At Peeplcoach, we believe one of the fundamental aspects of being a great leader – whether you’re a first-time leader, emerging leader, or seasoned executive leader – is gathering more information about yourself, gaining insight, and then putting that into action.
After thousands of hours of executive coaching conversations with first-time managers, women leaders and senior leaders, I’ve seen one truth repeatedly: the most successful leaders are those who actively seek to understand how they’re showing up and the impact their behaviours have on others.
Here’s the thing that might be controversial, but needs to be said: organisations could have far more effective leadership development results if they started with 360 feedback.
The Foundation of Leadership Development for All Leaders
When developing leaders at every level, gathering information really means understanding:
- Our behaviours and how we’re turning up
- The impacts those behaviours have on others
- What specific actions can we take to mitigate risks and amplify strengths
I fundamentally believe that people don’t deliberately set out to be bad bosses or leaders. Nobody wakes up thinking, “How can I upset my team today?” But sometimes, because of our upbringing, stress, or simply being in a rush, we communicate in ways that don’t land as intended.
This is precisely why we start ALL of our leadership development programs with comprehensive 360 feedback – whether we’re working with first-time leaders or women leaders breaking through to executive roles.
Why External 360s Outperform Internal Assessments
Whilst we do have a “do it yourself” version, what I see as more effective is an external 360 process. Let’s face facts: nobody actually loves giving constructive feedback.
When we coach emerging leaders, middle managers, or senior leaders, the reality is stark: no one feels great about telling someone their work isn’t up to standard or they’ve upset others. It’s human nature to be caring, but that very caring nature often prevents the honest conversations that drive growth.
Here’s what makes 360 feedback absolutely critical for developing leaders: it’s not the feedback of one person at one point in time. When done right, 360s provide a cross-section of individuals rating performance, giving you a comprehensive picture.
An Eye-Opening Case Study
Let me share a recent case study that perfectly illustrates why 360 feedback is critical for effective leadership development.
We were working with an organisation conducting 360 assessments for their middle managers and senior leaders, comparing:
- Individual self-assessment (how they see themselves)
- All others combined (peers, colleagues, direct reports, customers)
- Manager assessment (isolated manager perspective)
The Surprising Data:
- Self vs All Others: Variance was small – within 5%
- Manager vs Individual: Marked difference of up to 23% variation
What This Actually Means
This data doesn’t tell us that individuals think they’re better than they are, or that managers are hard markers. What it reveals is a fundamental mismatch of expectations.
Somewhere along the line, the expectation of what “good” looks like between managers and individuals has never been properly discussed or aligned.
This is the absolute beauty of 360 feedback – it’s a quantitative report that enables evidence-based discussions.
The Real Problem Affecting All Leadership Levels
Picture this: An emerging leader thinks they’re performing at 4.5 out of 5 on a leadership behaviour. Their manager believes they’re at 3.7. But there’s been no discussion about:
- What good actually looks like
- How to progress from 3.7 to 4.5
- Specific behavioural changes required
What does this mean for the individual? No guidelines, no roadmap for improvement, no clear understanding of expectations.
What does this mean for the organisation? Frustrated managers, confused employees, and leadership development initiatives that fail to deliver ROI.
This pattern repeats whether we’re talking about women leaders navigating organisational dynamics, middle managers caught between expectations, or senior leaders assuming their impact matches their intent.
Why Most Feedback Fails
This comes back to my first point: most people don’t like giving tough, constructive feedback. We’re time-poor, and when we do provide feedback, it’s often:
- Not done constructively
- Not delivered timely
- Not done at all because we’re too busy
The solution? Implementing a 360 feedback loop that gives a structured opportunity for constructive, objective feedback to emerging leaders, middle managers, senior leaders, and executive leaders alike.
The Bottom Line
If you can’t do anything else in your leadership development strategy this year, implementing comprehensive 360 feedback should be your starting point.
This isn’t about creating feel-good moments. This is about creating greater leadership competency, awareness, and performance that drives business results across your entire leadership pipeline.
For emerging leaders and first-time leaders, this means understanding your impact before establishing bad habits. For middle managers and senior leaders, it means ensuring your leadership style actually achieves what you think it does. For women leaders, it provides objective data to support career advancement conversations.
What steps will you take to implement robust 360 feedback processes for your emerging leaders, middle managers, senior leaders, and executive teams?
