If you’re contemplating leadership 360s at your organization, I don’t mean to scare you, but choosing the wrong one can seriously backfire. Flawed data doesn’t just give you a blurry picture of leadership, it also drives horrible decisions and can completely erase the trust you’ve built with your team.
Here at The Metiss Group, we work with our clients to use leadership 360 assessments that actually align leadership practices with their strategic goals.
In this article, we’ll analyze what separates a solid leadership 360 from one that’s just plain bad. This will help you come up with a game plan for using a leadership 360 to drive your organization’s strategic plan.
First Things First: What’s a Leadership 360-Degree Assessment?
A leadership 360 is a tool for gathering feedback about someone’s leadership skills from multiple perspectives.
It’s not just a self-assessment. Instead, you’re pulling in thoughts from supervisors, direct reports, and peers to paint a full picture of how you show up as a leader.
One of our clients learned this the hard way. He was a career salesman: wildly successful, but his leadership approach wasn’t as polished. No one ever wanted to rock the boat by pointing out his leadership gaps.
Decades later, during The Metiss Group’s Strategic Leadership Alignment™ program, his 360 results revealed blind spots in his style his team had been tiptoeing around for years. His response? “This is an incredible gift. I just wish I’d gotten it sooner.” It was the feedback he needed to not only grow as a leader but also help others do the same.
What Makes a Bad Leadership 360?
Not all 360s are created equally. Let’s talk about the red flags.
DIY Surveys
Sure, platforms like Typeform or SurveyMonkey are easy on the budget. But they also come with a hefty price tag when it comes to accuracy and disruption to culture.
This is because of a few reasons, and a lot of it comes down to the way you’re wording the questions. If you’re asking for open-ended answers, team members might feel less anonymous, which leads to them sugarcoating their feedback.
This also makes it easier to “game.” Someone feeling frustrated might use the survey as a way to settle a score, painting a picture of their leader that’s more about payback than it is about truth.
The thing about DIY surveys is you’re not a behavior expert, and you probably don’t have decades of experience administering surveys. This could lead to pretty crummy data.
Likert Scales
Likert scales are rating scales that ask respondents to choose from a series of ordered categories. These are those surveys where you rate someone on a scale of 1-5 or pick from options like “always,” “sometimes,” or “never.” 
You’ve probably seen these scales in many surveys — so why are they a red flag?
First off, they’re way too easy to manipulate. This goes back to the vindictive team member. If you’ve been holding someone accountable to their missed deadlines, and they’re feeling frustrated with you, it’s way too easy to mark everything on the negative side of the scale.
There’s also rater bias. For example, I love leaving 5-star Google reviews for restaurants that “wow” me, but I never leave 1-star reviews for the ones that disappoint me.
Other people go in the opposite direction. Think back to that professor you had in college who refused to give anyone an A. Either way, the data ends up being inconsistent and subjective based on the observer.
No Clear Direction
Even if the survey avoids these traps, bad 360s often leave you wondering: Now what? They might highlight a leader’s weaknesses but fail to connect those to actionable next steps. It’s like being told your car needs repairs but not being told which part is broken — or how to fix it.
What Makes a Good Leadership 360?
Now let’s talk about the kind of 360 assessment that actually works. At The Metiss Group, we use Management Research Group’s Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA) 360 tool. Here’s why it’s a game-changer:
It Can’t Be Gamed
The LEA 360 uses questions that describe leadership behaviors instead of asking for direct ratings. Check out this sample question:
I see this person as:
A) Lively and dynamic
B) Valuing my opinions
C) A helpful associate
There’s no “right” or “wrong” answer, and the person filling it out has no clue what their responses mean for the final analysis. So no matter what the observer’s opinion of you may be, they can’t sway the results.
Focus on Patterns, Not Flaws
Instead of asking people to list a leader’s shortcomings, the LEA 360 identifies patterns of behavior. This way, the results focus on what’s actually happening, not just what someone thinks is happening. It’s like putting leadership under a microscope to see the real DNA of their style.
Alignment With Leadership Practices
The LEA 360 measures 22 distinct leadership practices. This helps connect the feedback to actual skills a leader might need to develop, depending on which direction you’re trying to steer your company.
For instance, if innovation comes up as a weak spot but your company is in a high-growth phase, you know exactly where to focus your development efforts.
Expert Guidance
When you work with The Metiss Group, a behavior expert helps you interpret the results, connect them to your V/TO or strategic goals, and build a game plan. Whether your focus is on scaling, retaining talent, or fostering innovation, the feedback becomes a roadmap to measurable success.
The Bottom Line on Good vs. Bad Leadership 360s
Trying to wing a leadership 360 with a quick online survey is a shortcut to nowhere. Your team members’ feedback is skewed, and you’re left with data you can’t trust.
With tools like the LEA 360, you get a clear, accurate snapshot of leadership behaviors and a strategy for building on them. At The Metiss Group, we’ve helped companies use this insight not only to grow their leaders but also align their leadership practices with their company’s vision and goals.
Now that you understand what a great leadership 360 can do for your team, the next step is to understand the cost. Check out our article on The Cost of The Strategic Leadership Alignment™ to see if you’d be a good fit for this service.
