Why should you focus on feedforward rather than feedback?

In last week’s post, “What’s the Difference between Feedback and Feedforward”, I noted that discussions that are mostly past focussed feel more like an interrogation that creates defensiveness. On the other hand, discussions that are mostly future focussed feel like a supportive coaching discussion that emphasises problem solving and creates opportunities. Consequently, in many situations you face day-to-day, feedforward makes much more sense than feedback.

Here are my top five reasons for using feedforward:

You can’t change the past; you can only change the future.
The simple reality is that the past is just a memory. We can’t change it. Yet when we give feedback we frequently interrogate the past. By creating a future focus you focus on a positive future, not a failed past. The emphasis is therefore on problem solving and creating options, rather than defending past actions.

It’s more effective to help people be ‘right’ than prove that they were ‘wrong’.
The delivery of critical feedback can easily become a situation of ‘let me prove you were wrong’. This creates defensiveness on the part of the person receiving the feedback, and discomfort on our own part. Even constructively delivered feedback is often viewed as negative because it focuses on mistakes, shortfalls and problems. Feedforward, on the other hand, is almost always seen as positive because it focuses on solutions.

People take feedback personally
In theory, constructive feedback is supposed to focus on the behaviour change required, not the person. In practice, almost all feedback is taken personally, no matter how well it’s delivered. However, it’s difficult for a person to take feedforward personally because it concerns something that hasn’t yet happened.

We don’t like to receive negative feedback, and we don’t like to give it.
Let’s face it. Who do you know who loves receiving negative feedback? I suspect that it’s a pretty small, or even non-existent, group of people. Because most  managers feel uncomfortable receiving negative feedback they also feel uncomfortable delivering it. By my estimation, about 80% of  managers avoid providing corrective feedback when it really is needed because of this. Managers are not very good at giving or receiving negative feedback. It’s unlikely that this will change anytime soon.

Feedforward covers off all the same issues as feedback.
One of the arguments that I frequently hear against feedforward is that it doesn’t uncover the issues that may be stopping someone from performing. Actually it does, and even more effectively. The disadvantage of asking why a person did, or didn’t, do something in the past is that you tend to receive a range of excuses. It’s hard to figure out the genuine reasons. On the other hand, if you were to ask what might stop the person from performing in the required manner in similar circumstances in the future, you’re more likely to uncover any genuine issues for non-performance. In addition, suggestions that you provide can be very specific and still be delivered in a positive manner.

The advantages of feedforward are so strong, you’re probably wondering why you haven’t been using it already.

Picture by Artbeat Creative