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The first element of my coaching process is the 360-Degree Review, a feedback tool that gathers insights on a leader’s character, performance, and behavior from multiple sources—peers, team members, managers, and, sometimes, other stakeholders.
This process gives me a holistic view of a leader’s strengths, areas for improvement, and blind spots, and serves as the foundation for creating a productive coaching program.
It’s also an eye-opener for most leaders. Areas of their leadership skill set, where they thought they were strong, are revealed as needing improvements. As an example, communicating is a skill set most leaders believe they are really good at, when they’re not. This misconception often exists because no one has ever told them how poorly they communicate. The 360 Degree Review – because it is anonymous – gives participants the opportunity to candidly assess the Leader’s communication skill set, and often evokes this type of response from Team Members: “He believes in communication by telepathy. After every meeting the Team meets to discuss what we think he really wants us to do.”
Needless to say, this and similar responses, gives the leader and me the basis for improving their leadership skill set.
Yet, even with the obvious benefits of the 360-Degree Review – a comprehensive perspective of their leadership skill set; revealed opportunities for becoming a more effective leader; increased self-awareness; promoting a culture of improvement – leaders are often reluctant to engage in the process because:
- They Fear Criticism: Receiving honest feedback is uncomfortable, particularly if it exposes areas that need improvement.
- It’s a Threat to Their Self-Image: Leaders resist feedback that could challenges their self-perception and reveal their blind spots.
- They Believe It Will Erode Their Authority.
- They’re Comfortable with the Status Quo: If they have been successful, leaders feel changing their approach is unnecessary.
But even worse than not engaging in the 360 Degree Review, is the negative impact when leaders ignore the results of the 360 Degree Review:
- Erosion of Respect & Participation: Team Members expect their feedback to be valued and acted upon. When leaders ignore their input, Team Members feel their perspectives are unimportant and are less willing to care or give feedback in the future.
- Decreased Team Engagement: When leaders don’t acknowledge or address issues highlighted in feedback, Team Members become demotivated, disengaged, and less committed to their work.
- Increased Turnover and Talent Drain: Talented Team Members leave when they feel ignored or undervalued, especially if the leader’s unaddressed behaviors directly impact their work environment.
- Missed Opportunities for an Improved Team Culture: By ignoring feedback, leaders miss the opportunity to set a positive example and cultivate an improvement focused team culture.
When leaders ask for AND take feedback seriously, they demonstrate accountability and respect, which strengthen team bonds, improve morale, and enhance overall performance. Ignoring feedback, on the other hand, sends the opposite message, leading to a deteriorating work environment and a loss of the very qualities that make teams effective and resilient.
So, the only question that needs to be answered by any Team Leader, who seriously want to become a more effective leader, is “Can you handle the truth?”
I could be wrong… but I’m not.
P.S.: I’m currently booking speaking engagements for 2025! If you know of an organization looking for a dynamic speaker, with a meaningful message I would appreciate you giving them my name and my website paulgloverspeaks.com.
Thanks for your support.
