Most feedback tools fail in the same three places.
Organizations invest in assessments so people get feedback that's personal to them. What usually comes back is a 30-page report of scores and quotes, and it breaks down before anyone changes anything.
People can't interpret it.
Scores and verbatims with no meaning attached. You can see your lowest numbers but not what they mean or why they matter.
People don't believe it.
"I know who said that." "They just don't like me." Without context, the hardest feedback is the easiest to dismiss.
Nobody acts on it.
The coach's hour goes to explaining the report. There's no time left for the part that matters: doing something with it.
The problem isn't a lack of feedback. It's feedback nobody can use.
Where do you want to go?
Before anyone else answers a question, you choose a direction and name the three words you want to be known for. Everything that comes back is written for that. The report reads your reviewers' observations against where you're headed, not against a norm or a ranking. "Not sure yet" is a real answer. If you check it, the report helps you narrow.
Example list. Organizations and programs can set their own options.
Four steps, start to finish.
You go first. About 25 minutes.
Name the words you want to be known for, then answer the self-review: the same leadership questions your reviewers will get, from your side. This is the biggest ask in the whole process, and it's yours, not theirs.
You pick your panel.
5 to 10 people who watch you work: your manager, people you lead, peers, a former colleague, a board member, a friend or family member. At least three kinds of relationship. One who'll say the hard thing.
They answer what they actually saw. 5 to 15 minutes each.
Short surveys, different by relationship. A manager is asked different questions than a peer or a board member. Short is why they finish.
You get two things back, and use them the same week.
A personal report and a one-page guide for your manager, both written around the leader you said you want to be. Hand the guide over, and the next conversation starts at "here's how you can help," not "what does this mean."
Candid feedback depends on trust. Here's how it works.
Reviewers are never quoted by name.
What reviewers say is combined into themes. The report describes what people see, not who said it.
You choose who's asked.
You pick your panel, and you decide whether you send the invitations or Elevate sends them for you.
You own the report.
Your organization doesn't see it unless you share it. The manager guide is written for you to hand over when you choose.
Two documents. One for you, one to share.
Samples use a fictional leader. The fellowship version adds a positioning memo for people in a transition; see Wayfinder for programs.
Built on the three As from Uncharted Leadership.
Every question and every section of the report maps to the framework in the book.
Awareness
Knowing what's going on inside you and around you: who you are at this moment, and what this moment needs from you.
Alliance
Building community and bringing different people together for collective action. It's only possible to win when we win together.
Action
Movement and momentum. Experimenting, testing, learning and trying again, even without a clear destination.
Four sources of evidence. One coherent picture.
Most assessments hand you the raw material and leave the interpretation to you or a paid coach. Wayfinder does the interpreting. The AI is not a free-writing chatbot. It works inside Elevate's framework and report structure, and every finding has to trace back to what your reviewers actually said.
01Ratings, by perspective.
Every leadership item is rated by you and by each reviewer. Wayfinder compares them by relationship: where your manager, your team and your peers agree, where they split, and where your view of yourself runs higher or lower than theirs.
02What people wrote.
The three-word exercises and open answers are read against the ratings. When comments confirm a pattern, it becomes a finding. When they contradict it, the tension is named instead of averaged away.
03The three As.
Elevate's methodology for what effective leadership looks like in each. The framework decides what counts as a strength, what counts as a gap, and what matters most for where you said you want to go.
04The wider research on leadership.
What decades of leadership, team and development research say about behaviors like these: what they tend to cause, what tends to change them, and what to try first.
Triangulated, then written for you.
Scores inform the analysis but never appear in the report.
A structure built from years of developing leaders.
The report moves the way a good coaching conversation does:
- the leader you want to be
- how others see you
- what you are not
- where the gap is
- psychological safety
- Awareness, Alliance, Action
- where to focus, with reflection questions
Where the three As come from.
The framework grew out of Katie Sheketoff's years building leadership development at Marriott International, Teach For All and IREX: accelerators for high-potential leaders, programs across countries and sectors, and the assessments and coaching that went with them. The book names what effective leaders were doing when there was no playbook. Wayfinder turns that into questions, and turns the answers into a plan.
See what gets asked, and who asks it.
The self-review mirrors the questions reviewers answer, so the report can show where your view and theirs line up. Each reviewer only sees the sections their relationship can speak to.
A sample from each work version. The full survey has more.
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What else people use, and where it falls short.
On its own, or with a coach.
The report is written to be understood without an expert. With a coach, it goes further: the report does the interpreting, and the coach's time goes to follow-through, the part most feedback tools never reach.
One framework, built for where people are.
Each version changes who reviews, what they're asked, and what the report is written for.
Questions people ask.
How long does it take?+
About 25 minutes for the self-review, plus a few minutes to choose reviewers. Reviewers take 5 to 15 minutes. Most panels finish within two weeks, and you get your report back within a week.
Why no scores?+
Scores on human behavior invite ranking and argument. "3.2 on communication" tells you nothing about what to do on Monday. Wayfinder describes what people see and what to do about it. Before-and-after measurement tied to each person's own goals is in development.
How many reviewers do I need?+
At least five completed reviews. We recommend you ask 7 to 10 people so you get enough back. You should ask a range of people with different perspectives on you and how you work.
Who sees my report?+
You do. Your organization or program doesn't see it unless you share it. Programs can receive themes across a cohort, never individual reports.
Is it anonymous?+
Reviewers are never quoted by name. Their answers are combined into themes.
We know that many other 360 reports include verbatim quotes from reviewers. In Wayfinder, we intentionally do not show you verbatim quotes, because even given anonymously they can often create a subconscious assessment. We use reviewers' answers to open-ended questions to inform the priorities and themes the report generates.
Is the report written by AI?+
AI does the synthesis, inside Elevate's framework and report structure. Every finding has to trace back to what your reviewers actually said. See Behind the report.
Can it be used for pay or promotion decisions?+
No. It's built for development only, and that's a big part of why people answer honestly.
Do I need a coach?+
No: the report is written so that you can understand and interpret it without a coach. However, we recommend sharing the report with a coach if you have one to create accountability. Ultimately, what matters isn't what's written in the report, it's what you do with that information. Working with a coach, whether through Elevate Labs or others, can help you take the written plan in the report and turn it into action.
Whether you're working with a coach, a manager, or a friend, one of the reports you'll receive is the manager briefing memo. You'll receive this memo in either a Word document or a Google doc, so that you can make any edits you'd like before sharing externally. We've created this tool so that someone who can help make sure you're taking the actions you commit to has the information they need to help you get where you want to go.
Not where you rank. Where you're going.
A 30-minute call to talk through a person, a team, or a cohort.