Leadership feedback in practice: How feedback changes leadership

We are very pleased that a customer from an international textile trading company has answered our questions about her experiences with ValueQuest's Leadership Feedback.

Why did you originally decide to conduct leadership feedback?

• Leadership is a very important and major topic for the company where I work, because our leaders have a responsibility to inspire their teams and colleagues, to develop and motivate them through delegation and feedback. Our leadership expectations have evolved in recent years in line with the changing expectations of our customers and colleagues. And this would not have been possible without feedback on our leadership. Receiving direct and honest feedback from managers, colleagues and employees is a gift that we wanted to give our managers in order to develop themselves, their teams and our business.

What was your experience of the feedback? How is the tool used in personnel development?

• Two of our values are "We are open and straightforward" and "We are constantly improving". In line with these two values, leadership feedback is also used and valued. The feedback provides a platform to reflect on our leadership, to give and accept feedback and to act accordingly. The tool is part of our feedback culture and is used for the strategic alignment of the personnel development process.

How regularly do you conduct 360-degree feedback surveys? What do you think speaks in favor of this frequency?

• The 360-degree leadership feedback is provided after one year in the new position at the earliest and then repeated every one to two years. This frequency gives the feedback providers the opportunity to give specific feedback and our managers the chance to track and constantly improve their leadership based on the feedback.

How did the process continue and what made it successful in your eyes? What were the most important learnings?

• Over the past few years, we have continuously adapted the way in which we have used leadership feedback as a tool to the needs of our business and our employees. This included the ordering process as well as the receipt of the feedback. Through subtle optimizations, we were able to reduce the internal administrative effort and shorten the entire process - from ordering to receiving the feedback. In addition to these optimizations, I believe it is even more important for the success of the leadership feedback that everyone has the same understanding of our leadership expectations. This also applies to all employees who do not have direct management responsibility. This kind of transparency and inclusion creates a basis that allows everyone within the company to develop further.

Where do you stand today?

• Leadership expectations have changed along with the expectations of our customers and employees. Today, we talk about everyone being a leader. This requires a change in mindset and behavior, first and foremost among managers. It is also their job to inspire their teams and colleagues, to develop them through delegation and feedback, to motivate them and thus to create an empowering and authentic environment. Believing in people means that the contribution of each and every one of our employees is crucial for meaningful growth and that only together can we be perceived positively by our environment as a successful company.

What arguments would you use to recommend leadership feedback to other companies?

• Leadership feedback makes it possible to measure the leadership culture in an uncensored and inclusive manner and to strengthen the feedback culture. The open platform offers feedback providers the opportunity to deal with specific questions and support their manager or colleague in their further development. This gives feedback recipients the opportunity to immerse themselves in self-reflection and actively change their own behavior. As employees grow, so does the agility and resilience of the company.

How would you describe the collaboration with ValueQuest?

• In a nutshell, I can describe the collaboration with ValueQuest as follows: uncomplicated, open to new ideas and customer-oriented. The collaboration was completely in line with the company's values, which I always appreciated and which enabled us to discover new paths together.

Thank you very much for your insightful answers. We look forward to continuing to accompany you in this exciting process.