Feedback Strategies

Focus on Feedforward 

For this week's feedback thoughts, we are supposed to learn and discuss the ideas of giving praise or non-praise in feedback comments. Before I even picked out what articles I wanted to read I know that my personal thoughts are that it is better to give some praise when providing feedback. I think making sure the reader knows that the effort they extended to complete a project should be noted and praised then constructive criticism can be given.

The first article I read was Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback by Marshall Goldsmith. What I enjoyed about in this article was that feedforward is about helping with the future. Instead of criticizing what someone did wrong in the past, which causes most people to become defensive, feedforward gives ideas for what someone can do in the future. Feedforward helps the person grow and learn so that they can change something the action for the future. Feedforward is about finding the positive actions that can help someone succeed in the future. This seems like a better way to receive feedback or feedforward.

The second article I read was Be A Mirror: Give Readers Feedback that Fosters a Growth Mindset by Gravity Goldberg. The author describes how to be a mirror when giving feedback by reflecting back without judgment. A mirror must be specific, focus on what is there, focus on the process and work, transfer it and lastly take yourself out of the feedback. The last part of the advice, removing yourself out of the feedback, I am very guilty of doing. Instead, the article says I should focus on the reader, not myself when giving feedback. I want to work on when I write comments to others not using pronouns for myself, but focusing my comments towards the person I am commenting on.

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Image: Kitten with a mirrored image of himself. Source: flickr by TD Labs

Feedback Thoughts

Learning from Feedback. 

Before I discuss the articles I read, I wanted to address what I learned from last semester in giving feedback thoughts to someone's project. I think the most worrisome thing about giving feedback comments to someone is that you do not want to hurt the writer's feelings. I always try to make sure the writer knows something positive about their writing that I enjoyed, and I think it is best to leave the positive comment at the end. That way the last thing the writer reads about in the comment is the positive and what you enjoyed their story. I also know that personally I was never offended when I was given a suggestion but annoyed when they said that everything was okay and they did not think I needed to change anything. It was not helpful for the next week when I had to do rewrites but had nothing to change or make more transparent. So even if any questions pop into your head while reading someone project it is best to let them know, they could use the information to help them later on.

The first article I read was, The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop by Ellen Jackson. Ms. Jackson talks about how as humans we are born comparing ourselves to others over everything we do; this is called social comparison. There are two ways that we social compare ourselves to other, upwards and downwards. In downwards social comparison, we compare ourselves to someone we know is doing less than ourselves to help us feel better. This is only a temporary fix, but we should focus on completing a small task to help boost ourselves as we learned about in The Psychology of Checklists: Why Setting Small Goals Motivates Us to Accomplish Bigger Things. In upward social comparison, we compare ourselves to people that are more successful than ourselves, but this could cause your spirit to deflate when you do not meet the standards of someone else. Trying to remind ourselves that when we compare our work to others to do it for motivation not to make ourselves feel better because they are doing "worse" than us.

The second article I read was, 8 Things to Do When You Make a Mistake. This article goes through eight ways to help a student feel more confident when navigating through college and trying to make it through to graduation. The first helpful advice realizes you are not alone in worrying about your experiences when you make a mistake or have trouble in class. The second is to know that many options on campus can help you get through whatever you are worried or stressed about. Third, you are going to have to adjust how you get your work done; college is something new, and it may not be easy but adjusting from what you are used to doing can be helpful in accomplishing your goal. Fourth, when you get something wrong figure out how to fix it, don't just leave it as wrong, learn from your mistakes. Fifth, find support from friends or family to help you accomplish your goals. Sixth, try to find a balance between work and play. It is essential to have some play time so that you are happy and can continue to put more effort into your work. Seventh, stay mindful. Figure out what method works best for you to accomplish your goal. And eighth, remember to be kind to yourself.

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Image: Giving feedback. Source: pixabay by geralt