Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 57 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Feedforward
— From What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith
In the last few posts, we’ve been learning how to change the habits that hold us back. Today we’ll read about another tool to help us in this area. “Feedforward is so simple I almost blush to dignify it with a name,” says executive coach and business guru Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. “Yet some of the simplest ideas are also the most effective. Since they are so easy to do, you have no excuse not to try them.”
Goldsmith points out that “Feedforward is a dramatic improvement on what we traditionally think of as feedback.” And while feedback has its merits, because “it’s a great tool for determining what happened in the past and what’s going on in an organization,” it’s no different than reading history. “It provides us with facts about the past but not necessarily ideas for the future.”
“Feedforward, on the other hand, is feedback going in the opposite direction… [it] comes in the form of ideas that you can put into practice in the future.”
Here are Goldsmith’s four simple steps to obtain feedforward:
1. Select what you want to change. “Pick the one behavior that you would like to change which would make a significant, positive difference in your life. For example, I want to be a better listener.
2. Describe and dialogue. “Describe this objective in a one-on-one dialogue with anyone you know. It could be your wife, kids, boss, best friend, or coworker. It could even be a stranger. The person you choose is irrelevant. He or she doesn’t have to be an expert on the subject… Some of the truest advice can come from strangers… And when a useful idea comes along, we don’t care who the source is.”
3. Ask. “Ask that person for two suggestions for the future that might help you achieve a positive change in your selected behavior—in this case becoming a better listener. If you’re talking to someone who knows you or who has worked with you in the past, the only ground rule is that there can be no mention of the past. Everything is about the future.”
For instance, the dialogue could go like this: “I want to be a better listener. Would you suggest two ideas that I can implement in the future that will help me become a better listener?” The other person could then suggest, “First, focus all your attention on the other person. Get in a physical position, the “listening position,” such as sitting on the edge of your seat or leaning forward toward the individual. Second, don’t interrupt, no matter how much you disagree with what you’re hearing.”
These two ideas are feedforward.
4. Listen and thank. “Listen attentively to the suggestions. Take notes if you like. Your only ground rule: You are not allowed to judge, rate, or critique the suggestions in any way. You can’t even say something positive, such as, ‘That’s a good idea.’ The only response you’re permitted is, Thank you.”
And this is it. Simple indeed. Do steps one through four. Rinse and repeat with someone else. “In seeking feedforward ideas, you’re not limited to one person… You can do feedforward with as many people as you like,” says the author.
Goldsmith swears by the effectiveness of feedforward because, he says, “Feedforward eliminates many of the obstacles that traditional feedback has created.”
So, what are those obstacles and why/how does feedforward work? Goldsmith explains that it works because while we may not like hearing criticism (negative or constructive feedback) we love getting ideas for the future. Also, it works because:
- “We can change the future but not the past.”
- “Helping people be ‘right’ is more productive than proving them ‘wrong.’ Feedback focuses on solutions, not problems.”
- “People do not take feedforward as personally as feedback. Feedforward is not seen as an insult or a putdown.”
- “[When] all we have to do is function as a listener, we can focus on [truly] hearing without having to worry about responding.”
Lastly, the author says, “I’m sure that all of us are surrounded by smart, well-meaning friends who ‘understand’ us better than we ‘understand’ ourselves. I suspect they would love to help us; most people like to help others. But they hold back because they think it’s rude or intrusive to try to help someone who has not asked for our assistance. Asking solves this.”
ACTION
TODAY: Try out asking a few people to give you feedforward. See what happens, I’m sure you’ll get some great ideas!
FUTURE: Keep this technique in mind so that when you feel stuck and want to change something you can ask for feedforward.
Know someone who would like this idea? Please share this post! Email, Facebook, Twitter. Thank you!