There is very little overlap between the management areas leaders think they need to improve and the weaknesses identified by those they lead. Reconciling these differences will improve leaders and their organizations.
A version of this article appeared in the Autumn 2020 issue of strategy+business.
Senior executives, accustomed to annual performance reviews and 360-degree assessments, can be quick to acknowledge that certain aspects of their leadership style need more work. These might include having better time management skills, being more empathetic with coworkers, or focusing more on their team. The reviews represent an exercise in self-awareness that most leaders perform believing they can accurately figure out the areas in which they need to improve.
But what happens when you ask the members of their team what they think the boss should work on to be a more effective leader? The results are both unexpected and revelatory, and have implications not only for a leader’s performance but also for that of his or her company.
The ExCo Group’s Adam Bryant wrote this article for his column in Strategy + Business. It was originally published here.
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