Most Of Us Have Been Giving Feedback The Wrong Way. Here’s How To Give Better Feedback.

“I used to think giving more feedback and better feedback was the answer, and it’s the exact opposite: How do teachers and students receive feedback? How do they interpret it?” — John Hattie

This essay makes several references to John Hattie’s Visible Learning framework, but the tips on giving better feedback are relevant in any context — at work, at home, with friends.

Switch the conversation from giving feedback to helping someone receive feedback.

The most important thing to keep in mind about feedback is that it’s not about you giving it. It’s about the other person receiving it. The key question is, does feedback help someone understand what they don’t know, what they do know, and where they go? Information about how someone is performing a task is much more helpful than mere praise or, especially, criticism. Feedback should help answer the following questions:

• Where am I going? -> What is my goal
• How am I going? -> What progress is being made toward my goal?
• Where to next? -> What actions must be taken to make further progress?

When you talk about the work, talk about the work, not the person.

If you tell somebody these are the things they should improve on, then tell them how good they were, the next day, they will remember the praise, not the actions they need to take to make further progress.

Focus the feedback on the task and not on the learner/employee/child.

Feedback should be bidirectional.

Teachers cannot answer the question of whether learning and teaching is successful on their own. They need to ask the learners what they think, because they provide crucial input.

This applies in other contexts too. Managers should ask for feedback from the people they are managing. Ask them how they are coping and what the team or the company can do to help them accomplish their tasks more efficiently / achieve better results.

Use feedback to build metacognitive skills.

Appropriate feedback can help students and employees develop awareness of their own learning. Knowing what to improve on gives them opportunities to identify their mistakes or weaknesses and encourages them to reflect on ways to course-correct or self-improve. Appropriate feedback also helps them keep an eye on their motivation level and take steps to find that inner spark when their motivation is waning.

“A culture of mistakes is an essential condition for successful feedback. Learning means making mistakes.“ — John Hattie