07/11/2025
As the year draws to a close, I’ve been spending time with clients reflecting on their leadership journeys and reviewing their people and culture programs.
It’s always one of my favourite parts of the year, those honest, insightful conversations where leaders start connecting the dots between how they lead and how their teams feel.
And this year, one thing stood out more clearly than ever -
When we join the dots between leadership, personality, and engagement, the impact is not only powerful, it’s fast.
Seeing the Full Picture
When we bring together 360 feedback, personality data, and engagement results, something shifts.
It’s as if the lights in the room finally come on.
We stop seeing leadership as a single snapshot, and start seeing it as a complete story:
Personality shows us who we are at our core - our drives, motives, and potential derailers.
360 feedback shows us how others experience us - the “public” side of leadership.
Engagement data shows us the ripple effect of that leadership - how it plays out across the team.
Viewed together, they tell us more than any single measure ever could.
It’s not just data, it’s insight. And once leaders see it, change happens fast.
Real Conversations, Real Change
I’ve seen this pattern play out in dozens of organisations.
A leader looks at their Hogan profile and recognises a few tendencies that might be getting in the way.
Then they compare that with their 360 feedback and suddenly the story becomes clear.
“That cautiousness that helps me make good decisions might also make me hard to read.”
“My drive for achievement might come across as intensity to my team.”
Once that awareness clicks, leaders start making small, deliberate changes and the results ripple through the team almost immediately.
· Engagement scores rise.
· Turnover drops.
· Conversations feel easier.
· The culture strengthens.
Why the Change Happens So Quickly
It’s not magic - it’s measurement.
When feedback is evidence-based, benchmarked, and tied to real behavioural data, it gives leaders a level of clarity that’s hard to ignore.
That’s what makes combining personality, 360, and engagement so effective. Personality data explains why we do what we do. 360 data shows how others see it. Engagement data reveals the impact it has.
It creates a closed feedback loop where leaders can see the direct line between their behaviour, their team’s experience, and the organisation’s results.
And that feedback loop is what accelerates growth.
From Awareness to Mastery
Leadership development has always been about more than skills. It’s about self-awareness, understanding how your intentions translate into others’ experiences.
But awareness on its own isn’t enough. The real shift comes when leaders take that insight and turn it into deliberate practice.
At first, it takes effort: reflecting, adjusting, experimenting. But over time, it becomes second nature, what we call Strategic self-awareness.
And when you reach that stage, engagement isn’t something you have to chase. It happens naturally, as a byproduct of better leadership.
The Year-End Reflection
As I reflect on this year, one thing feels truer than ever: leadership and engagement are not two separate stories.
They’re the same story told from two perspectives, the leader’s and the team’s.
When those perspectives align, the results are measurable, meaningful, and deeply human.
And while tools like the Hogan 360 and engagement surveys give us the evidence, it’s what happens in the conversations around that data that truly changes organisations when leaders lean in, listen, and grow.
That’s where the transformation happens.
And it can happen faster than you think.
What’s next for you and your team?
As you head into the new year, it might be worth asking:
What’s the story my team’s engagement data is telling me?
How does that connect with how I show up as a leader?
And what might shift if I looked at both together?
Because when you join the dots, the path forward often becomes crystal clear.