Why Continuous Feedback Is Crucial for Leaders

Leaders at all levels need feedback to be their best. And according to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2025 research, many leaders want more feedback than they’re currently getting. They want to know where their weaknesses are so they can improve. They want to know what’s working and if they’re a good leader. And leaders want to know that they can depend on their managers to deliver feedback. Employees who receive feedback from their manager are 9X more likely to trust them. Annual performance feedback doesn’t cut it anymore. Leaders want and need continuous feedback to be most effective, yet much of the feedback they receive is infrequent, delayed, and frankly, not that helpful.

So what makes continuous feedback different from one-time feedback—and how can L&D professionals help leaders get the feedback they need? Before we dive into best practices, let’s explore what continuous feedback really means, its key benefits, and why leaders can’t afford to go without it.

What Is Continuous Feedback?

Continuous feedback means that leaders receive frequent information about their performance from their managers, colleagues, and team members on an ongoing basis. Continuous feedback supports growth and reinforces key behaviors whether leaders are navigating a big change in their role or are specifically honing their conflict resolution skills for day-to-day operations. The ongoing and recurring nature of continuous feedback is the critical ingredient most often missing for leaders as they focus on changing old habits or making new ones.

The Benefits of Continuous Feedback for Leaders

When leaders receive ongoing feedback, we see many benefits:

1. Better Communication and Collaboration

We see better communication and collaboration between leaders and their managers, leaders and their colleagues, and leaders and their teams because everyone is more vulnerable when giving and receiving feedback. Vulnerability is key to creating an environment of psychological safety, where everyone feels safe to speak up with ideas and be their authentic selves.

In addition, a culture of ongoing feedback improves the coaching skills of everyone involved. When there’s a continuous feedback loop, the benefits start at the top and move down the reporting structure to affect every employee. In this type of work culture, managers of leaders have more opportunities to improve their coaching skills because they prioritize frequent feedback discussions with their reports. This serves as a positive model for leaders to look to while having coaching conversations with their team members. Finally, team members learn feedback strategies from discussions with their managers to use when coaching their peers. When there’s a common framework for feedback and coaching, collaboration blossoms.

2. More Flexibility and Agility

With continuous feedback, leaders aren’t left waiting for quarterly or annual performance reviews or perhaps a 360-feedback survey that happens once every few years to learn how they’re doing and how they can improve. Ongoing feedback allows leaders to be more flexible with their development and focus in real time on how they can improve. And in today’s rapidly changing business landscape, adopting a continuous feedback model ensures that development priorities stay aligned as organizational needs shift.

3. Higher Engagement

When leaders receive continuous feedback and have regular development conversations with their managers, they’re more engaged in their roles and build stronger relationships. And how an employee feels about their manager and the growth opportunities they provide has a lasting impact on retention.

In fact, high-potential leaders and individual contributors are far more likely to leave within a year if key engagement factors are missing:

4. Ongoing Development

Continuous feedback keeps leadership development active and on track. With regular feedback about their performance and frequent development conversations with managers, their leadership development effort is more impactful. They revisit their development plans often, track their progress with their managers, and make timely course corrections instead of waiting for formal reviews. Ultimately, this results in leaders who have a stronger sense of ownership to drive their own development and improve their skills quickly. 

High-potential leaders and individual contributors are 4.8X more likely to leave in the next year if they don’t feel a sense of purpose in their role; 3.7X more likely to leave in the next year if their manager doesn't regularly provide opportunities for growth and development; and 2.7X more likely to leave in the next year if their manager is not an effective coach.

How Continuous Feedback Systems Differ from Episodic, One-Time Feedback

If you’re hiking a new trail, you wouldn’t fold up your map at the trailhead and hope to stumble upon the end. That’s a sure way to get lost or confused about where you went off course. Instead, you check your map regularly to stay on track and reach your destination.

One-time feedback is like looking at your map when you start and then never looking at it again. You risk getting lost, taking a less efficient route, and not planning for what’s ahead. On the other hand, continuous feedback is like keeping your map with you, making sure you're on target and that you're going to the right place, so you reach the summit.

One-time feedback is still a useful tool, just one that should complement continuous feedback. You don’t have to give up your 360 feedback tools when you move to a continuous feedback model. In fact, these approaches can co-exist.

Formal performance reviews and scheduled check-ins remain important for alignment and long-term development, but they’re not enough on their own. Continuous feedback gives leaders real-time insights, helping them adjust their behavior and grow in the moment. And when continuous feedback is part of the culture, milestone reviews become easier and more meaningful. Why? Leaders go in already knowing where they stand, with recent feedback and goals fresh in their minds—and, ideally, noted in their individual development plans.

3 Best Practices for Implementing Continuous Feedback

So how can you make it easy for your leaders to give and receive feedback more regularly? Here are three best practices.

1. Make it clear and specific.

This goes for both leaders seeking feedback from others and how feedback is given. Leaders should proactively seek feedback from others yet focus on a small set of relevant and specific behaviors. It shouldn’t be a long list asking how they’re doing in every skill area they use on the job, just a few specific skills they are focused on developing today. Similarly, feedback providers must have the skills and confidence to provide feedback effectively.

2. Make it timely.

Leaders should ask for feedback soon after the event (i.e., a presentation or team meeting). And leaders should, in turn, give feedback to their team and colleagues in the same way—sharing it as soon as possible while the moment is still fresh.

3. Make sure it’s helpful and sincere.

While we all love positive feedback, it shouldn’t be the only type of feedback leaders seek or give. Everyone needs balanced feedback to understand where they have weaknesses and where their strengths can shine even more. Exploring balanced feedback can be uncomfortable for many, yet if we remember to remain sincere and empathetic, we can create a psychologically safe environment where both parties can be vulnerable.

About the Author

Adam Taylor is a reformed child psychologist who found his place in industrial-organizational psychology and DDI. Based out of the Seattle area, Adam heads DDI’s Enterprise Client Success Practice and thrives supporting the implementation of multifaceted leadership programs for DDI's global partners.