Impact of Multi-Source Feedback on Leadership Competency Development: A Longitudinal Field Study

A longitudinal study investigated the effectiveness of a developmental multi-source feedback program implemented in a large financial company in the U.S. It was found that managers improved significantly more on leadership competencies they specifically selected for development than on those they did not select or than on an overall composite score of leadership effectiveness. The improvement was greater than explained for by regression to the mean and was sustained across multiple administrations of the multi-source feedback. It was further found that the improvement was directly related to the developmental difficulty of the leadership competency, in that managers increased their leadership scores more on easier-to-develop competencies than on harder ones. Implications for the measurement of multi-source feedback effectiveness were highlighted.