• Stretch for…
    • Leaders
    • Staff
    • Facilitators
  • Blog
    • Character
    • Leadership
    • Effectiveness
    • Development
    • Excellence
  • About Jonathan Mills
  • Shop
    • Products
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Subscribe
  • Stretch for…
    • Leaders
    • Staff
    • Facilitators
  • Blog
    • Character
    • Leadership
    • Effectiveness
    • Development
    • Excellence
  • About Jonathan Mills
  • Shop
    • Products
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Subscribe
Feedforward is a paradigm shift for leaders

Feedforward is a paradigm shift for leaders

Posted on November 11, 2018
Topics: change, developmental feedback, feedback, growth, hope, ownership, performance, potential, solution-centred, stretch
Jonathan Mills
Leadership

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions” (Ken Blanchard) “if palatable and digestible” (mine)

All athletes need them – coaches to assist with enhancing performance: tweaking movement techniques, giving feedback on past performances, reinforcing mental stamina, suggesting alterations to diet, building body mass, etc. This assistance makes the athletes deliver better results – exactly what the athletes want. The same should be true in the organisational environment where employees receive valuable information that assists with their growth and performance, however, this is not always the case, as much of the feedback they receive just focuses on that which was done incorrectly, inadequately, or insufficiently. Eventually, employees become feedback-resistant and lose hope in themselves and the leadership of the organisation.

Neuroscience expert, David Rock (Quiet Leadership) suggests that leaders consider a paradigm shift when it comes to the traditional manner of providing feedback. He is NOT suggesting that managers gloss over obvious mistakes and low performance issues, where direct developmental feedback is required. By focusing on the positive, however, Rock contends that managers will discover that most people handle the “negative” on their own – the premise: most people are so much tougher on themselves than others might be.

Feedforward handles what people would like to change in the future and explores ways to translate these into goals and commensurate actions. Feedback, conversely, focuses on performance problems that occurred in the past. Even when needing to give feedback on poor performance, the manager can turn the old “problem/tell” traditional monologue of developmental feedback into an “ask/solution”-focused dialogue by asking questions, such as:

  • How can we discuss the issue in a solution-focused manner?
  • How can this conversation be the most useful for you?
  • What is the biggest insight you have had from what has happened?
  • What have you learnt from this whole situation?
  • What are you going to do differently next time?
  • How will you go about this?
  • Can you define any ways of which we may be able to help you?
  • Etc.

Feedforward explores the positive, the future and what’s possible. It stretches the employee’s thinking, helps the employee take control and ownership of a possible solution and engenders hope. It assists the employee in becoming solution-centred in approach and excited about a potentially better future.

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Post Topics: change, developmental feedback, feedback, growth, hope, ownership, performance, potential, solution-centred, stretch

Other Posts That May Interest You

Participate fully

Accelerating inclusion at work

Jonathan Mills
Leadership

“I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone” (Robin Williams, 1951-2014) A UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) study by Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman discovered that the part…

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Continue Reading
Dealing with being overwhelmed

Overcoming distraught feelings

Jonathan Mills
Personal Development

“Today is one of those days when I could restore myself to the default factory settings” (ANON) Feeling overwhelmed, weighed down by concerns and buffeted by moments of extreme anxiety seem to be a significant part of the experience of life for most people over the past few years. The uncertainty that has been created…

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Continue Reading
Servant leadership

Leadership power redefined

Jonathan Mills
Leadership

“How we walk with the broken speaks louder than how we sit with the great” (Bill Bennot) In their opening paragraph on the topic of ‘leadership’, Wikipedia notes the following: “Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organisation to “lead”, influence, or guide…

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Continue Reading
Preventing the upward career path of employees

Overcoming talent hoarding

Jonathan Mills
Organisational Effectiveness/Productivity

“Set team members free to grow within the organisation” (JNM) We all want them in our respective teams – talented people who make a remarkable impact on our team’s efficacy. These ‘stars’ are innovative, positive, future-oriented, visionary and hard-working. They make us look good. Others start noticing our respective department’s inputs and outputs and hail…

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Continue Reading

One comment on “Feedforward is a paradigm shift for leaders”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Connect with Jonathan Mills

Blog Categories

Character
Leadership
Organisational Effectiveness/Productivity
Personal Development
Podcast
Service Excellence/Delivery

Books

Subscribe to my mailing list

I'd love to send you an inspiring Stretch for Growth thought each Monday to help you get your week started on the right foot. Sign up to my mailing list and you'll also receive my ebook A to E Stretch completely free!
Subscribe to my mailing list

Connect with Jonathan Mills

Hi. I'm Jonathan Mills. Welcome to my website and blog offerings. The stories and experiences I share here come from spending the past 25 years focusing my efforts on developing people throughout Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands and elsewhere in the world. My passion for people, coupled with my desire to offer people hope, have led to me working with businesses, organisations and governments in many countries. I am passionate about stretching people, because people have the most impact when they are stretched.
  • Home
  • Stretch for Leaders
  • Stretch for Staff
  • Stretch for Facilitators
  • Blog
  • About Jonathan Mills
  • Character
  • Leadership
  • Organisational Effectiveness/Productivity
  • Personal Development
  • Service Excellence/Delivery
  • Shop
  • Cart
  • Checkout

© 2022 Stretch For Growth. All Rights Reserved.