360 Leaders Need 360 Feedback

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvjWPDc2xsU

What kind of leader are you when you receive feedback?

What kind of teammate are you when it’s your turn to give it?

Do you lean in with curiosity?

Do you get defensive?

Or do you see feedback as an opportunity to grow something stronger than before?

In this episode of Culture Conversations, I sit down with leadership expert, author, and Grow Strong Leaders co-founder Meredith Bell for a thoughtful, practical conversation about one of the most misunderstood tools in leadership development: the 360 feedback process.

What unfolds is an honest exploration of what feedback really is, why it matters, and how leaders can use it to build trust, strengthen relationships, and create cultures where growth is normal—not threatening.

Tease Key Insights

• 360 Feedback Is About Behavior, Not Judgment: The most effective feedback focuses on observable actions, not vague labels. Instead of “You’re not a good communicator,” meaningful feedback sounds like “I’d appreciate more time to finish my thoughts in meetings.” Specific behaviors create clarity. Clarity creates change.

• Customization Is the Secret to Useful Data: Not all leadership roles require the same skills, so feedback tools shouldn’t ask the same questions. Meredith explains that organizations get the best results when they tailor questions to match real responsibilities and expectations at each level. Relevance is what turns feedback into insight.

• Blind Spots Go Both Ways: Many people assume feedback only reveals weaknesses. In reality, it often highlights strengths leaders underestimate. Some leaders rate themselves lower than others rate them—meaning their growth opportunity isn’t fixing flaws, but recognizing their impact.

• Trust Determines Whether Feedback Works: If people fear retaliation or judgment, they won’t be honest. Strong feedback cultures depend on psychological safety, transparency, and preparation so participants understand the purpose is development not evaluation.

• Feedback Alone Doesn’t Change Behavior: The report is only the starting point. Growth happens when leaders reflect, discuss results openly, and invite support from others. Real transformation occurs after the data, not inside it.

  
  

Why this Matters?

Workplaces are full of moments that test our awareness: difficult conversations, missed expectations, shifting priorities, and competing perspectives.

When feedback is unclear, avoided, or misused, teams stay stuck in assumption and frustration. But when feedback is specific, intentional, and rooted in trust, it becomes one of the most powerful culture-shaping tools available.

Leaders who embrace feedback model humility.

Teams who practice feedback build trust.

Organizations that normalize feedback accelerate growth.

The difference isn’t the tool. It’s how people choose to use it.

Leadership isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being willing to learn in public.

Listen Now

If you’ve ever wondered how to:

• Receive feedback without getting defensive

• Give feedback that actually helps someone improve

• Build trust before launching a 360 process

• Turn insights into real behavior change

• Create a culture where growth conversations feel safe

This episode will give you both the mindset and the method to start.

🎧 Tune in to this episode of Culture Conversations with Megan Robinson and Meredith Bell and ask yourself:

Am I resisting feedback… or using it to become the leader my team needs?

Meredith Bell

President

Meredith Bell is the co-founder and president of Grow Strong Leaders, where she publishes online tools that help leaders strengthen their character and communication skills. Why? Because strong relationships and inspired teams don’t happen by accident.

She’s the author of three books, including Connect with Your Team and Peer Coaching Made Simple, which she co-wrote with her longtime business partner, Dr. Dennis Coates. These guides are packed with practical ways to build trust, master communication, and coach each other to be our best.

Meredith is also the host of the Grow Strong Leaders Podcast, where she’s interviewed hundreds of business leaders and experts about what it really takes to lead well. Get ready—you’re about to hear from someone who has spent decades helping leaders grow stronger on the inside so they can have a bigger impact on the outside.

Full Episode

Megan:

Hello and welcome to Culture Conversations, the podcast where we explore the people side of work. I'm your host, Megan Robinson. For years, I've found myself deep in discussions about workplace engagement with industry experts. Now I get to share this wisdom with all leaders, new and experienced, on their journeys to build cultures that maximize potential. We spend so much of our lives at work. Let's make it a place where our teams can grow and succeed. Hello and welcome to Culture Conversations. My name is Regan Robinson, your host for this podcast, and I'm so excited to introduce our guest, Meredith Bell. She is absolutely incredible, and her depth of knowledge in the 360 process and giving and receiving feedback is something that I've never met before. The way she's dedicated her passion, her professionalism to it, and really understanding how core and fundamental this is for everyone's true leadership growth and development. If I just introduce Meredith is the co-founder and president of Grow Strong Leaders, where she publishes online tools that help leaders strengthen their characters and communication. Why? Obviously, right? Because strong relationships and inspired teams don't happen by accident. She's the author of three books, including Connect With Your Team and Peer Coaching Made Simple, which she co-wrote with her longtime business partner, Dr. Dennis Coates. And these guides are packed with practical ways to build trust, master communication, and coach each other to be our best. Noticing a bit of a theme here, I think. Meredith is also the host of Grow Strong Leaders podcast, where she's interviewed hundreds of business leaders and expert about what it really takes to lead well. Get ready, because you're about to hear from someone who has spent decades helping leaders grow stronger on the inside, so they can have an even bigger impact on the outside.

Meredith:

Welcome so much, Meredith. Thank you, Megan. I'm really looking forward to our conversation today.

Megan:

As am I. It's so important. And when we were first connecting and chatting, your perspective on 360s was so impressive. I mean, you've been on the cutting edge of this process. You've got more expertise than anyone. You've truly pioneered it into the digital age. Tell me, what got you so involved in 360s?

Meredith:

Well, back in the early 90s, my co-author in the book, Stinney Coates, and I were business partners, and we were doing consulting and training around leadership development. And back then, 360 was a new phenomenon. And there weren't very many publishers. They were very expensive. And they were rigid. They had a set of questions you had to use with every group. And we had a real diversity of client types. And so one size didn't fit all. And we just got frustrated with trying to look for a tool. So we decided, what the heck, let's create one ourselves. So we hired a software developer. And in 1994, we released the first version of it. And the key thing that we did was we made it customizable so that people could add their own questions. They could edit our questions. We had a very extensive library of questions, and we still do. But we wanted it to be used by organizations to measure what was important for them and not some generic list of leadership behaviors that may or may not be relevant, or at least not all of them. And so our very first version was floppy diskettes. That's how far back it goes, because traditionally they were scanned forms that were then sent back to the publisher and the reports were sent to the organization. And we wanted it to be more self-managed by a company. So we had these diskettes that we would mail out to them and then they could install the software locally and make these kinds of adjustments to the questionnaires. And of course, over the years, it evolved into CDs and then online. And of course, now it's totally online. And so people can set up their surveys Using their own unique dashboard and manage accounts that way and then they can also customize their report so they can have sections that are included with the right kind of data that's, you know, just a good match for them. So we've really evolved and we were pioneers for sure back then. There was no customized 360 back then. We were sort of heretics, to tell you the truth, because some of the companies that had created those first 360s emphasized that these were validated, you know, assessments. And we were kind of bucking the current there and saying, but wait a minute, You know, validation is really important. The kind that you think of when you've got a personality test and you're measuring factors such as introversion or extroversion, and you can't ask a direct question like, are you introverted? You're asking other kinds of questions that relate to that particular factor. Well, a 360 is a whole different animal. You're simply asking, behavior-based questions that somebody who's worked with that individual has either seen or not seen, or sees it to some degree, such as, let's say, a skill like listening. Listens without interrupting. And so you then are just asking on a scale like agreement, how strongly do you agree that the person does this? So it's not relating to a factor in the same way as a personality assessment. So that is why being able to customize it makes a lot of sense.

Megan:

Oh, definitely. And I think in the work that I see as well, that customization is so key because every company and organization has a different view of what they're looking for. And I know some of the work that we do is really understanding and defining what those leadership competencies are, what those leadership skills are, and to your point, what those behaviors they're looking for. And it varies. There is no one size fits all. Leadership looks different at different companies. And having a rigorous process, I will say, with what you've created to really hone in, not this, hey, how good of a communicator are they? Are they a good communicator or a bad communicator? But getting into the depth of, do they listen? Are they listening without interrupting? And getting into the behavior is what really transforms I'll say subpar feedback to actionable feedback.

Meredith:

Yeah, it's really true. The creation of the items themselves is an art or a science, you could say, because it's important to measure one thing in a single question. If you add in a second one, then people can be confused about how to rate it. If the person does well in one thing but not so much in another, It makes it challenging. And so getting that kind of specificity is important. And of course, there's different levels of leadership too. And so different skills relate to them. So for example, in our survey library, we have questions for individual contributors. We have questions for mid-level leaders, like supervisors, managers, and then some that are more strategic for the executive level. So there's that to consider too. What's expected or needed? at different levels is different as well. So that's another reason for, I think, customization being available.

Megan:

Of course. You brought up an interesting point, though, where I think a lot of people get their results so that they want to do a 360. And it's the validity in that sense, where all of your competition back then was really standardizing it to try and make it consistent. How do you feel about the validity of a 360? Is it really?

Meredith:

Well, to me, validity as it relates to 360 is decided at the local organization level where they would ask, is this question valid for our organization? You know, is it something we want to measure? And I think this is where people like you, Megan, are so helpful in the way you work with clients and help them think through What is it we specifically want these people to be able to do? And that's what we want to measure. So that they're getting feedback that's going to help them be more effective. It isn't just finding out like what's wrong with them. It's emphasizing strengths that they may not give themselves credit for. We see often instances, because in a 360 report, The individual who's receiving the feedback does a self-assessment. in addition to getting feedback from those who have firsthand knowledge of their work. And so one part of the report allows them to compare their self score with the scores they've received from others. And sometimes people are really hard on themselves and they rate themselves lower than others rate them. And so that's a different kind of blind spot. It's not giving myself credit for what I'm doing well, and sometimes people want even more of what that individual has as a strength. So it can be a good news aspect to the report, in addition to highlighting areas where there may be this other kind of gap, where they think they're doing fine and rated themselves high, but others rated them lower. And so that's an important aspect of learning to find out, Oh, and that's usually the part that hurts people the most, you know, that kind of hits them in the gut when they look at their report and they see low ratings in areas where they had no clue that they were creating. And that's happened to me. I, you know, can speak firsthand about having gotten 360 feedback from my team some years ago, where. I learned that when somebody came into my office, they often felt like I was mad at them because I would look up, if I was concentrating on something, I'd look up and I didn't know I was scowling. I didn't think I was scowling, but apparently I had a look that communicated, don't bother me. And so after I got that feedback and kind of processed it, I apologized to them and I said, look, I'm going to, be more clear about when I need time to really concentrate. And I labeled it prime time and I said, I'll close my door or have some other way of communicating with you. So you'll know when would be a good time to come to me. And I think that's a key thing. This is getting a little off the validity piece, but I think the whole purpose of feedback is to help people learn what do others need from me? What do they want more of? Where am I doing things that might be creating problems for them that I don't even realize it? And so that's an area that I can identify that I want to work on. That's really the purpose.

Megan:

It is, but I think it comes to such a challenging disconnect when you are faced with those differences and things aren't aligned on that report. And I just got off a big project where I was debriefing a lot of the 360s and really seeing and being able to understand that that is someone else's perspective and that is their reality and that is their idea of what it is. Whether you agree with it or don't agree with it doesn't make it any less valid for them. And it's such a different type of feedback to have that picture from someone else's world.

Meredith:

And, you know, we really try to help frame it with folks as a gift. You know, this is an opportunity to learn and grow from what information people are willing to share with you. And of course, a real fundamental piece, Megan, is this need for trust. You know, the people providing the ratings need to trust that they're anonymous or confidential, assuming that is how it's structured, and it typically is, and they don't need to be concerned about some kind of negative retribution happening to them for being honest. Some 360s, like ours, allow not just ratings, but also comments, and they can also provide often open-ended comments to questions like, what's this person's greatest strength overall or greatest opportunity for development? So the trust factor needs to be there. And I think a key in getting good results, meaning honest feedback that can be useful to the person, is preparing folks in advance, both the raters who are giving the feedback as well as those who are receiving the feedback, so they understand this is an opportunity. The company is investing in your development as a leader by providing you with input. from all these different people. It's a time-efficient way of gathering input. You could go around to each person individually and ask, but it's more time-efficient to ask a series of questions and let a program like ours consolidate the information and generate a report that then the person can analyze.

Megan:

I think it's actually more honest as well. If you go in and target each person, especially as a person that's trying to solicit feedback, And I know I've been in situations, I think just about everyone can think of a time when they genuinely wanted to hear feedback and their boss or manager or team member didn't give it to them. They didn't know how to deliver the feedback. They weren't prepared for it. They kind of whitewashed it and pretended that everything was okay when it wasn't. And providing a tool or resource that actually digs into what's truly going on or how people really believe or feel is very valuable.

Meredith:

And I love what you said about, you know, the validity of someone else's perspective, even if you don't agree with it and you don't. think that's correct. It's their reality. It's what they're experiencing in their work with you. And so to me, honestly, 360 is like a jumping off point. What happens after that, hopefully, is working with someone like you that can help them objectively analyze their results and then be able to speak to others One of the things we've seen very effective is, and somebody like you could facilitate this, where the leader would sit down with people who gave feedback, it could be members of their team, it could also include their peers, where they share. Thank you for this feedback. And to talk about, here are the strengths that you identified, and I'm going to work on doing them even more often. Here are areas you pointed out that were surprising to me. And they may even have some questions, not trying to identify who rated them low, but just to ask, you know, I wasn't clear on this particular bit of feedback. There weren't a lot of comments. Would any of you be willing to share with me what is it you'd like to see me do differently? So you're not asking them to identify the, quote, problem behavior. you're getting clarity on what is it they would like to see me do instead of what I've been doing. Like if somebody had gotten rated low on listens without interrupting, people might say, you know, I'd love to be able to finish my sentences and finish sharing my ideas. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to put it together. And it would be helpful for me to be able to complete my thought. If you just will wait a moment and let me finish something like that gives the person specifics on what others need and want from them.

Megan:

I, you use this listening without interrupting. And I am like trying so hard not to interrupt. I'm so cognizant of, I'm like, don't let her go. Let her go. because I do have a tendency at times. But I love this kind of focus group approach to it with when you are in a place that you've digested the feedback, where you are open, where you're being curious, where you're wanting to learn more with it, and you're not in that defensive place, because it does take a beat to process this feedback. Every time, no matter what the feedback is, you should take a beat to process it. But I always do an exercise, which I love for feedback as well. It's a great post-mortem for projects, but it always helps to really get to the root of the things. And it's the start, stop, keep. I don't know if you're familiar with it. And I was doing some other interviews. I was like, what is something you want to see me start doing? What's something you want to see me stop doing? And what's something I should continue doing? Because that always gets to that specific behavior, which I love that you're really Focusing because that feedback without the specific behavior element is where it gets really confusing or nebulous I know earlier in my career. That was the one very very frustrating when you get that inactual feedback It's like oh you need to be I know I see this example either more assertive or less assertive Assertive is something that means something different to every other person when you get to the behaviors that Okay, you need to let other people answer the questions before you jump in with your idea, or you need to speak up so that we know what your perspective is. It's very clear. Yeah, that makes such a difference. It does. How is a 360 different than other feedback?

Meredith:

Well, In the past, there were these annual reviews where you sat down with your boss and they may or may not have observed you very much. So you were getting one person's opinion and perspective based on limited exposure in many cases. Where 360 became popular is this idea that it's beneficial to get input from different directions. So from your direct manager, your peers that you need to interact with on a regular basis or coordinate work with, and then your direct reports. And it's extended beyond that. Even, for example, senior executives often get feedback from board members. And so that flexibility in a 360 that allows you to have different groups of people, depending on who that individual interacts with the most. The key is, and this is a mistake I've seen where people, organizations sometimes lumped a bunch of people to rate on a given individual. And some of them had never worked with the person, had no basis for giving feedback. You're better off having a fewer, a smaller number of people who have that direct experience. And it's even better if you have a customizable tool like ours, where you can have certain groups that don't see certain sets of questions. And I'll take the example of a, let's say a CEO that's getting feedback from their board of directors. And one of their skill areas or competency areas is delegating. Well, the board wouldn't have observed that person most likely delegating. Their direct reports would, and even their peers might. So in that case, you could simply not have the board of directors see any questions related to delegating. So matching up The questions with the specific reader types that would have firsthand knowledge. That's to me a huge benefit of 360 is you are able to get different perspectives in a very short time period. and that gets consolidated into a report that then becomes a valuable resource for an individual to find out where should I focus my development efforts going forward.

Megan:

So how do you know if you're ready or when do you do a 360?

Meredith:

Well, that's a great question. I always like to think of it in terms of what's the culture like. If there are, you know, especially at the very top, and it trickles down, of course, if there's a lack of trust in people being honest, or if they've tended to get, if there's a history of people getting their ideas shot down when they speak up, or kind of a closed or toxic environment, that's not the ideal place or time to do a 360 because people will be reluctant to be honest. They're not sure what's going to happen with the data. So to me, an atmosphere of trust is important. And then that explanation of what needs to be done And looking at what kind of a feedback culture do we have? Do people right now give each other feedback verbally when something needs to be addressed or not? All of those can help you determine, are we ready for something like this?

Megan:

Love it. What other insights or final thoughts do you have about feedback and 360s that you want to share?

Meredith:

Well, you know, I was just thinking, when we have these kind of conversations where the person who got feedback shares with others, one of the other interesting things that can happen, too, is they can talk about, here's where I'm going to focus my efforts, and I need your help. And so it isn't as though they're alone in this now. They work out a way of getting support. And I'll give you a quick example. One of my business partners, Denny, years ago was one who interrupted quite a bit. And my other business partner, Paula, and I thought, how can we help him stop doing that? And so we worked out a system. We talked to him about it. We said, You know, if we're in an in-person conversation, we'll just put our hand up like a stop sign if you start to jump in and we're not finished yet. And what we do now, because we have Zoom calls, because we're in three different states, is we'll just simply say, I wasn't done yet, or please let me finish. And that works wonders. You know, when you can just be a support to someone, by coming up with signals or cues that you can provide that will help raise their awareness of when they're doing that behavior that's caused problems. But of course, the tone of voice is important, Megan. If you say, please let me finish, then that can create issues. Have they gotten better? Oh, well, yes. In fact, what's funny is all three of us have interrupted each other at different times, because if we're especially in a brainstorming session and we want to pitch in, so it's just getting into this rhythm. And you know what the key thing is, Megan, is not to take things personally. you know, set the ego aside and just accept this input from others as a gift. Here's some information I didn't know before. What would I like to do with it? How can I use this to have better relationships with other people? That to me is the bottom line.

Megan:

What I also heard you say with that which I love is that relationships, the strength, the growth. But by going through this process, by having those conversations, you've automatically given yourself a little bit more grace. By being a little bit of that vulnerability with it, you're saying, I need your help. I'm working on this. And people are more welcome. and open to that. It's no longer, I can't believe they just interrupted me again, frustration. And it's turned it into a learning moment where you're both on the same team.

Meredith:

Yeah. And you know, the thing is 360 feedback by itself doesn't change anything. It's that commitment to do something new and different. And anytime we adopt a new behavior, whether it's how we eat or exercise or speak to others, to get that support and know we have people in our corner makes such a difference. And so that follow through by saying, here's what I'm committed to practicing. I'd love your help. And then asking for feedback. Marshall Goldsmiths calls this feed forward. where you check in with people to say, okay, you know, I've been working on this, how am I doing? And what would you like to see me do going forward? So you're not rehashing the past, you're looking at what behavior I can adopt going forward that will be more useful and valuable for everybody concerned.

Megan:

Well, I am reinvigorated with the 360 process. I just wrapped up a couple of projects at the time of recording this. So I think it is so, so incredible. And I know I want to personally integrate more of those feedback and those 360 feedback opportunities into systems and processes and schedules, because it is so critical that we continue that growth and we Give the space and time for that. If you are listening to this or watching this and you're interested in getting in touch with Meredith and her company, all of that information is in the show notes. We were chatting beforehand. She has such a wealth of knowledge on ensuring that this process is done appropriately and it's done right, because having this project done wrong can really be detrimental to everyone. So making sure that you are being taken care of through that process and you are engaging with expertise to make sure that you are getting the results that you're looking for. Thank you so much for your time today and sharing your wisdom, Meredith. Well, thank you for having me, Megan. It's been such fun. The time has flown by. It is. Thank you for joining me on this Culture Conversation, and I hope that your next 360 process will improve your culture and future conversations. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Culture Conversations. I'm your host, Megan Robinson, founder of eLeader Experience, a professional leadership development company. Today, we shared actionable ideas to navigate the evolving workplace landscape, compete for talent, and build cultures that maximize potential. If you're looking to learn more about how to support your organization's leaders, you can learn more about our work at eLeaderExperience.com. Now get out there and contribute positively to your organization's culture with your own conversations.