Self-awareness is the foundation of great leadership and continuous growth. It’s the ability to understand how our behaviour and style are perceived by others and how this aligns (or not) with our own view.
While most professionals believe they are self-aware, research consistently shows that only a small proportion truly are. This perception gap matters: without strong self-awareness, individuals may overlook strengths and qualities that others value highly, or well-intentioned actions can have unintended consequences.
360 feedback is one of the most effective ways to develop genuine self-awareness. It helps close perception gaps by raising awareness of how our behaviours are experienced across different relationships and contexts.
360 feedback is particularly good at helping participants reaffirm or develop their self-awareness across several key areas, including:
Awareness of strengths
360 feedback provides a clear picture of how others perceive an individual’s strengths. People often underestimate, overlook, or undervalue their strengths, or fail to recognise which behaviours make the greatest difference to others. Seeing these patterns clearly enables participants to use their strengths more intentionally, build confidence and focus their energy where they add the most value.
Awareness of blind spots
Whats important is understanding where perceptions diverge. Feedback may reveal habits, assumptions, or communication styles that individuals are unaware of and that may limit their effectiveness or relationships. Recognising these blind spots can be uncomfortable, but it creates the opportunity to make deliberate changes that improve how they are perceived and how they work with others.
Awareness of impact on others
The vast majority of people have positive intentions, yet their actions or words can sometimes land differently from how they were meant. The difference between what we intend and how others experience us is known as the awareness gap.
As the model illustrates, we tend to judge ourselves by our intentions, while others judge us by our impact. The space between these two perspectives is the awareness gap and it’s where misunderstanding, frustration, or missed opportunities often occur.
This gap can go in either direction. Sometimes the impact is positive, and others experience us more favourably than we realise, revealing hidden qualities we take for granted. At other times, the impact is negative, and our behaviour or tone may be perceived in a way we didn’t intend.
Awareness of consistency
A hallmark of mature self-awareness is consistency, being experienced in similar ways by different groups and in different situations. 360 feedback allows individuals to see whether their behaviour is perceived consistently by managers, peers, and direct reports, or whether it varies depending on context or hierarchy.
Awareness of alignment with organisational expectations
When a 360 questionnaire is built around an organisation’s values or behavioural framework, it captures how well an individual’s approach aligns with what the organisation expects of its people. The resulting feedback provides a clear picture of the behaviours the participant is seen to demonstrate and those they could strengthen to live the organisation’s values/ meet expectations more fully. This awareness supports both personal development and cultural alignment.
Gaining self-awareness through 360 feedback isn’t only about understanding what the data says, it’s also about noticing and managing how it makes us feel.
Feedback often triggers emotional reactions before it triggers reflection. We might feel proud, surprised, confused, defensive, or even hurt. These feelings are natural - and they’re a vital part of becoming more self-aware. The goal is not to avoid emotion, but to use it as a signal: what we feel can reveal what matters most to us, and where our self-perception differs from others’.
Every piece of feedback sits somewhere between confirmation (expected) and surprise (unexpected), and between positive and negative perceptions. These two dimensions form the Emotional Awareness Grid - a simple way to capture not only what we learn, but how we feel to it.
Each quadrant evokes different emotions and offers unique learning opportunities:
360 feedback is one of the most effective tools for building genuine self-awareness. It provides structured insight into how we are seen by others, helping to bridge the gap between our intentions and our impact.
It helps raise self-awareness by helping individuals:
As the saying goes, perception is reality – it’s not what we say, but how others hear it; not what we do, but how others experience it.
Q. How does 360 feedback help develop self-awareness?
A. 360 feedback gives a rounded view of how a persons behaviour is experienced by others compared with how they see themself. This picture/ understanding of where perceptions align or differ is the insightful self-awareness
Q. What is the ‘awareness gap’ in 360 feedback?
A. The awareness gap is the space between what we intend and how others experience us. 360 feedback makes this gap visible by showing whether actions and tone are interpreted as intended.
Q. Can 360 feedback reveal blind spots I didn’t know I had?
A. Yes. 360 feedback often highlights habits, assumptions, or communication styles that you may not notice yourself. These blind spots can limit effectiveness or relationships, but recognising them allows you to make deliberate adjustments.
Q. Why is 360 feedback considered one of the best tools for self-awareness?
A. 360 feedback is one of the most effective tools for building genuine self-awareness. It provides structured insight into how we are seen by others, helping to bridge the gap between our intentions and our impact. It raises self-awareness by helping individuals recognise strengths that others value, uncover blind spots that may limit performance or relationships, understand how their words, tone and actions are experienced by others, identify whether their behaviour is seen consistently across roles and contexts, and align more closely with the values and behaviours their organisation needs most.
