360 degree feedback and leadership
Look at the salaries paid to leaders today and you quickly realise the impact that leadership (from even just one person) can have on an organisation's performance. Effective leaders have an enormous and positive impact upon staff morale and productivity.
Leaders seek feedback on so many organisational factors (like reports on financials, sales, services and transactions) yet there is also a need for feedback on their own performance. This is where effective leaders have good antennae – they know the impact that their behaviour has upon others.
To increase performance and profitability, it is essential that leaders recognise and respond to the ever changing needs and demands of others, like clients, staff and stakeholders. The questions is ... how do you develop the insight that will help you become a great leader and ultimately benefit your staff, clients and shareholders?
The power of feedback
360 degree feedback is a powerful and confidential way to assess perceived leadership performance. At the same time, it is a great way to communicate leadership expectations to a wide audience. After setting expectations and then assessing performance, leaders then have a solid basis of information that, if effectively acted upon, will lead to ongoing success.
The 360 Leader
At Full Circle Feedback we have developed a proven survey instrument and process called the 360 Leader that provides a global benchmark of a leaders performance. It is based upon our comprehensive action research and defines 68 key leadership behaviours and 12 key areas. Feedback from peers, team members, customers and a manager on how they observe the leader behaving in relation to each of the behaviours can create a very powerful and constructive set of insights.
Good leaders need relevant and timely data about how others perceive them. The 360 Leader provides this data and a benchmark against leaders in other organisations around the world.
Our experience with leadership
At Full Circle Feedback we have worked with thousands of leaders in both the private and public sectors over the past decade. Our activities have included:
- Developing leadership competency frameworks
- Reviewing clients' existing competency frameworks
- Conducting research via focus groups comprised of leaders to determine key leadership behaviours
- Review of the literature on leadership
- Designing and facilitating leadership programs
- Designing performance management systems
- Discussions with Human Resources and Organisational Development personnel about desired leadership behaviours in their organisations
- Debriefing hundreds of Full Circle Feedback reports with leaders to assist them to develop insights about their behaviours and action plans
- Conducting group feedback sessions with executive teams to ascertain strengths and challenges
In all of the above activities the links are always been made between leadership behaviours and organizational goals. Our work with leaders is to assist them to understand how they may be more effective both personally and strategically.