360 Degree Feedback Best Practices and the Army's MSAF Program

Development of leaders in the U.S. Army is absolutely paramount to its future success. The Army must leverage every opportunity available to enhance leader development. The Army s Field Manual 6-22, Leadership, stresses part of leader development encompasses the ability of a leader to become self-aware. Self-aware leaders are open and seek feedback from a variety of sources. Self awareness is certainly relevant in the present and future operating environments. Numerous leaders have effectively utilized multisource assessment and feedback approaches to gain insight, which may not otherwise be apparent, on how they are perceived by their subordinates, peers and superiors. This paper examines if Army policy and the implementation of its current multisource feedback systems leverage and reflect the best practices found in corporate America. It compares Army policy with best practices and also examines if the Army should utilize multisource feedback for consideration in their centralized selection board process.