by Susan Power, Founder & CEO of PowerUp Leadership
One of the best ways to set goals for a coaching engagement is to collect feedback from others across the organization that you interact with. Your boss, direct reports, peers, and other key stakeholders like strategic partners, customers and suppliers often experience your leadership skills with a different lens and exposure. Many of my clients like to use 360 degree assessments as a springboard to compare their own self assessment of their leadership strengths and weaknesses and set goals based on any blind spots.
Figure One: LeaderAmp Sample 360 Assessment
As an executive coach, my experience is that employees new to a 360 degree assessment have a lot of questions and sometimes apprehension about how these reports may be used. It is worthwhile spending time upfront to communicate why the organization is engaging in 360 degree assessments, the confidentiality of the process, who receives the reports, and how they will be used as a development vehicle. 360 assessments are intended to be levers for development and growth, and not evaluative for performance management.
There are many 360’s on the market, and they measure different leadership dimensions. My favorite 360’s that have the highest level of reliability and measure the most impactful leadership dimensions are:
Often 360 degree assessments are performed and then put on the shelf to collect dust, and are forgotten about. The only way to truly benefit from them is to build them into an employee development plan. Many organizations will offer leadership coaching in parallel with a 360 assessment to support employees in reaching their goals.
A professional certified coach is invaluable in helping clients unpack their blind spots by asking powerful questions that prompt the client to self reflect and experience insights in how they think and behave. For behaviour change to occur, a development plan and a supportive coach can help employees build the right mindsets and beliefs that will propel them towards goal realization and progress. The right leadership behaviours drive business growth and organizational results, and it needs to start at the individual level (ideally from the CEO down).
Book a complimentary exploratory call today to learn more about our leadership 360 assessments.