Every elite team watches film after a game. Not just the highlights: the whole thing, especially the plays that didn't work. Players are often surprised by what they see, because what is felt in the moment and what truly happened are rarely the same.
Senior executives almost never get film.
The higher you go, the more carefully people speak to you. Direct reports choose their words. Peers are competing for the same resources. Your boss assumes you have it handled. Nobody is being dishonest, exactly. But the result is that you lead on feel, and feel has blind spots.
Most organizations try to solve this with an online 360 survey. It produces a highlight reel: strong numbers, a few polite comments, and nothing you can act on. When people are handed a 1-to-5 scale, they choose the safe answer.
An online 360 survey and an interview-based 360 review can tell very different stories about the same leader. An executive I worked with had scored 4.6 out of 5 on communication in his company's online 360 two years in a row. Our interview-based 360 review surfaced specific feedback about his communication from four of his six direct reports: "He'll ask for our opinions in a meeting, and then when we start to respond, he interrupts us and promotes his own opinion. He's not a very good listener, and he needs to let people finish before he shares his own opinion. He also needs to be more open-minded to opinions that are different from his, because he shuts us down when he doesn't agree with us."
None of this specific feedback showed up in his 4.6 communication rating.
That's the difference between highlights and film. At One On One HR, our Catalyst Executive Leadership Development Program starts with an interview-based 360 review: confidential, one-on-one interviews with the people who watch you lead every day. Because we're independent, people open up to us. We ask for detailed, specific feedback to surface what's really happening and how to improve. We find the pattern beneath the polite answers. Then we review the film with you and decide together which adjustments will make the biggest difference.
"What I quickly learned is that their 360 process is much different than any previous version that I have ever participated in. The output of these interviews was 100% authentic, personalized, specific feedback regarding the strengths and opportunities that I possess as a leader and as a teammate. Having information that was specific to the experiences that I was giving other people at work, both positive and negative, was invaluable to my growth as I entered into the world of executive leadership."
Stephen Burns, Senior VP
The Catalyst Executive Leadership Development Program is an intense, focused, and challenging 10-step executive leadership development program. It's 4 to 5 months of rigorous self-assessment, coaching, and practical application to improve your leadership.
It's uncomfortable at first. Most leaders tell me it's also the most valuable feedback they've had in their careers.
The best leaders get coached. And coaching starts with watching the film.
Learn how the Catalyst Leadership Program uses interview-based 360 reviews.