Feedforward vs Feedback: Why 38% of Feedback Fails & How to Fix It

Bill Gates once remarked that "we all need people who give us feedback. This is how we improve." This sentiment reflects conventional wisdom about professional development—yet research increasingly challenges this oversimplified view.

Gallup and Workhuman research confirms that providing frequent, quality feedback is essential to building a strong organizational culture and is one of the strongest drivers of employee engagement. Employees who receive valuable feedback from colleagues are five times more likely to be engaged, 57% less likely to experience burnout, and 48% less likely to seek another job.

However, there's a startling disconnect: despite these benefits, only 27% of employees say they want to receive feedback weekly or more often. Why this paradox? The answer lies in how feedback is delivered and perceived.

According to the Sutton Trust, when done right, feedback can be one of the most effective ways to help someone improve. Yet their research reveals that 38% of feedback interventions actually do more harm than good. Just one in four employees strongly agree they receive valuable feedback from colleagues. The problem isn't the concept of feedback itself, but its implementation.

At AdvantEdge Leadership, we've observed this challenge across organizations of all sizes. The very tool intended to accelerate growth often becomes an obstacle to progress. This realization led us to champion the Feedforward methodology pioneered by Marshall Goldsmith—an approach that fundamentally reimagines how we help others improve.

The Limitation of Traditional Feedback

For decades, feedback has been considered an essential leadership skill. Leaders provide "downward feedback" to employees about their performance, while 360-degree assessments offer "upward feedback" from employees to leaders. This exchange of information seems logical on the surface.

However, traditional feedback has a fundamental limitation: it focuses exclusively on the past – on what has already occurred rather than the infinite possibilities that lie ahead. This retrospective orientation often creates several unintended consequences:

• It triggers defensive responses as people naturally resist criticism
• It reinforces negative self-perceptions and can become self-fulfilling
• It's frequently taken personally, regardless of how it's delivered
• It creates discomfort for both the giver and receiver

Most tellingly, when leaders are asked how they felt after receiving feedback, the responses are overwhelmingly negative.

Enter Feedforward: A Future-Focused Alternative

Feedforward flips the traditional feedback model by focusing exclusively on the future. Rather than analyzing past performance, it offers specific suggestions for future improvement. This seemingly simple shift creates profound differences in how development conversations unfold.

The core Feedforward process involves:

1. Identifying one behavior you want to change – something that would make a significant, positive difference
2. Requesting suggestions for the future (not feedback about the past)
3. Listening openly to ideas without judgment or evaluation
4. Expressing appreciation for the input

When leaders and teams experience this approach, their reactions are dramatically different from traditional feedback exercises. The most common descriptors include "energizing," "helpful," and surprisingly, "fun!" – a word rarely associated with feedback activities.

Why Feedforward Works: The Psychology Behind the Approach

The effectiveness of Feedforward stems from several psychological principles:

1. The Future is Changeable

While we cannot alter the past, we can shape the future. By focusing on possibilities rather than problems, Feedforward creates a positive orientation toward change. This mirrors techniques used in athletic coaching, where visualization of success (rather than analysis of failure) improves performance.

2. It Bypasses Defensiveness

Feedback often devolves into debates about whether someone was "right" or "wrong." Feedforward sidesteps this entirely by focusing on solutions instead of problems. Since the suggestions relate to future actions, they aren't perceived as personal critiques.

3. It Aligns with Success Psychology

Successful people generally maintain positive self-images and may resist information that contradicts these views. Feedforward offers constructive suggestions in a way that successful individuals find palatable and actionable, as it speaks to their aspirations rather than their shortcomings.

4. It Democratizes Development

Unlike feedback, which requires personal knowledge of the individual, Feedforward can come from anyone with relevant expertise about the task. This opens up valuable sources of insight that might otherwise be overlooked.

5. It Promotes Active Listening

When receiving Feedforward, people listen more attentively because they aren't busy formulating defenses or responses. The only permitted response is "thank you," which allows recipients to focus entirely on understanding the suggestions.

Implementing Feedforward in Your Organization

At AdvantEdge Leadership, we've found several effective ways to integrate Feedforward into organizational practice:

For Individual Development

• Replace traditional feedback discussions with Feedforward conversations
• Begin performance discussions by focusing on future goals rather than past performance
• Use Feedforward to prepare for upcoming presentations, projects or challenges
• Structure coaching conversations around future behaviors rather than past mistakes

For Team Development

• Conduct Feedforward exercises during team meetings
• Have team members ask, "How can I better help our team in the future?"
• Use Feedforward to resolve conflicts by focusing on future behaviors
• Apply Feedforward during project kickoffs to establish positive expectations

For Organizational Culture

• Train leaders at all levels in Feedforward techniques
• Incorporate Feedforward into regular communication practices
• Use Feedforward in cross-functional collaborations to build relationships
• Apply Feedforward principles to strategic planning and change initiatives

The Feedforward Exercise: A Practical Application

One of the most powerful ways to experience the impact of Feedforward is through a structured exercise that can be completed in just 15 minutes:

1. Participants identify one behavior they want to change
2. In pairs, they briefly describe this behavior to a partner
3. They request two specific suggestions for the future
4. They listen without comment or judgment
5. They simply say "thank you" when the suggestions are complete
6. They switch roles and provide Feedforward to their partner
7. Participants find new partners and repeat the process

This simple exercise has transformed communication patterns in organizations worldwide. When everyone in a team or organization participates, the cumulative effect is remarkable. The energy in the room shifts dramatically as participants focus on possibilities rather than problems.

Feedforward in Action: A Case Study

A technology executive we worked with was struggling with team engagement. Traditional feedback sessions had become increasingly tense, with team members becoming defensive and the executive feeling frustrated.

We introduced the Feedforward approach, asking team members to provide suggestions on how meetings could be more productive in the future. The shift was immediate – instead of rehashing past problems, the team generated innovative ideas for future improvements.

The most powerful moment came when the executive requested Feedforward from his team on how he could better support them. The resulting suggestions were specific, actionable and delivered with a genuine desire to help rather than criticize. Six months later, team engagement scores had increased by 27%, and the executive reported that the atmosphere had transformed from one of criticism to collaboration.

Conclusion: The Power of Future Focus

Feedforward doesn't necessarily replace all forms of feedback in organizations. Performance reviews, financial metrics and certain types of technical correction still require evaluation of past performance. However, for day-to-day development and improvement, Feedforward offers a significantly more effective approach.

By shifting the focus from past mistakes to future possibilities, Feedforward creates an environment where:

• Communication becomes more positive and productive
• People become more receptive to development suggestions
• Ideas flow more freely across hierarchical boundaries
• The organizational culture becomes more dynamic and forward-thinking

As Marshall Goldsmith notes, "Quality communication is the glue that holds organizations together." By implementing Feedforward, leaders can dramatically improve this communication, ensuring that messages are both effectively conveyed and receptively received.

The result is a more agile, more open organization – one whose employees focus on the promise of the future rather than dwelling on the mistakes of the past.

---

Ready to transform your leadership approach with Feedforward? Contact AdvantEdge Leadership to learn how our coaching and training programs can help you implement this powerful methodology in your organization.

---