Leadership effectiveness - The feedback series, Part 1.

Feed Up

Feedback is a serious needle mover.

Like all learning, it relies on high quality relationships to underpin the challenging nature of its role in growth. There are ways of doing anything that yield better results than others. The insights I will share through this series draw heavily on the work and research by Professor John Hattie, Professor Helen Timperley and work I undertook alongside Dr Luke Mandouit, integrating their research on feedback into our organisation. While their focus has been on the learning of children, they have also proven to be highly effective as andragogical tools that other leaders and I have implemented successfully when developing the capabilities of frontline staff and leaders at all levels.

When I decided I wanted to write an article on feedback, I thought it would be quick and easy. I delved into my research and resources and discovered there is so much to cover. My article got longer and longer. So, I’ve decided to break it up into a series of 4 articles – the feedback series.

Why do I share this? Because this is where I am starting: Feed Up.

According to the research, effective feedback is not simple. There are three types and 4 levels of depth. When used strategically, you stand to take the damaging, performance reducing effects of poor feedback and replace it with the performance multiplier of outstanding feedback.

Feed up

Feed up is the first and essential phase of effective feedback. It answers the foundational learning question:

“Where am I going?”

It clarifies the objective and purpose of the work. Without this clarity, feedback has little impact because people cannot judge their progress or determine their next steps.

Feed up is about establishing goal clarity. It ensures that people understand their goal, what success looks like, how it will be judged and what makes the goal matter. Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on improvement, but only when it is anchored to clear goals. When explored effectively, feed up provides direction and purpose, reduces ambiguity about expectations and enables self-awareness.

Importantly, without feed up, feedback becomes evaluative rather than growth oriented.

So, what makes feed up effective?

• Transparency – clearly communicated and revisited

• Shared – co-constructed or deeply understood by both parties

• Challenging – appropriately stretching

• Referenced – used continuously, not just at the start of a growth phase

Feed up is most powerful when people can articulate their goal themselves and recognise what quality looks like before they begin or while they are learning.

A final thought

If feedback is the engine of learning, then feed up is the steering wheel.

It sets direction, establishes the destination and defines what success looks like. Only when we know where we are going can feedback meaningfully help us judge our progress and decide what to do next.

In this way, feed up is not a preliminary step to feedback - it is the anchor that gives feedback its power.

Lead on. Lead Well

Roland

Keen to connect?

Email me at roland@rolandlewiscoaching.com

Or you can find me on LinkedIn:

Roland Lewis | LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/roland-lewis-coaching-and-consulting