degree insights or 360-degree perspectives, can be more inclusive and less threatening.

The contents of a 360 assessment is a lot like receiving birthday presents as a kid. If you're lucky you accumulate a pile of gifts and then what happens is you choose which one is most interesting to you in the moment, and then you play with that 1 gift for the next 30 days whilst leaving the others gifts in a pile to explore later. When you're presented with gifts thoughtfully chosen by others you can't help but learn more about yourself. Notice your reaction to each gift. Notice what impact it has for you. Where you feel challenge, or relief or validation. Notice how you want to make up stories about the gifts. Notice that some gifts are more interesting than others. There is a wealth of information here for you to explore.

The potency of a feedback lies in its artful delivery and silent yet penetrating landing. Crafting powerful feedback means threading intention through its core, fostering acceptance; being truthfully non-judgment - creating a realm of detachment where impartiality reigns, and allow it to pass through the filters around the space, time, and context, to make it relevant, and minimise the challenge of acceptance across.

We humans are emotional beings. The different corporate systems we operate in have different rules. Debriefing a 360 is prone to interpretation, analyses, judgement, justification, explanation, defense. But none of it is truth. There is no single truth. It's all just information. The question is, does the leader hold a growth mindset. What is their default perspective of this tool? If there is a truth perhaps it's that the only true judge of one's leadership are the people who are on the receiving end of it. Establishing context and perspective prior to diving in is essential. Co-designed agreements should be established before going into the data.

One thing to consider is if a leader asks their team and counterparts to participate in 360-degree feedback, then there will be some expectation that there will be action taken in areas of development. As stated before, it is important for a leader to set the example by accepting and internalizing feedback and they demonstrating a willingness to grow and evolve their leadership approach.

Leading by example is key. As a leader we should be clearly going first in this and inviting others into it. Sharing our own journey of growing in self awareness and the benefits we have gained doing 360-degree insights with our coach or top team can go a long way toward demystifying the process and making it feel more accessible.

As with so many things, success is found in the pre-work done in team culture and preparation. Start small with this area of giving feedback (insights) to each other. Few people are practiced at it, or have been given good examples in life. Start small, with coaching on giving positive encouragement and reinforcement. Building up toward a 360 will bring better results than being thrown in at the deep end. Make it a priority that the sharing of our perspectives and views is a welcoming process.

I love to have the leader take notes and take ownership. I have the leader make a list of 'interesting things' and challenge to get 50 items on the list —no filtering, no judgement, no explanation. Just casually note down topics that come up in the conversation that might be interesting. Following the debrief the leader aims to select only 1 of the 'interesting things' (and maybe it's a hybrid interesting thing) that will be the focus of an action plan for the next 30 days that is openly communicated to stakeholders. The leader gets to figure out their own definition of 'interesting' after the debrief; important, urgent, fun, challenge, in-alignment, known, surprising, potential... And I look to help them validate their thinking.

It takes energy to process the perspectives of those on the other side of you. It can be tiring and a little confusing without outside help to sift, interpret, and apply. A leadership development coach is a companion committed to your highest good and will structure conversation designed to move from general information to specific clarity. This dramatically accelerates growth and is a help to keep from getting lost in the weeds. I would never suggest a 360 without coaching.

Leadership development coaching can bring skilled facilitation during the debrief include managing through the kubler-ross grief curve. 360 assessments feed very smoothly into a coaching process. Ultimately its about clarity of focus on a desired outcome, honesty about where you're at now, and an exploration through experimentation (action-learning cycles), paying attention to the impact along the way. This is 1 perspective of the work of coaching - partner a leader through this. Holding their ropes.

A coaching relationship is a trust relationship, so it’s very important to follow your intuition when you choose a leadership development coach. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t ignore that. Ask yourself what that is and how you can settle the question. You will feel a good match when it happens - it was easy for your voice to be heard, you gained insights even just in conversation with them, and you feel a sense of chemistry and trust in their competence and character. Remember, you are working together with them for your own transformation.

If you were a rock climber expanding your range you'd want someone you could trust holding your ropes. They would make failure safe for you. They'd tell you to put more gear in. They would champion you when fear sets in. They'd offer feedback from their zoomed-out position. They'd see your potential and challenge you to step into it. If the coaching relationship works well you'll feel discomfort. You'll try moves that you typically avoid. You'll attempt routes you wouldn't normally. You'll feel vulnerable. You'll remember what it feels like to be a learner at something. You'll stumble. And, so long as you are paying attention you will learn something useful. The coach that does all this for you is the one you want holding your ropes.

Like all tools and assessments the details of who said what and who scored what are really much less interesting than the conversations they generate. The data are inputs. Curiosity should drive the parsing of the data. The outputs should be a permanent change to a better quality of conversation going forward.