Live 360s: Make Growth a Team Sport

“The problem with 1-1s and taking feedback aside is you deprive a whole bunch of people [of] that same learning. Learning from other people’s mistakes is the best way to learn.” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Startups that not only survive but thrive are distinguished by their ability to navigate uncertainty through rapid experimentation and iteration. This requires ongoing growth not only in their product but also in the people and teams building it.

But how can we accelerate individual and team growth to the rate such startups require?

To reach this potential as a company and as individuals, we contend that startups must make growth a team sport, creating a culture where instead of concealing their own gaps and growth areas and staying quiet about others’, it becomes normal and welcome for team members to reveal them and support each other’s development. In these organizations, growth happens much faster, relationships are more vibrant, and teams experience much greater psychological safety.

One of the most powerful forms of modeling, catalyzing, and reinforcing such cultures is Live 360s, in which team members use a structured format (the GAIN framework) to give each other direct feedback in real time (on Zoom or in person).

Having facilitated dozens of these, we see a common reaction: it unleashes extraordinary energy and connection within the team. Below is a message from two cofounders following their first Live 360.

Does anybody ever say that about a typical performance review process?

What does running a Live 360 typically entail?

The amount of time Steps 2-4 take depends on the number of feedback recipients, e.g. Are we giving feedback to just the CEO/cofounders, or is the whole executive team participating? When there is a more significant hesitance or a concern about psychological safety, starting with the senior leader(s) as the recipient is one powerful way to establish a new cultural norm where it then feels safe enough to do with the entire team. For example, after doing a Live 360 for the CEO and the President of one executive team, another member opined at the end, “I feel kind of jealous.”

If you are extremely practiced at giving and receiving feedback and so is your team, you can certainly facilitate a Live 360 yourself.

If you or your team are newer to this or to each other, having a skilled facilitator helps you learn the framework that makes feedback actionable and the structured approach that makes the Live 360 itself effective. Because feedback can elicit strong emotions—including from those giving it—having a facilitator present means participants can focus on the content they want to share, not the process and everything surrounding it.

If you are interested in a professional facilitator and coach leading this process for your team, reach out to Jack Cohen at [email protected].

Depending on the number of participants, this can cost between $3000-6500.

This is an offering from the Brain-Based Workplace, an organizational behavior consulting and executive coaching firm founded in 2014. We focus on applying evidence-based practices to support high-growth leaders expanding their focus from building the products and services they provide to building the teams and organization that creates them.