Feedforward

Holding a Year-End Review Assessment Conversation With Your Employee

Feedforward is Solution-Oriented, Practical, and Actionable

Feedforward helps people envision and focus on creating a positive, future-focused approach to moving ahead rather than concentrating on oversights of the past.

1. Reinforce what is working.
   Identify and share the positives you’ve observed. Look for both execution (“Your ideas were very well organized.”) and intention (“The approach you chose to take was well thought out.”). When you provide positive reinforcement to behaviors, you are likely to see more of them in the future.
2. Coach, don’t criticize.
   See mistakes or failures as opportunities to teach and inspire better performance in the future. Coaching is about supporting learning opportunities with positive emotions.
3. Provide ideas for “next time.”
   Consider the difference between these two statements:
   • “You had far too many slides for a 10-minute presentation. You only needed half as many.” (Feedback)
   • “Next time you present, I’d recommend trying to cut down the number of slides. I use one slide per minute as a helpful guideline.” (Feedforward)

To accelerate learning and improve performance, try minimizing negative emotion inherent in feedback by focusing on the future rather than on the past.

To Do:
✓ Feedforward for positive momentum and growth

1. Reinforce what’s working
2. Coach, don’t criticize
3. Provide ideas for “next time”