Want to provide Impactful & Actionable Feedback? Try Feedforward.

The exciting world of performance management includes one element, every manager’s favorite (NOT!) …providing feedback that adds value to the employee’s growth. Some organizations have a process of providing quarterly feedback, some do it semi-annually, some do it annually, and some don’t do it at all. Irrespective of the cadence an organization selects, the practice of feedback, which many title as “a gift” is usually not seen as a gift on the receiving end.?

So, why is it that feedback doesn’t work? Why is it only sometimes that it lands well but other times, it lands flat, providing no value to the employee getting it? And on days it does work, why doesn’t it work consistently? Why is it a hit or miss??

Let’s start with the intent of Feedback.?

Feedback is given to raise awareness of an employee's progress and their impact on the business. Ultimately, the goal is for employees to learn from both positive and negative experiences and make changes that improve their performance in the future.

If we look at cognitive science, some insights that might help us understand the gaps in providing feedback are….

• There are times when we want to increase or support “good” behaviors. The best thing that we can do is to point out those behaviors and offer some kind of reward - whether that’s verbal praise or recognition or a bump in pay or sometimes both. You don’t need to reward every single good behavior (which might get annoying), but occasionally calling out good things encourages more of that behavior. This is called positive reinforcement and it’s very effective (1).
• Unfortunately, employees also sometimes engage in “not so good” behaviors - things that are less effective or unproductive. To decrease such behavior, many employers will provide some type of “punishment”. This can include everything from somewhat benign feedback that the behavior isn’t working to more severe consequences, such as being put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), performance raise at risk, or eventual termination of employment. Sometimes employers get very frustrated that these consequences do not have much of an effect on behavior. But they can! One of the key ingredients, though, is offering an alternative. That is, while we sometimes need to point out negative behaviors, it is better to focus on creating better ones that can be rewarded (2).
• The alternative is not just about providing a solution. It is about encouraging and creating new behaviors. For example, you want your employee to give others an opportunity to speak during client calls. This doesn’t mean we want them to stop talking altogether. We rather want them to pause for collaboration and idea sharing and learn how to read the room. Since the idea is to create and encourage new behavior (i.e., pause and read the room), focusing on past behavior isn’t helpful. When we create space and offer feedback that focuses on “new behavior”, it helps them apply the feedback to future situations as they occur. This is what cognitive psychologists call “transfer” (3).?

Cognitive science has quite a bit to say about how to improve this ability to apply what we learn (in this case, from feedback):

1. Be explicit in what you want to see. Talk in terms of behaviors and not abstract ideas. “You need to work on your coaching skills” is too abstract for someone to really understand what this means. It is better to focus on behaviors and not attributes or skills (4).
2. Be explicit about where you want to see this. What you want to do is create a situation that will spark recognition. If you say that they should do this in meetings with the client, district staff, customer, analyst, etc. the next time they are in that meeting, they are more likely to remember that this is an opportunity to practice that new behavior. The more details you can provide about the situation, the more likely they will make a change (5).
3. Use multiple examples. Instead of only mentioning that one meeting, mention a few different ways and places in which the employee could demonstrate the behavior(s) you’re suggesting. Not only are they more likely to recognize those situations, but also similar ones where the behaviors could be useful (6).

Hopefully it’s clear that sometimes feedback is helpful - especially when highlighting good things that have happened - but hopefully it’s also clear that often we need to use “feedforward” instead. We need to focus on future new or alternative behaviors if we hope to see changes.

Let’s turn to examples of both feedback and feedforward so you can contextualize it as well.?

• Feedback and feedforward:? "Great job on the presentation yesterday! Your slides were clear and easy to follow, and you spoke confidently and clearly. However, I noticed that you didn't pause often to check for understanding from the audience. In the future, try pausing after each main point to ask if anyone has questions. This will help you gauge their level of understanding and address any concerns they may have. You can practice this in our team meetings or even in our 1:1 sync and then use it in the client meeting next week when the Director of Sustainabilty is in the room."
• Feedforward: "You're doing great! I want to encourage you to try to develop additional coaching skills as part of your professional development. In particular, you could consider reaching out to new hires in our team to see if they need help, or provide feedback to your peers after presentations, and try to speak up in meetings (whenever possible) when you might have a suggestion of doing things in a better way."?
• Feedforward: "I noticed that you struggled with time management during the last project. For the next project, consider breaking down the tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks and setting deadlines for each one. This will help you stay on track and ensure that everything gets done on time."
• Feedback and feedforward: "During the meeting, you did a great job of actively listening to others' ideas and offering thoughtful contributions. However, I noticed that when you disagreed with someone, you tended to shut down and disengage from the conversation. In the future, try acknowledging their perspective and asking clarifying questions to better understand their point of view. For example, you could say, “That’s interesting, could you tell me more about that?” This will help you build stronger relationships and create a more collaborative environment."

As you reflect on both how the mind works and suggestions for how feedback can be modified, here is one popular belief in the world of feedback that we have a different take towards.?

Popular belief: “Give positive feedback before you share constructive feedback, as it will land better”...This is often known as the sandwich approach where the start and end are on a positive note and the middle is….You know it…Not so positive.?

Our Take: The evidence is really mixed for this method but our take is that it has nothing to do with the order that feedback is provided, but rather that it is clear, actionable, and that the employee is an active participant in the conversation.

Until we post again in two weeks on another topic, keep giving that gift of feedback and if you try these methods, share how it went!!

Keep living & learning,?

Your Org Scholars

Cindy and Zo

Cindy is a learning scientist and a Senior Lecturer in the Leadership and Learning in Organizations doctoral program at Vanderbilt University.

Zo is working on her Doctorate in Education, focusing on Learning & Leadership, from Vanderbilt University (Graduation: 2024) and has worked in Large consulting/accounting firms, a multinational technology company, and now in Ed. Tech.

References

1. Wei, L. T., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). The impact of positive reinforcement on employees’ performance in organizations. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 4(1), 9-12.
2. Hamner, F. S. F. B. (2015). From Fred Luthans and Robert Kreitner’s operant-behavior theory to organizational-behavior modification. In J. B. Miner, J. B. Organizational behavior 4: From theory to practice (pp. 80-93). Routledge.
3. McGeoch, J. A. (1942). The psychology of human learning: An introduction. New York, NY: Longmans, Green.
4. Moeser, S. D. (1974). Memory for meaning and wording in concrete and abstract sentences. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(6), 682-697.
5. Tulving, E., & Thomson, D. M. (1973). Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. Psychological review, 80(5), 352.
6. Gick, M. L., & Holyoak, K. J. (1983). Schema induction and analogical transfer. Cognitive psychology, 15(1), 1-38.