The one who made it happen
They ran the programs, built the relationships and kept the people they serve at the centre of the work. Things happened because they were there.
When they told me how they wanted to be seen, they were clear it was more than that.
“[By the end of the year], I want to be seen as someone who goes beyond delivering successful programs and contributes to shaping the future direction of our work.”
Delivery earns trust. It doesn’t always earn a say in what gets delivered next.
They asked a lot of people
Their organisation ran a feedback round across a large group of staff. Most people heard from a handful of others. This leader invited more than 30 people across peers, former co-workers, external partners and their manager, and most of them responded.
With that many people, across that many kinds of working relationship, the picture is hard to dismiss. Their profile reached Reliable on our Reliability Ladder in that first round.
“It’s good to get the validation that those skill sets [are] already there and being noticed on a large scale.”
What people saw that they underplayed
Their own view and other people’s were broadly in step. Where the two differed, people saw more in them than they claimed, most of all in the care they show the people they serve and in their influence.
See the numbers
| Round | Stakeholder types | People who shared feedback |
|---|---|---|
| First | 4 of 8 | Nearly 30 (8 in 10 asked) |
| Second, new role | 4 of 8 | 9 |
| Influence | How they see themselves | How others see them |
|---|---|---|
| First round | 78% | 89% |
| Second round (leadership and influence) | 4 out of 5 (80%) | 4.6 out of 5 (92%) |
Source: SeenCulture platform. People’s feedback is de-identified and combined; no individual’s answers are shown.
Care for the people they serve showed the biggest gap between how they see themselves and how others experience them, with influence close behind.
A new role, and a second look
Their first round led to a place in one of our leadership programs.
Later in the year, they stepped into a bigger role, leading more of the programs.
A few months in, they asked for feedback again. This time they chose people who had seen them work in the new role.
“I don’t want to just invite people that I know, or who I have an inclination of how they might view me. I’d rather do a broader one and then gather all that feedback together and see what truths come out of the collective whole.”
A smaller group, chosen for the new role, answered a different set of questions.* Leadership and influence came through again as a strength other people see more clearly than they do: 92% from others, 80% from themselves.
Where they’re heading
Their growth direction sits right next to that strength. In both rounds, self-awareness was where they placed themselves furthest above other people’s view.
My read: they don’t yet see how much their influence already shapes the people around them. That’s room to grow into.
Their own focus, in their words:
“[I want to] really back myself in raising alternative approaches… not just presenting ideas, but closer towards business cases.”
Saying it out loud mattered to them:
“If you’ve vocalised it and you put it out there, it’s not just a thought process anymore. It’s something that you’re sort of committed to because you put the words to [it].”
“I liked my first profile because it was so broad. [It] gave me a really comprehensive picture.”
What’s next
At the end of the year, they’ll look again at how they’re seen, against the goal they set at the start of the program. The question is whether the people around them start to see the challenger they want to be, as well as the person who delivers.
Why this stays with me
Most people ask the few people they’re sure of. It feels safer, and it tells them less.
This leader asked widely, twice. The picture held across both rounds, and it showed them something they’d been underplaying. When the evidence comes from that many people, it’s hard to talk yourself out of it.
That’s the part I care about most: enough of the right people to see what’s already there, and the confidence to act on it.
* Each round used a different set of questions, so read these as direction, not a like-for-like comparison. Percentages are averages of people’s feedback from the SeenCulture platform. The round average counts everyone in the same organisation-wide round who received feedback. Quotes are lightly edited for length and shared with permission. To protect their privacy, details of their role, organisation and timing have been left out.