Aug 122 min read

The Purposes of Feedback

What is the purpose of your feedback? This should be your first question when preparing a feedback conversation. Your feedback purpose can better frame your feedback structure to achieve optimum results.

Feedback has three purposes -

One purpose of performance feedback is to reinforce or encourage good behavior. If my teammate creates a well-organized, detailed, and timely report, I might show appreciation by giving positive performance feedback to reinforce the desired behavior. In this scenario, I may clarify the encouraging feedback by stating what behavior, action, or attitude I want to reinforce and why that is important. For example, I might say, "Franceska, the graph you included in the report yesterday allowed me to understand the data to make an informed decision." Now, Franceska knows what to do to get another good job. She might also think of other ways to present data in the future.

Another purpose of feedback is to correct undesired behavior. If Franceska completes the report late, it needs details and better organization; I may give corrective feedback that looks like this. I'll seek understanding first, then clearly discuss what is undesired behavior and why it is undesired. After that, I'll discuss with Franceska what a better behavior may be and clarify - cast a vision – why that is the more desired behavior. This second "why" is often forgotten - this is where you can cast a vision of why this alternative behavior is better and create more buy-in.

A final purpose of performance feedback is to coach or improve upon behavior. Suppose Franceska does the report on time, and it is complete but needs better organization; my coaching conversation might look like this. In that case, I'll seek understanding and then discuss with Franceska what was somewhat effective and why it was somewhat effective. I want to be clear about what behaviors I want to encourage versus coach. I can then enter into a productive conversation with Franceska about what adjusted, tweaked, and shifted behaviors for improved outcomes, and then we'll discuss why that is more desired.

A corrective conversation has a foundation of a causal analysis - this is the cause of a problem or challenge that needs to be addressed. A coaching conversation consists of value engineering. What is good now? How can we continuously elevate the performance? Coaching performance feedback builds from an existing foundation of desired behavior.

The purpose of your feedback impacts the approach in which we deliver our feedback, so here's what I want you to do: look at the feedback you give to your team and determine the purpose of your feedback today.