Do You Know Your Personal Brand?

I remember the first time I did a 360° Leadership review years ago. I had heard a lot of information about the process – that I would be evaluated by my boss, peers, and direct reports on five areas: Results, Relationships, Emotional Intelligence, Trust, and Developing Others. 

I also heard how people can often respond when they get the results back from their 360° Review. Some said it's really helpful, that it helps you dig into some of the blind spots that you may have as a leader – things that you don't know about yourself. I had heard it's one of the best tools to help eliminate some of the junky tendencies or behaviors you have as a leader. 

In layman's terms, the 360° is essentially a deep dive to answer the question, "What does it look like to be on the other side of me?"

I also heard that sometimes people have a hard time receiving feedback. They can get defensive and fight hard against accepting and believing that the final results from the 360° are accurate or valid. I've heard that people will shoot down the validity of the test, saying that everything is subjective – that it's rigged. 

I've also heard that some people will accept the results, including some of the junky behaviors and junkie tendencies that they didn't know about, but they will turn it around and say that the "subpar scores" are actually a good thing.

Wait, what?

For example, let's say a person gets high scores on the "Results" category in a 360° review but subpar scores on "Relationships." And then that strong leader will defend the low scores and say something like, "Of course, my relationship scores are going to be lower, but it's because I'm getting stuff done. And I'm doing it for my employees. I'm doing it for my peers. I'm doing it for my boss. I'm doing it for the stakeholders. It's worth it. That's why my 'Results' scores are so high; I'm doing what the organization needs me to do. That kind of drive is going to step on some toes. Hence, the lower scores on the 'Relationships'".

By the way, that last paragraph where the person tried to justify his low "Relationships" scores... That was me.

At the end of the day, I was not leaning into how I could become a better leader. Instead, I was being defensive and entrenched in my leadership and behavior. 

An interesting note: I was one of those who was hungry to get the results from my 360°. I said and felt that I wanted to learn more about myself so that I could lead better. But when I finally received the results, I pushed back on the feedback. Hard. To be clear, I wasn't emotionally or mentally upset about the low scores around "Relationships," but it's because I justified the low scores due to some needed strong-arm behaviors that were "good for results"; which, in turn, were good for the company. That was my mindset. Which, to boil this all down, was such a miss on my part.

It took a lot of executive coaching for me to see that I was limiting myself, and limiting the high value in the 360° Review by eagerly accepting the high scores within my 360° around "Results" and then blowing off the lower scores around "Relationships" because the end (results) justified the means (strong-arming people). 

Essentially, I really missed out on getting the last 10% of answering the question, "What does it look like to be on the other side of me?" I was essentially saying that all of their feedback in the 360° – from my boss, peers, and direct reports – didn't mean that much to me. And think about it, each one of those individuals took valuable time to give me candid feedback, and it took a lot of courage for them to say what they said – even though it was anonymous, it still takes guts to put some feedback into a formal system that is "not great" about the person getting reviewed…and knowing that they are going to be reading all of this. 

Eventually, I overcame this defensive posture and truly saw the feedback for the gift that it was – something that was going to make me better. It was going to make me better personally, better as an employee, and better as a leader. I would say, bluntly, it was going to make me a better human being. 

I will probably always get higher scores in the "Results" category of the 360° than the other four categories. I have some natural (nature) and developed (nurture) skills around results – around "getting things done ." And, to be honest, "Relationships" scores on my 360°s will probably always be a little bit lower. We all, me included, have those things that we are great at, and then other things we are just "OK" at. That's OK. But what is not OK is to stay subpar in the categories that are not natural strengths for me. It's not OK for me to say, "My 'Trust' and 'Relationship' scores will always be low because I am getting things done."

I can and should be a leader who gets results AND still be somebody who is trying to improve in building better relationships. So why did I act like it had to be either results or relationships? Because it's hard to really look at yourself and be honest with yourself. So hard that when we get 360° anonymous feedback from everybody in our sphere of influence, and it tells us something that we don't necessarily want to hear, we can get defensive and fight against it. The feedback, even though it's helpful, can sting. Digging into a 360° and absorbing and receiving feedback takes guts and humility. But it's so worth it. 

The reality is that you have a reputation built on expectations that other people have of you, and those expectations are built on how they experience you. All of this coalesces together to give you a "brand." 

A 360° Leadership Review helps you see how others experience you and learn about your personal brand.

We all have blind spots and struggles in our leadership, which we often aren't aware of. Any criticism stings, even if it's warranted. But trust me when I say doing a 360° Leadership Review is worth it. Your personal growth will outweigh the momentary pain. You can't lead others well if you can't lead yourself well, and you can't lead yourself well if you don't know yourself well.

So here are a few questions for you: Do you know your brand? Do you want to know your brand? Do you want to improve your brand?