Feedback

Hand­out of this page: PDF Ver­sion

Feedback Essentials
  • Goal-ref­er­enced
    • Effec­tive feed­back requires that a per­son has a goal, takes action to achieve the goal, and receives goal-relat­ed infor­ma­tion about his or her actions.
  • Tan­gi­ble and trans­par­ent
    • Any use­ful feed­back sys­tem involves not only a clear goal, but also tan­gi­ble results relat­ed to the goal.
  • Action­able
    • Effec­tive feed­back is con­crete, spe­cif­ic, and use­ful; it pro­vides action­able infor­ma­tion. (Judge­ment vs. obser­va­tion)
  • User-Friend­ly
    • Even if feed­back is spe­cif­ic and accu­rate in the eyes of experts or bystanders, it is not of much val­ue if the user can­not under­stand it or is over­whelmed by it.
  • Time­ly (not nec­es­sar­i­ly imme­di­ate)
    • In most cas­es, the soon­er I get feed­back, the bet­ter.
  • Ongo­ing
    • Adjust­ing our per­for­mance depends on not only receiv­ing feed­back but also hav­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to use it.
  • Con­sis­tent
    • Clear­ly, per­form­ers can only adjust their per­for­mance suc­cess­ful­ly if the infor­ma­tion fed back to them is sta­ble, accu­rate, and trust­wor­thy.

“The most ubiq­ui­tous form of eval­u­a­tion, grad­ing, is so much a part of the school land­scape that we eas­i­ly over­look its utter use­less­ness as action­able feed­back. Grades are here to stay, no doubt—but that does­n’t mean we should rely on them as a major source of feed­back.” (Grant Wig­gins)

Feedback vs. Criticism
  • Crit­i­cism is focused on what we don’t want; feed­back is focused on what we want.
  • Crit­i­cism is focused on the past; feed­back is focused on the future.
  • Crit­i­cism is focused on weak­ness; feed­back helps to build up strengths.
  • Crit­i­cism deflates; feed­back inspires.
  • Crit­i­cism says, “You are the prob­lem.” Feed­back says, “We can make this bet­ter.”
Quick Tips for Offering Feedback
  • Remain objec­tive
  • Deper­son­al­ize feed­back
  • Avoid inflam­ma­to­ry lan­guage
  • Offer solu­tions
  • Base feed­back on expectations/standard of excel­lence (not per­fec­tion)
  • Relate to your per­son­al expe­ri­ence
  • Keep it pos­i­tive!
Quick Tips for Receiving Feedback
  • Don’t take it per­son­al­ly
  • Active­ly lis­ten to feed­back
  • Remind your­self of the pur­pose of feed­back
  • Ana­lyze feed­back
  • Pre­pare a plan to imple­ment valid sug­ges­tions