When I dig into the most frequent failure of managers – the failure to give timely, effective feedback – I find both fear and frustration. Fear that giving feedback will make people angry or shut them down, that they will disengage with their manager. Frustration that conversations often turn to excuses rather than solutions.  I’ve heard it at every level, from first-time supervisors and from CEOs.

The best managers are great coaches. They use “feedforward” instead of feedback. The idea is not new.¹ People often get defensive and make excuses when we hold them accountable, especially if we find fault and place blame.  After all, they can’t change the past.  They are much more cooperative, committed (and engaged!) when we talk about their future – what to do differently to get a better result next week and next month.

The best employee engagement tools provide clear direction for the future – they feedforward.  They are designed to go beyond vague statistics that force HR and other leaders to guess where to start and what to do.  Our Pinpoint Performance™ system asks specific questions to probe actionable information about problem areas, like a “virtual focus group.”

Let’s say, for example, that your people give a low survey rating on “There is an atmosphere of trust in this company.”  Our system then asks specifically, “What could be done to improve the level of trust?”  The resulting written comments detail what you can do to do to improve trust.  The comments reflect people’s hopes for their future. Your people have given you feedforward, not feedback.

The Feedforward Cycle.  And then you have an amazing opportunity.  You can meet with your people to reciprocate.  You can give them feedforward on what you will do, as well as what you need them to do.  Employees love to have their ideas adopted.  And they love it when you talk about specific, tangible changes. And they respond in kind.

No blame.  No defensiveness.  Just good discussion about future action.

Amazing and Rewarding!

Source: Jeff Grip, Pinpoint Performance Blog, Witmer & Associates