Leadership 360s – What to expect and how to make the most of the opportunity

It’s your first leadership 360. What can you expect?

If you’re participating in a leadership 360 assessment for the first time, you may be looking forward to the direction and clarity—and you may also be feeling nervous, or have lots of questions. I offer some tips for how to demystify the experience and help you avoid some traps that many leaders fall into.

So you just had a 360 assessment…Here’s what to do next

A 360 assessment is a powerful tool to step onto the balcony and get perspective on your opportunities for growth, impact, and gaps. When working with coaching clients, I offer a few questions to help leaders focus and ‘take it all in’ as they review the summary.

The key is to take a curious stance. Ask:

• What surprised me?
• What themes are emerging?
• What hit me in a visceral way?
• What do I want to NOT be true?

​If you’re working with a coach following the 360, take note of these responses and talk through them in your debrief. Share what’s noteworthy and use it as a chance to measure your self-awareness.

Traps to avoid

TRAP	BEST PRACTICE
Trying to figure out who said what	Keep it anonymous! Assessments are typically anonymous, and it’s important to accept the input as it comes. Avoid trying to figure out who said what—this is a trap that leads to resentment and potentially resisting or rejecting important input.
Failing to focus your development efforts	Focus your goal-setting! Many leaders take on too much and set too many goals. Ideally, you’ll pick two or three areas to work on. Ask your coach to help you right-size your goals. Don’t boil the ocean.
Emphasizing the negatives and neglecting the positives	Remember the positives! A good assessment summary will provide you with a view of what’s working well. Do not gloss over this! It’s just as important (if not more) to understand what you’re doing well, the impact it’s having and know how to repeat that. Be sure to firmly and intentionally “continue” these practices.

Next steps

After your 360, you’re set to make a plan for your own development. You’ll work with your coach as an accountability partner and update your leadership plan as you make progress.
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In my experience, the best leaders also use the 360 as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with their team members. For starters, be sure to thank everyone who provided input. Also, make sure you keep the feedback discussions going, and as much as you can bring them out in the open. You may need to prime the pump a bit, by offering to share what you’ve heard and then inviting more input.

For example, “I have received some feedback that I sometimes can take too long to make a decision. Do you also see this?”

Setting yourself up for input by sharing your self-awareness is a great way to make it safe for people to be candid and constructive.

360 on Steroids

The best organizations are phasing out of annual reviews. The goal is to create a feedback culture where you’re soliciting feedback from peers, direct reports, managers, and clients on an on-going basis. Only hearing feedback once a year is not helpful. Ask for feedback when it’s most relevant and remember to reach out to variety of people to gain multiple perspectives. The more you do it, the less awkward it becomes.

​Do you know any organizations where feedback is “baked-in” to the culture? What do they do to keep the feedback culture active?