Leadership Bench Report No. 1 · October 2026

Most leadership gaps are never targeted. Of those a coach reviews, most close.

Colleagues flag about five gaps per leader; development programs take on about two. Of the targeted gaps a coach has reviewed so far, 58% are recorded as closed (214 of 368); counting targeted gaps not yet reviewed, 48% (214 of 450). The rest stays open as risk on your bench. We tracked 1,212 gaps across 225 leaders at 48 companies; the coaches are GloCoach’s own.

What happens after the 360?

Four numbers from 1,212 leadership gaps.

58%

of targeted gaps that a coach has reviewed were recorded as closed (214 of 368). Counting targeted gaps not yet reviewed: 214 of 450 (48%). Closure is the coach’s recorded judgment.

2 of 5.4

Colleagues raise about 5.4 gaps per leader. Leaders and their coaches take on about 2 of them. The other 3.4 never become a development goal.

1 in 10

gaps in collaborating across boundaries close (7 of 69), against about 1 in 3 for influencing others (26 of 74). Of those a coach reviewed, 7 of 17 closed, against 26 of 38.

18%

of all gaps colleagues raised were recorded as closed by September 2026 (214 of 1,212). A floor: 48 of the 225 leaders were still mid-program when the data was cut.

Most gaps never become a development goal.

63% of the gaps colleagues raise are never taken on. Of the targeted gaps a coach reviewed, 58% closed.

Gaps colleagues raised

1,212 · 100%

Became a development goal

450 · 37%

Reviewed by the coach

368 · 30%

Closed

214 · 18%

225 leaders, 48 companies. A gap = one competency raised as a growth area for one leader. “Closed” = the GloCoach coach’s latest review records at least 80% progress; of the 368 reviewed, 214 (58%) closed. Goals set February 2024 to September 2026.

Part of this is design: a development program targets about two priorities, not five. That is sensible for the leader. For the company, it means a 360 names the risk and development covers a fraction of it. Among the gaps colleagues raise most often, the ones that span the organization, collaborating across boundaries and thinking enterprise-wide, close least. The full report shows every competency.

What this means for a CEO.

Your bench has open gaps you have already paid to find. The 360 named about five per leader. Development took on two. Do you know which of the other three sit on your strategy’s critical path?
Cross-boundary work is where development stalls. If your strategy depends on units working together, the competencies it needs are taken on less often, and fewer of those targeted close (7 of 23 for collaborating across boundaries).
The question is not only who to develop. It is whether to change your leaders, or change your strategy.

See your own bench.

Send us five leaders. We interview the people around each of them, map it to the same model, and show you where your execution risk sits: which gaps a development plan would cover and which it would leave open.

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Get the full report.

Five pages: every competency, how long a development cycle takes, and the full method and limits. Free PDF.

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About this report.

GloCoach is the only platform that interviews the people around every leader, codes it all to one leadership model, turns it into a forward view of your bench (who’s ready, where the risk sits, what to build) and tracks whether the development it recommends actually happens. The coaching in this data was delivered through GloCoach’s own programs. We publish it because the gap it shows is the one we built the bench view to close.

Who: 225 client leaders at 48 companies whose 360 and development goals were both mapped to the same competency model, with goals set February 2024 to September 2026. GloCoach staff, test and trial accounts are excluded.
“Closed” means the coach’s latest review of the goal records at least 80% progress. It is the judgment of the GloCoach coach running the program, not an independent measure of job performance.
What this is not: a test of whether the 360 predicts performance. That work is under way with independent researchers.
Limits: these are companies that chose development after a 360, not a random sample. 48 of the 225 leaders were still in their program when the data was cut, so the 18% and 48% rates are floors; the 58% reviewed-only rate could move either way. No company accounts for more than 25 of the 225 leaders (11%). No company or individual can be identified.

Cite as: GloCoach, Leadership Bench Report No. 1: What happens after the 360?, October 2026.