AUA: Why 360 Feedback Breaks Down in Leadership Teams

Summary

Podcast Summary: "AUA: Why 360 Feedback Breaks Down in Leadership Teams"

Podcast: At Work with The Ready
Hosts: Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin
Date: September 29, 2025

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Overview

In this mini-episode, hosts Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin answer a listener’s question about why 360 feedback often breaks down among leadership teams—specifically those reporting directly to the CEO. Drawing on their extensive experience as organizational design and change consultants, Rodney and Sam discuss the structural and cultural issues that make peer feedback difficult at the top, and offer actionable advice for OD professionals and leaders aiming to foster healthier, more collaborative dynamics.

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Key Topics & Insights

The Unique Dynamics of Executive Teams

• Competition Among C-Suite Leaders
  • The level just below the CEO is often described as "a bit of a Hunger Games" (01:02), reflecting a highly competitive, zero-sum environment.
• "First Team" Concept (Patrick Lencioni)
  • Leaders should prioritize horizontal relationships (with their executive team peers) over allegiance to their functional groups.
  • “If you can’t all agree to and sign up for the first team concept, it’s really hard to do the rest of it.” — Rodney Evans (01:51)
• Mindset & Operating System (OS) Shifts
  • Embracing the first team concept requires both mindset changes and structural (operating system) moves around incentives, meeting rhythms, and feedback norms.

The Limits of Individual Feedback—It's Often Systemic

• Trace Problems to Organizational Patterns, Not Personalities
  • Sam advocates shifting the focus from individual failings to systemic issues:
    • “Most...of the interpersonal challenges that we experience in organizations can be traced back to something going on in the OS that’s not personal at all.” — Sam Spurlin (02:28)
  • Changing the conversation to patterns and systems makes problems solvable, rather than entrenched in personality clashes.

The CEO's Crucial Role in Setting Tone

• Redefining Responsibility at the Top
  • Rodney recounts a CEO who said, “Every single employee in their organization is all of their responsibility.” (03:15)
    • This reframes leadership away from silos—if anyone is struggling, it’s everyone’s collective issue.
    • Notably, Rodney describes this as a "really cool reframe" that shifts the culture from competition to shared ownership.
• Leadership Team as the "First Team"
  • When CEOs actively promote the first team concept and emphasize collective responsibility, "it really changes the conversation very quickly." — Rodney Evans (04:18)

Incentive Structures—Fueling Collaboration or Conflict

• From Individualistic to Shared Incentives
  • Sam points out: “If my bonus really depends on other parts of the organization also being high functioning, I’m probably going to spend less time fighting with them and more time trying to figure out how I can bring them along.” (04:53)
  • Rodney agrees, noting that individual metrics rarely make sense at the very top:
    • “At the very top of the house, there is very little... single person ownership over a metric. These are team sports.” (05:18)
• Zero Sum Thinking — A Pervasive Problem
  • Rodney critiques the "zero sum" mindset: believing that "for me to get more, you have to get less."
  • Instead, true high-level success is almost always shared: “If the organization is performing, all of us are going to enjoy higher dividends, better bonuses, better retention, more opportunities.” (06:06)
  • Leaders must ask, “Are we really competitors here? We’re really just not.” (06:19)

CEO Behaviors and Team Dynamics

• Danger of Strong One-on-One Dynamics
  • Focusing too much on each direct report individually (e.g., comparing, keeping score on who gets more access) undermines the team dynamic.
  • Rodney: “The work starts [with the CEO]. And so...having the conversation [about] really being like, this is a team. We play like a team. We win or lose like a team.” (07:01)
  • Most CEOs theoretically agree but don’t reinforce it in daily habits.

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Memorable Quotes

• On reframing responsibility:

  “He [the CEO] considers every single employee in their organization to be all of their responsibility. If the Chief Revenue Officer is saying that their HR business partner is failing, the CEO’s POV is: that’s just as much your problem as it is the CHRO’s problem, because all of the employees are our problem.”
  — Rodney Evans (03:16 - 03:48)

• On the toxicity of individual incentives at the top:

  “Incentives at this level shouldn’t be so individualistic. They should be tied to company outcomes.”
  — Rodney Evans (05:09 - 05:15)

• On challenging zero-sum thinking:

  “Are we really competitors here? We’re really just not.”
  — Rodney Evans (06:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:41: Listener question introduction: Why does 360 feedback break down for senior leaders?
• 01:02 - 01:51: Rodney introduces the "first team" concept; Hunger Games analogy for executive competition.
• 02:06 - 02:44: Sam on systemic causes of interpersonal issues; reframing feedback to focus on patterns, not people.
• 03:03 - 04:31: The CEO’s role in defining collective responsibility and diffusing silo competition.
• 04:31 - 05:53: Sam and Rodney discuss incentives and how structure influences behavior at the top.
• 05:53 - 07:18: Dismantling zero-sum thinking; Rodney on how CEO actions create or undermine team cohesiveness.

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Episode Tone

The conversation is candid, humorous, and practical—balancing empathy for the challenges OD professionals face ("bit of a Hunger Games...") with a call for leaders to be more courageous and systemic in their approach ("the sport is a team sport... maybe I’m the captain, but this is the move").

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Summary Takeaways

• 360 feedback fails at the top when leaders see each other as rivals, not teammates.
• Adopting the "first team" mindset and shifting incentives to collective, not individual, success are critical.
• The CEO must set and consistently model team-oriented behaviors to break entrenched patterns.
• Most apparent "personal" conflicts are really symptoms of deeper structural flaws.
• Changing the dynamics at the top is as much about operating system choices and habits as about mindset.

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For listeners facing dysfunctional peer feedback or entrenched silos in leadership teams, this episode provides not only a diagnosis but also clear, actionable ideas for reshaping the playing field.

Transcript

[A]

Hey y'. All. Welcome back to Orkwith thereaddy. I'm Rodney Evans and that guy over there is Sam Sperling. Hello.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

We are trying something new this week. You already know that we love answering your questions and we usually do a pile of them in one big quarterly ask us anything episode. But we've been getting more and more questions as we've been getting more and more listeners and we want to get you more answers faster. So on the weeks we don't drop a full length episode, we're going to be dropping a minisode where we answer one of your really interesting videos. Very thought provoking questions that we also feel like we have a good answer to and hopefully we'll be able to help you out a bit. Sam, what's this week's question?

[B]

All right, this week's question is about unfavorable peer feedback in 360s and the question is as OD and Change consultants, how can we best address this, especially when we're trying to foster support among leaders at the level under the CEO?

[A]

So this level of directs to the CEO can always be a bit of a Hunger Games. And one of the concepts that I just think slaps every time is the first team concept. This comes from Patrick Lencioni's work and just the idea that as a leadership team, while we have a lot of responsibility for our domain, we have a lot of accountability to the people who work for us. We really need to prioritize the whole horizontal relationships of the executive team, even over our allegiance and our alliance with our functional team and organization. That's like a mindset shift and it's a shift in a bunch of OS moves. But if that is the first principle, it sets the tone for everything else and it gives you one coherent idea from which to design incentives, meeting rhythms, feedback, blah blah blah, a bunch of other OS moves. But if you can't all agree to and sign up for the first team concept, it's really hard to do the rest of it. What would you add?

[B]

Sam I agree with that and I think the kind of universal thing that I end up talking about with feedback or specifically feedback that starts to get personal or just interpersonal challenges is that as the org design professional in the room keep can you help start to shift the conversation to the patterns that you are seeing in the OS that are creating these interpersonal challenges? Like we really firmly believe most, not all, but most of the interpersonal challenges that we experience in organizations can be traced back to something going on in the US that's not personal at all.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And I'm not saying it's necessarily going to be like a light switch moment for these folks who may be getting a lot of other needs met by fighting with each other, but starting to shift to more of an OS perspective of what's going on can at least start to change the conversation into a domain where you can do something.

[A]

I think that's great, and I'm glad you reminded me that this is an OD person asking. I also think that this is a place where the CEO must assert a point of view on what tolerable behavior is. I'm actually, I'm newly engaged with a CEO I haven't worked with before, and he's. He's really brilliant. And he said something in a call the other day that I've never heard a CEO say before, which is rare for that to happen at this late stage in my career. He said that at the leadership team level, at the top of the house, he considers every single employee in their organization to be all of their responsibility. So basically, if the sales leader, if the Chief Revenue officer is saying that their HR business partner is failing, this CEOs POV is like, that's just as much your problem as it is the Chro's problem, because all of the employees are our problem, quote, unquote. And I just thought that that was a really cool reframe because the competition at this level tends to really infect and percolate all the way through the organization. And when you have a CEO that says this is the first team. No shit, and B, every employee that is not in this room is all of our responsibility in some way, it really changes the conversation very quickly.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And I think it's connected to the last thing that I was going to offer on this is that I would be thinking really carefully about what are the incentive structures that are letting people feel like they can hunger game each other instead of focusing on the outcomes that we can only achieve if we all have our shit together. And if my bonus really kind of depends on other parts of the organization also being really high functioning, I'm probably going to spend less time fighting with them and more time trying to figure out how I can bring them along or help in whatever way that I can.

[A]

I agree, Sam. And I think that, you know, incentives at this level shouldn't be so individualistic. They should be tied to company outcomes. I think it's very difficult at this level to have single person ownership over a metric. I just Think, like, at the very top of the house, there is very little. You know, it's like putting like regrettable attrition on the HR person. It's like, well, guess what? The managers that people are leaving don't report into hr. You know, it's like, these are, these are team sports. And I think the incentive piece is one piece to look at the metrics, and shared work and shared accountability is a piece to look at. But I also think that there is something that is too pervasive in our culture generally, but very, very typical at the top of the house, which is just zero sum thinking.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

And, and that's just the idea that, like, for me to get more, you have to get less. And in most organizations, especially in the C suite, that's just not true. Usually what is the most true is that if the organization is performing, all of us are going to enjoy higher dividends, higher better bonuses, better retention, more opportunities outside of the building. Like, just getting into the headspace of like, are we really competitors here? We're really not. Like, we're really just not. Frankly, I don't see enough CEOs like, setting that tone. And I think that the work starts there. And so depending on, you know, your relationship with the CEO that we're talking about here, having the conversation of like, you know, the CEO having really strong individual relationships with everybody and every one of their directs, comparing those relationships, paying attention to who gets more time, paying attention to, gets shut down more, that's not helpful. So I think it really starts with the CEO not creating too much of like 1 to 1 to 1 to 1 to 1 across the thing and really being like, this is a team. We play like a team. We win or lose like a team. The sport is a team sport. And I am like, maybe I'm the captain, but like, this is the move. And, and, and so to whatever extent you can have that conversation, my general feeling is most CEOs believe that they just sometimes have habits that don't reinforce that.

[B]

Love it. All right, that's it for this mini episode. And if you've got a question you'd like us to tackle in either an upcoming full episode or maybe one of these mini episodes. So send it our way to podcasteraddy.com.

[A]

And since this is an experiment, let us know what you think. We will see you back next week for a full episode of At Work with Ready. Thank you for listening.