Feedback and Feedforward are two great tools for developing leadership and management skills. In this article, we discuss the difference between Feedback and Feedback, and how they can complement each other.
So what is Feedback?
Feedback is where you observe what someone has done or said, and tell them about your observation. This could be a task, or an event. Or it could be the way that person behaves on a day to day basis, how they interact with others, or how they motivate and manage their team. The focus of Feedback therefore is looking at what’s happened in the past – even the recent past. We usually ask people for feedback when we’ve complete a project, for instance. We ask for feedback from our manager on how they see us progressing. Feedback is often a key part of reviewing our performance over the past quarter, or year.
What about 360 Degree Feedback?
360 Degree Feedback is a particular type of Feedback. It is usually based on structured questions. 360 comes from our boss, but also other colleagues. This can include our teams, that is, the people who report to us. 360 Feedback also comes from our own boss, and often our boss’s boss. This all-round Feedback comes from peers too, and people who we worked with on specific projects. Some people even get feedback from clients and customers. All this Feedback together gives us a information about how we are viewed by others.
Where there is commonality of opinion, the Feedback is helpful for giving us insight and for improvement.
A 360 also includes a self-assessment. The reason for this is to help usreflect in an honest way on how we think we’ve done. We can then compare this with the feedback we get from others – ‘am I doing as well as I thought?’. Or ‘am I getting some new insights here that can help me improve and develop?’.
If that’s Feedback, what is Feedforward?
Marshall Goldsmith, a fantastic thought leader in coaching and leadership, coined a phrase way back in 2007: Feedforward.
The simple but brilliant idea is that, rather than looking at past behaviour and getting Feedback, it’s better to focus completely on the future and get Feedforward. The person seeking input:
- Chooses one or two behaviours that they want to change,
- Describes these to others,
- Then asks colleagues for two ideas that could help them make the change.
According to Goldsmith, the advantages of this technique are:
- It focuses on what the person can do in the future.
- It avoids the analysis of the past that can sometimes be difficult to hear – where they went wrong. Focus on the past can also be difficult for the person who is giving the feedback.
- Feedback is often seen as a judgement, rather than a positive discussion
Comparing feedback and feedforward
Feedback provides context and background
Feedback is valuable and shouldn’t be discounted, because:
- You, the individual, choose the key areas you want comments on from your colleagues. But sometimes we’re not always sure what to focus on. If you only focus on what you think are the key things you need to change, you may or may not be focusing on the right things.
- Feedback helps to prioritise the areas that may need improvement, rather than trying to figure out priorities based on different suggestions. For example, some colleagues might be interested in your technical skills, while others, like your direct reports, might want to talk about how you lead the team.
- You may not get the full story, or the context of the feedforward suggestions, if you don’t know the history or the background. For instance, you might get a suggestion to ‘be more inclusive in your use of language’. But if you don’t know why this suggestion has been made, you might struggle to know what to do about it. Indeed, this could be counter-productive as it could lead you to focus on the wrong behaviours or actions.
- If there are issues that are holding you back from being a good leader, or behaviours that are damaging to you or others, you need to have that feedback. Feedforward on its own may not provide all the information you need. There is no value in ignoring everything that has gone before.
Feedforward shows a way to the future
Feedback on its own can feel like it’s only looking at the past, and picking up what’s not gone well. So Feedforward provides a critical balance. Suggestions and ideas for improvement from colleagues can be relevant and valuable – after all, they work with you and can offer good insights. Feedback on its own – what you did – does not necessarily suggest ways of changing or improvement. Feeding forward completes the leadership or performance discussion with a view to the future, and in a positive, action-focused way.
So when do you use Feedback and Feedforward?
So now we have covered the difference between Feedback and Feedforward.
We recommend using Feedback and Feedforward together. In this way, you get the benefit of understanding what happened in the past, and whether this was positive or negative. Feedback isn’t just about the bad stuff! Even Feedback on behaviour improvement can be phrased in a way that looks to improvement and development. For the same reason, Feedforward and 360 Feedback can be used to identify future leaders.
The same people who offered Feedback can also be asked to give Feedforward: questions like ‘One thing your colleague can Start doing to become a better leader’, or ‘Describe what skills your colleague has demonstrated, and give examples of how they might build on these, or change them, in the future’.
Feedback and Feedforward are complementary tools: don’t use one without the other!
So Feedback and Feedforward can both be used together. Indeed, they are complementary. When combined, they can provide a powerful tool, providing clear data and a development plan for the aspiring leader.
Jo Ayoubi is an expert in 360 Degree Feedback design and implementation, and CEO of Track Surveys. For advice and support on using 360 Feedback to identify future leaders, and developing bespoke 360 programmes for strategic talent, contact us to arrange a no-obligation discussion with Jo.
Related articles:
360 Feedback for behaviour change
How Team 360 Degree Feedback Improves Performance
