{"id":50568,"date":"2021-07-19T10:20:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?p=50568"},"modified":"2023-05-26T11:59:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T15:59:56","slug":"feedforward-not-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/feedforward-not-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Feedforward, Not Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a new buzzword making the rounds within business development circles: feedforward<\/em>.\u00a0It\u2019s a relatively new approach which flips the traditional performance review model on its head: rather than focus on past performance<\/em> (i.e. feedback), leaders and managers should focus on future success<\/em>. The idea is that since feedback has some inherent weaknesses and can hurt employee morale, we can use an alternative approach that\u2019s more likely to encourage motivated, driven, successful employees.<\/p>\n

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We wanted to take a look at how feedforward works in practice and what it might mean for both business and employees. And most importantly, whether it\u2019s truly different from well-delivered feedback at all. Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n

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The role of feedback for employee development<\/h2>\n

Employee feedback is not uncontroversial. There are many who believe annual performance reviews<\/a> actually hurt employee performance. Indeed, a\u00a0Gallup poll<\/a> found that only 26 percent of employees felt that feedback \u201cimproves their professional performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The idea with feedback is to highlight areas of success and areas for improvement based on the most recent term of an employee’s work. It\u2019s an intuitive necessity: to enable future success, employees need to build off past performance, right? So why doesn\u2019t it always work?<\/p>\n

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The problems with performance feedback<\/h2>\n

One issue is delivery: while feedback is intended to focus on the performance and not the person, virtually all employees take feedback personally. Delivering feedback effectively is a rare skill and, since most employees are imperfect, feedback often skews toward the negative \u2014 which can make for awkward, stilted, disheartening discussions.<\/p>\n

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Another is the format. Most companies still schedule formal feedback sessions one or two times a year, despite most staff preferring monthly check-ins<\/a> or real-time feedback on their mistakes and successes. Annual and bi-annual reviews inevitably focus on the recent past and the headline contributions and ignore the many small wins or subtle attributes demonstrated throughout the year.<\/p>\n

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Yet despite all this, lousily-delivered feedback remains a bedrock of most organizations. And while empathetic, consistent, and holistic feedback is increasingly popular in more progressive firms, even in its \u201cbest\u201d form we have to ask if feedback is really the best way to motivate workers and improve performance. Does emphasizing past success and past failures really drive future success?<\/p>\n

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What is feedforward?<\/h2>\n

Feedforward can be loosely defined<\/a> as \u201cthe art of replacing negative feedback with positive developmental suggestions.\u201d The general idea is that rather than focusing on past mistakes, reviews should focus on future solutions.<\/p>\n

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The biggest problem with feedforward (and any trendy new work practice or concept) is that most people have never tried it and simply quote the theoretical<\/em> benefits. \u201cFeedforward assessment can eliminate the risk<\/a> of negative connotations during reviews. Employees should leave a feedforward assessment feeling motivated and supported, thinking about future solutions, not past mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Okay, sure. But what does that actually mean and how does it work?<\/p>\n

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Feedforward does not mean ignoring poor performance<\/h2>\n

Done correctly, feedforward takes the form of coaching more than the traditional \u201cconstructive criticism.\u201d The idea is about building toward future success and \u201chelping people to become right<\/em> rather than proving they were wrong<\/em><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And this makes a lot of sense. But the suggestion that we should just sweep past performance under the rug is incredibly naive: mistakes and underperformance are important, they hugely impact the business and overcoming them is vital.\u00a0It is knowing about the past failures, but not necessarily voicing or acknowledging them, that separates the two ideas. In other words, effective feedforward requires leaders to leverage the context of past performance to set employees up for future success, and therefore build a more accomplishment-driven culture.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s look at a couple of imagined scenarios.<\/p>\n

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Tardy Frank<\/h2>\n

For the past six months, Frank has been consistently showing up late. Usually no more than 15 minutes, sometimes up to half an hour. He\u2019s not client-facing so it\u2019s largely accepted, until someone calculates he\u2019s being paid for 2-3 weeks a year where he\u2019s not actually at work.<\/p>\n

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