Feedforward vs. Feedback: Know to Grow
We’ve all been there: sitting across from a manager during a performance review, bracing ourselves for the inevitable critique. For decades, traditional “feedback” has been the gold standard for personal and professional growth. But what if the way we deliver and receive this information is actually holding us back?
According to a review of hundreds of experiments dating back to 1905, feedback—even when it is positive—fails to improve performance in 38% of cases, and can actively make it worse.
If feedback isn’t the guaranteed path to high performance, what is? The answer lies in a subtle but powerful mindset shift: moving from feedback to feedforward.
The Problem with Traditional Feedback
The fundamental flaw with feedback is its direction: it focuses purely on past performance and what you should have done. Because it looks backwards at actions that cannot be changed, it often triggers defensiveness and anxiety.
To compensate for this discomfort, leaders often fall into bad habits. Entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den investor Sara Davies admitted that she used to rely on the “shit sandwich” method—sandwiching a piece of criticism between two pieces of praise. The problem? The praise ended up drowning out the criticism to the detriment of her team.
Former tech executive Kim Scott calls this “ruinous empathy”—sugar-coating a message to make it land better, which ultimately dilutes the main point and undermines the lesson.
Enter “Feedforward”
If feedback looks at yesterday, feedforward looks at tomorrow.
Proposed by organisational scientists Avraham Kluger and Dina Nir, feedforward discussions focus strictly on what you will do to improve future performance. Instead of picking apart past failures, feedforward provides actionable, forward-looking steps.
The results speak for themselves. In a study comparing the two methods, employees who had a feedforward discussion with their managers performed significantly better four months later than those who received a traditional appraisal.
How to Cultivate a Feedforward Culture
To successfully transition from feedback to feedforward, you need to change how you communicate and how you process information. Here are three steps to get you started:
1. Embrace “Radical Candour” If you want to help people grow, you have to drop the waffly “fluff” that makes you feel insincere. Instead, adopt what Kim Scott calls “radical candour”: the sweet spot between caring deeply about someone and challenging them directly. As Sara Davies learned, stripping back the fluff and being direct shows people that you genuinely care about their career progression.
2. Become a Sponge for “Intel” World-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay built his empire not by trying to prove himself right, but by constantly seeking out the knowledge to get better. He actively pursued “intel” from mentors and industry greats, constantly asking questions about how to perfect his craft. Treat feedforward not as a critique of your character, but as valuable intelligence you can use to upgrade your skills.
3. Take it Professionally, Not Personally When receiving feedforward, it is vital to detach your ego from the advice. As Ramsay bluntly puts it, “You need to be a sponge… But take it professionally, not personally. Getting told off is fucking good. It’s really healthy”.
The Bottom Line
People only get better if they are constantly in pursuit of constructive ways to improve. By abandoning the backward-looking trap of traditional feedback and embracing the future-focused power of feedforward, you can remove the sting of criticism and build a culture of continuous, actionable growth.
Are you ready to stop dwelling on what you should have done, and start focusing on what you will do? Look at your next challenge, ask for some feedforward, and start growing today.
Feedforward vs. Feedback: Everything You Need to Know to Grow
We’ve all been there: sitting across from a manager during a performance review, bracing ourselves for the inevitable critique. For decades, traditional “feedback” has been the gold standard for personal and professional growth. But what if the way we deliver and receive this information is actually holding us back?
According to a review of hundreds of experiments dating back to 1905, feedback—even when it is positive—fails to improve performance in 38% of cases, and can actively make it worse.
If feedback isn’t the guaranteed path to high performance, what is? The answer lies in a subtle but powerful mindset shift: moving from feedback to feedforward.
Key Differences at a Glance
| Feature | Feedback | Feedforward |
|---|---|---|
| Time Focus | The past | The future |
| Primary Goal | To correct errors and learn from what has already happened. | To set expectations and proactively guide behavior for success. |
| Common Reaction | Often induces defensiveness because it focuses on past mistakes. | Inspires confidence and growth by focusing on possibilities. |
| Approach | “Here is what you did wrong and how to fix it.” | “Here is what we expect and how you can achieve it.” |
In Management and Coaching
- Feedback: Reviews a completed project or past behavior. For example, a manager telling an employee, “Your presentation last week was too fast and missed the data metrics.”
- Feedforward: Provides forward-looking suggestions and models expectations before a task begins. For example, a manager advising, “For your upcoming presentation, focus on delivering slower and highlighting the key data metrics.”
- For practical strategies on how to transition from traditional feedback to empowering feedforward conversations:
In Systems and Engineering
- Feedback: Operates as a closed-loop system. It measures the actual output, compares it to a target, and corrects any errors after the deviation occurs.
- Example: A room thermostat. It waits for the room to get too cold or too hot before triggering the heater or A/C to adjust.
- Feedforward: Operates as an open-loop system. It measures known disturbances or predicted changes and adjusts the system proactively before an error occurs.
- Example: A smart thermostat connected to your phone’s GPS that starts heating the house as you commute home, preempting the temperature drop.
How They Work Together
In both engineering and human development, the most effective strategies combine both. Feedforward sets the goal and preempts obvious mistakes, while feedback catches unforeseen errors and makes precise, real-time.
The Problem with Traditional Feedback
The fundamental flaw with feedback is its direction: it focuses purely on past performance and what you should have done. Because it looks backwards at actions that cannot be changed, it often triggers defensiveness and anxiety.
To compensate for this discomfort, leaders often fall into bad habits. Entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den investor Sara Davies admitted that she used to rely on the “shit sandwich” method—sandwiching a piece of criticism between two pieces of praise. The problem? The praise ended up drowning out the criticism to the detriment of her team.
Former tech executive Kim Scott calls this “ruinous empathy”—sugar-coating a message to make it land better, which ultimately dilutes the main point and undermines the lesson.
Enter “Feedforward”
If feedback looks at yesterday, feedforward looks at tomorrow.
Proposed by organisational scientists Avraham Kluger and Dina Nir, feedforward discussions focus strictly on what you will do to improve future performance. Instead of picking apart past failures, feedforward provides actionable, forward-looking steps.
The results speak for themselves. In a study comparing the two methods, employees who had a feedforward discussion with their managers performed significantly better four months later than those who received a traditional appraisal.
How to Cultivate a Feedforward Culture
To successfully transition from feedback to feedforward, you need to change how you communicate and how you process information. Here are three steps to get you started:
1. Embrace “Radical Candour” If you want to help people grow, you have to drop the waffly “fluff” that makes you feel insincere. Instead, adopt what Kim Scott calls “radical candour”: the sweet spot between caring deeply about someone and challenging them directly. As Sara Davies learned, stripping back the fluff and being direct shows people that you genuinely care about their career progression.
2. Become a Sponge for “Intel” World-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay built his empire not by trying to prove himself right, but by constantly seeking out the knowledge to get better. He actively pursued “intel” from mentors and industry greats, constantly asking questions about how to perfect his craft. Treat feedforward not as a critique of your character, but as valuable intelligence you can use to upgrade your skills.
3. Take it Professionally, Not Personally When receiving feedforward, it is vital to detach your ego from the advice. As Ramsay bluntly puts it, “You need to be a sponge… But take it professionally, not personally. Getting told off is fucking good. It’s really healthy”.
The Bottom Line
People only get better if they are constantly in pursuit of constructive ways to improve. By abandoning the backward-looking trap of traditional feedback and embracing the future-focused power of feedforward, you can remove the sting of criticism and build a culture of continuous, actionable growth.
Are you ready to stop dwelling on what you should have done, and start focusing on what you will do? Look at your next challenge, ask for some feedforward, and start growing today.
