Why Feedforward Might Not be the Feedback Hack it Sounds Like

Following National Bosses Day last week, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to be a great manager. Reflecting on all the different types of managers I’ve had throughout my career—and the one I’ve grown to be. The top traits that come to mind are someone who is approachable, direct, clear, and respectful. And especially important is someone who can implement all of these qualities into productive feedback. 

Recently, I’ve seen an influx of professionals talking about the concept of being “feedforward,” rather than delivering feedback. The idea being that feedforward is gentler and forward looking, rather than ruminating on something that’s happened in the past. For example, instead of listing the ways a colleague “failed” on a project, you would encourage them to think of ways to succeed and reach the opposite outcome on the next one. While this is definitely a helpful trick, the conversation on how to best deliver feedback is a bit more complex than that in my opinion.

We all know feedback has a negative stigma around it—but it shouldn’t! Feedback is an opportunity to celebrate achievements, grow, and yes, look forward. And remember: We never stop learning, and feedback is a huge piece in this. It’s actually a disservice to not provide feedback as it limits you time for reflection and growth. If you’re a boss looking to improve your feedback-giving skills or a professional looking to get better at managing up, here are my three top tricks for doing so.

Expanding the Definition of Feedback

Oftentimes, we immediately associate feedback with negative pieces of information that have to be communicated. But that’s not the case! Many times, feedback can and should be positive. A great boss is not one who only communicates with their teammates when there’s challenging or difficult things to discuss, but one who also celebrates growth and learning. 

Give positive feedback regularly amongst your team. This will help you to develop better relationships with your employees, and will show them that you truly care about their success and career growth. That way, when there is some more challenging feedback to deliver, they will already know it’s coming from a place of growth rather than negativity. 

Remember: Many people enter the workforce with negative archetypes in their mind of what bosses are like. Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada has scarred many of us, myself included. Embracing a leadership style like Ted Lasso’s instead can be a more positive and productive mindset will help to make your employees feel more comfortable and welcome at work. 

Balancing the Past While Looking Future

As much as I understand the love for a feedforward approach, reflecting on “the past” is incredibly useful when it comes to successfully delivering feedback. After all, you can’t give feedback without examples to point to. The art here is now dwelling in the past. Use it as a way to show opportunities for growth and better success moving forward.

For example, say you had a new campaign launch at work, and an employee missed the mark on organizing it well and communicating it broadly across the team, leading to an influx in confusion and less than praise worthy results. Some feedback would be warranted in this case. But rather than spending a 1:1 session discussing all the things that went wrong, outline with your employee the top area points that can be improved upon in the future based on the past situation. Then, get specific: have them come up with hypotheticals of how they could implement this feedback into the next campaign. 

This method deliciously combines the past with the future, making for productive feedback that will still leave your employees feeling motivated to move forward and grow from their mistakes. In this instance, you could also use the “sandwich” method, which begins with a piece of positive feedback, goes into more constructive feedback, and then finishes with a positive.

Preparation and Timing is Key

Feedback can sometimes be emotional. We’re humans, afterall, and that’s a totally ok thing to accept and embrace! Because of this, you want to prepare thoroughly before delivering feedback—whether positive or negative.

In my experience, it’s generally best to give feedback in a timely manner. I personally try to deliver feedback in real time so the context isn’t misremembered. Sitting on feedback for too long can feel confusing as it can seem like you’re bringing up bygones out of the blue.

Think carefully about the message you want to get across and the language you can use to best do so. Also, think about the particular employee you plan to speak with: How do they typically respond to feedback and constructive criticism? What’s the best way and time to approach them? What level are they at in their careers and how exactly are they hoping to grow professional right now? If you don’t have the answers to these questions, just ask! Understanding each team member’s ways of working will help you best tackle the situation effectively. 

The Art of Receiving Feedback

So we’ve talked about how to best give feedback. Now let’s talk about receiving it. I can say that from personal experience, receiving feedback can actually be the harder position here. But remember: Feedback is usually a good thing, even when it’s constructive. 

When receiving feedback, do your best to understand exactly what your manager is trying to explain. Ask questions for anything you don’t understand, and clarify when needed. The worst outcome is getting a slew of feedback and then, not being able to really understand how to apply it in the future. 

Receiving feedback doesn’t just end at your 1-on-1, however. After meeting with your manager, reflect on the feedback provided and then, outline actionable ways you can apply it in the near future. Give yourself enough time to think, but don’t wait too long to start working on these areas of improvement. You want to be able to show your boss that you’re receptive and are taking this feedback as a way to grow professionally.

And lastly, get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Constructive feedback never goes away, in fact I just got some a couple of weeks ago!