When managing employee performance, you may wonder: Which really helps employees reach their full potential—constructive advice on past work or helpful suggestions for the future? Feedback or feedforward?
Think of it in terms of driving a car.
Feedback is the rearview mirror, offering a glimpse of where you’ve been.
Feedforward is the GPS, guiding you toward your destination.
Both play crucial roles in feedback loops and leveraging their unique benefits can significantly improve employee performance management in your organization.
Feedback vs. Feedforward: Which is Better for Performance Management
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Feedback?
Feedback is information about a person’s performance or behavior that is shared with them to improve performance. It can come from various sources, including managers, colleagues, customers, or oneself.
A feedback session offers a dedicated space to discuss an employee’s performance. These conversations can be constructive feedback opportunities where they can receive guidance on how to improve.
According to the People Development Report by LMS Training Platform, Eloomi, 64% of employees and 72% of leaders place considerable importance on constructive feedback.
It’s important to remember that positive or negative feedback can be equally valuable. Negative feedback can highlight past mistakes and offer lessons for the future, while positive feedback reinforces an employee’s strengths and encourages them to continue on the right path.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Feedforward?
Feedforward is a proactive approach to performance management that focuses on anticipating and addressing potential challenges or opportunities for future improvement.
Implementing feedforward involves a more collaborative process. It often begins with a feedforward assessment, where individuals or teams identify their goals and aspirations.
It not only helps individuals develop professionally but also reinforces positive interpersonal relationships by encouraging a culture of support and growth.
Summarize this article for me pleaseKey Differences Between Feedback and Feedforward
Understanding the key differences between feedback vs. feedforward will help you design a better process for evaluating performance in your organization. Both are valuable concepts but serve distinct purposes and offer unique benefits.
| Feature | Feedback | Feedforward |
| Focus | Past performance | Future potential |
| Purpose | Evaluate, assess | Anticipate, guide |
| Methods | Performance reviews, 360-degree feedback | Coaching, mentoring, feedforward leadership |
| Approach | Reactive | Proactive |
| Benefits | Identify strengths and weaknesses | Develop skills, achieve goals |
Feedback is primarily concerned with providing information about past performance. It helps individuals and teams understand their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
In contrast, feedforward is future-oriented, focusing on anticipating and addressing potential challenges or opportunities. Feedforward leadership involves creating a supportive environment where individuals feel empowered to seek guidance and develop their potential.
Examples of feedback
There’s positive feedback—patting someone on the back for a job well done, and then there’s constructive criticism—letting them know what’s missing and how they can fix it going forward. Let’s read some examples of each type.
Positive feedback
- Specific: “I really appreciated how you handled the difficult client yesterday. Your calm and professional demeanor diffused the situation effectively.”
- Encouraging: “Your creative ideas for the new marketing campaign are really refreshing. Keep thinking outside the box!”
- Appreciative: “Thank you for going the extra mile to complete the project on time. Your dedication is invaluable to the team.”
Constructive criticism
- Specific: “While your presentation was informative, I think it could be more engaging if you used visuals to break up the text.”
- Solution-focused: “Instead of focusing on the negatives, try highlighting the positive aspects of the situation. This will help build a more positive team dynamic.”
- Future-oriented: “I believe you have the potential to become a great leader. Consider taking a leadership course to develop your skills further.”
💡Pro Tips:
- Be specific: Vague feedback serves very little purpose. Pick one or two areas and focus on them
- Be timely: Provide feedback as soon as possible after the event to encourage reflection and behavior change/reinforcement
- Be constructive: Focus on the behavior, not the person
- Be respectful: Maintain a positive and professional tone
- Be open to feedback: Be willing to receive feedback and use it to improve
Examples of feedforward
Here are some examples of feedforward:
- Instead of: “You spoke too quickly during the presentation.”
Try: “Next time, try slowing down your pace to allow for better comprehension.”
- Instead of: “Your report was poorly organized!”
Try: “Consider using a clear outline or headings to improve the structure of your next report.”
- Instead of: “You didn’t meet the deadline.”
Try: “To avoid future delays, try breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable steps and setting realistic deadlines.”
💡Pro Tips:
- Focus on the future: Aim to provide actionable advice for future improvement without being overly critical of the past
- Be specific: Clearly identify the behavior or action that needs improvement
- Be positive: Frame your feedback in a constructive and supportive manner
- Avoid blame: Focus on the behavior, not the person
- Offer solutions: Suggest specific strategies or techniques to help the person improve
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhy Switch from Feedback to Feedforward?
Switching from feedback to feedforward can revolutionize how teams communicate and grow. Here’s why you should take the leap:
Benefit #1: Feedforward is future-oriented
Feedforward focuses on future possibilities, not past mistakes. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, it emphasizes actionable suggestions, allowing individuals to envision and strive for their best selves rather than judge themselves for getting things wrong.
Benefit #2: Feedforward is not judgmental
Unlike traditional feedback, which can feel like a critique, feedforward creates a supportive environment of psychological safety. It encourages open dialogue without the weight of judgment, making it easier for team members to share ideas and strategies without fear.
Benefit #3: Feedforward helps you discover leaders in your team
When you encourage feedforward, you create space for hidden talents to shine. Team members naturally step up to offer insights, revealing potential leaders who might otherwise remain unnoticed.
Benefit #4: Feedforward encourages growth
Feedforward inspires continuous development. Focusing on improvement rather than past shortcomings cultivates a culture of learning, where mistakes are seen as stepping stones to success.
Benefit #5: Feedforward promotes psychological safety and open communication
This approach promotes an atmosphere of trust and openness. Team members feel safe to express their thoughts and ideas, knowing they’ll be met with encouragement rather than criticism.
Summarize this article for me pleaseEssential Components of Feedforward
Feedforward, a proactive approach to performance management, is a powerful catalyst for growth and development. It’s more than just a tool; it’s a strategic investment in your team’s success.
Here’s why:
Component #1: Feedforward regenerates talent
Unlike feedback, which often focuses on past mistakes, feedforward looks ahead, identifying potential challenges and providing guidance for future improvement. It allows employees to take ownership of their development and use their full potential.
Component #2: Feedforward expands possibilities
Focusing on future goals and aspirations, feedforward helps individuals and teams explore new opportunities and overcome limitations. It encourages a mindset of growth and innovation.
📌 Example:
An employee expresses interest in moving into a leadership role but feels underqualified. The manager uses feedforward to identify future skills and experiences that would help—such as leading a small project team. This guidance opens new pathways and encourages the employee to start building relevant experience now.
Component #3: Feedforward is particular
Effective feedforward is tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual or team. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach but rather a personalized roadmap for success.
Component #4: Feedforward is authentic
To be truly effective, feedforward must be delivered with authentic communication. Avoid using negative connotations and focus on providing constructive guidance and support.
A recent experiment on performance management by Kognoz, a technology-driven people consulting company, found that when managers focus on continuous inputs and coaching—or feedforward—it can improve employees’ sense of fairness about their performance by up to 30%.
Component #5: Feedforward makes an impact
Implementing feedforward can significantly impact employee morale, productivity, and overall performance. It fosters a positive work environment and encourages a culture of continuous learning.
Component #6: Feedforward refines team dynamic
By promoting open communication, collaboration, and mutual respect, feedforward can strengthen team dynamics and improve teamwork. It helps create a more cohesive and supportive work environment where individuals feel valued, empowered, and motivated to contribute their best.
Summarize this article for me pleaseSteps to Conduct a Feedforward Assessment
Organizations are constantly seeking innovative ways to enhance employee performance and drive growth. Feedforward is one such assessment that anticipates and addresses future challenges by leveraging employee feedback tools.
But how do you bring your team and these tools together in one platform? The answer is–with ClickUp, a productivity and task management software, of course!
Here’s how you can build and implement a feedforward performance assessment system using ClickUp:
1. Set clear goals and expectations
Setting clear goals and expectations is the first step for conducting a feedforward assessment. When goals are well-defined, feedforward can be tailored to align with specific objectives, making the guidance actionable and relevant. Clear expectations also help employees understand what success looks like and identify the precise skills or behaviors they need to develop.
With ClickUp Goals, employees can connect their objectives directly to their work by creating trackable goals with clear timelines, measurable targets, and automatic progress monitoring. This means that everyone can see not only what their goals are but also a detailed roadmap for how they plan to achieve them.
Some of the ways ClickUp Goals can provide inputs for your feedforward assessment include:
- Numerical targets: Set specific numerical goals for a clear sense of progress
- Task completions: Define tasks that contribute directly to achieving your objectives
- True/false or currency goals: Simplify complex goals into straightforward, trackable outcomes
2. Listen to your employees and collaborate with them
To truly harness the power of feedforward, it’s essential to provide feedback and suggestions with proper context.
ClickUp Chat offers a convenient and collaborative platform to facilitate such open communication while maintaining the context of your employees’ work.
For example, say your team is working on a memo in ClickUp Docs. While you can collaborate with them and share one-way feedback in real-time right within Docs, ClickUp Chat offers you a space to make the conversation more inclusive.
All Spaces in ClickUp can have their dedicated Chat, making it easy to access your Folders, Lists, Tasks, and attachments for that Space without toggling screens. You and your team can pull the memo up in the Chat window to review it, brainstorm ideas via instant messages, share suggestions, and make changes immediately with collaboration detection in ClickUp.
You can also use FollowUps in ClickUp Chat to assign messages containing feedforward remarks to relevant team members—and ensure the feedforward is heeded each time you work on a similar project.
Talk and work in sync—that’s the idea!
3. Plan your feedforward assessment
Planning your feedforward assessment requires a proactive approach, focusing on future development rather than past performance:
- Start by identifying key areas where improvement is needed—this could be based on previous feedback, recurring challenges, or future goals
- Establish specific, measurable objectives (SMART goals) that align with these areas that target immediate skills or processes and long-term growth opportunities
- Incorporate regular check-ins rather than waiting for a formal review, ensuring ongoing guidance and adjustment
- Break down large goals into smaller, actionable steps with deadlines to maintain progress
- Engage stakeholders—managers, mentors, or peers—to offer constructive insights during the process, ensuring alignment and relevance
4. Conduct the assessment
Conducting a feedforward assessment focuses on replacing positive reinforcement of past actions with forward-looking solutions. Instead of dwelling on past mistakes, it emphasizes what can be done to improve moving forward.
Here are key tips to conduct the feedforward assessment:
- Be specific and actionable: Offer objective advice that outlines clear, achievable steps. For example: “Next time, try organizing your tasks using a priority matrix to manage deadlines more effectively.”
- Encourage employee involvement: Involve the individual in the conversation by asking for their input on goals and areas they want to improve. For example: “What skills would you like to strengthen over the next quarter, and how can we help you get there?”
- Stay solution-oriented: Instead of offering a feedback fix, concentrate on growth opportunities and how they can leverage their strengths to overcome challenges. For example: “Let’s explore how you can use automation tools for repetitive tasks.”
- Set clear expectations: Provide measurable goals or milestones to ensure the person has a roadmap for professional growth and can track progress after the assessment. For example: “By the end of the month, how about you aim to complete three projects independently to build confidence and speed?”
- Maintain positivity: Frame the conversation in a way that inspires confidence, emphasizing potential rather than shortcomings. For example: “You’ve done great work so far—let’s now focus on refining your presentation skills to better showcase your impact.”
5. Take action on areas that need improvement
Taking action on areas that need improvement through a feedforward assessment requires a shift from traditional methods like the feedback sandwich method to more dynamic approaches.
Instead of masking criticism with praise, embrace feedforward leadership by providing clear, actionable insights that drive change.
Start with feedforward communication, where the focus is entirely on what can be done differently moving forward.
Encourage self-assessment as well, asking individuals how they think they can improve while guiding them with tailored suggestions.
💡Pro Tip: Use the Start-Stop-Continue method to conduct a feedforward assessment. In this method, employees are asked to reflect on their past performance and identify things they should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. This is one of many methods to provide targeted guidance and support to employees for future development.
You can use free start-stop-continue templates to put this method into action.
6. Evaluate the results of the feedforward assessment
Using ClickUp Dashboards to evaluate results in feedforward assessments transforms data into meaningful insights with remarkable efficiency.
Here’s how:
- Track key metrics: Build and use custom dashboards to visualize metrics like task completion rates, time spent on tasks, and project milestones
- Monitor individual progress: Create dashboards to track individual team members’ performance, including their workload, task priorities, and time management
- Schedule regular reviews: Use ClickUp’s Automations and Recurring Tasks to schedule regular check-ins and feedback sessions
- Track feedback and action items: Create dedicated sections on dashboards to track feedback given and received, as well as action items generated from these discussions
- Identify trends and patterns: Analyze historical data on dashboards to identify trends and patterns in team performance
- Set goals and track progress: Use dashboards to set specific goals for team members and track their progress towards these goals
Summarize this article for me pleaseTools to Provide Feedback and Feedforward
Not just feedforward assessment, you can conduct feedback sessions as a part of your performance management besides assigning tasks, collaborating in real-time, creating a great work culture, and more with ClickUp!
Here’s how you execute your performance management strategy effortlessly:
1. Capture and take action on feedback
Using ClickUp Forms to capture feedback is not just about gathering information; it’s about driving action and enabling feedforward assessments that propel your team toward continuous improvement.
With their customizable design, Forms make it easy to collect relevant feedback from team members, clients, or stakeholders, ensuring that every response is directed to the right person at the right time.
ClickUp Forms’ conditional logic feature allows you to create a single form that adapts based on prior selections, simplifying the completion process.
For instance, if a user indicates they are providing feedback on a specific product, the form will automatically display only the relevant questions related to that product, making it not only easier to fill out but also more efficient in capturing precise information.
Once the feedback is collected, it can be instantly routed to trackable tasks, allowing your team to take quick action on the insights received.
2. Practice collaborative editing and note-taking during feedback sessions
Using ClickUp Docs for collaborative editing and note-taking during feedforward assessments turns a traditionally static process into a dynamic, real-time collaboration hub.
Enable your teams to create and edit beautiful, structured documents with features like nested pages, tables, and templates—ideal for building comprehensive roadmaps or knowledge bases central to feedforward assessments.
During a feedforward assessment session, team members can contribute to the same document simultaneously, offering feedback, adding observations, or highlighting improvement areas in real-time.
3. Assign tasks and leave comments to provide ongoing feedforward
ClickUp Tasks and ClickUp Assigned Comments offer a powerful combination for providing ongoing feedforward and ensuring that your team acts on it promptly.
By breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable components and assigning specific comments to team members, you can provide targeted guidance and ensure everyone knows their responsibilities.
Moreover, by customizing task status and setting priority levels for each task, you can quickly identify and prioritize tasks that require immediate attention. This helps ensure that feedback is addressed promptly and that your team remains focused on achieving their goals.
4. Record audio or video feedback for detailed feedforward
ClickUp Clips offer an innovative way to provide instant feedback or feedforward—by recording your screen, webcam, and voiceover. This often makes communication faster, clearer, and more actionable than relying solely on written messages and lengthy documents.
Whether you’re sharing insights on a project or offering suggestions for improvement, Clips lets you move conversations forward effortlessly—without the need to type out long explanations.
5. Automate feedback loops to ensure continuous improvement
ClickUp Automations can automate feedback loops to create a culture of continuous improvement, making it effortless for teams to stay aligned and responsive.
With ClickUp Brain, automating feedback loops becomes as easy as describing what you need in plain English.
For instance, simply tell the AI what you want to automate—whether it’s prompting a reminder to share feedback after a task is marked Complete, assigning follow-up/remedial tasks after feedback is received, notifying stakeholders of updates, or adjusting project statuses—and watch as it instantly configures the workflow across any Space, Folder, or List in ClickUp.
Don’t know where to start? Use the ClickUp Employee Feedback Template to manage, visualize, and track company-wide employee feedback in one place.
The ClickUp Employee Feedback Template is designed to help teams gather valuable insights on management, corporate culture, compensation, perks, and the work environment.
This template simplifies collecting and analyzing employee feedback, cultivating a culture of growth and trust.
You can:
- Get started quickly, using the helpful tips and instructions in the ‘Start Here View’
- Easily track who has submitted feedback with the ‘All Respondents View’
- Create, update, and manage survey questions with ‘The Employee Feedback Survey View’
Summarize this article for me pleaseUse ClickUp for End-To-End Performance Management
Feedback and feedforward are both powerful concepts for growth and improvement. Feedback focuses on reflecting on past performance, identifying areas for adjustment, and learning from past actions.
Feedforward is forward-looking, emphasizing potential improvements and actionable suggestions for the future.
Both approaches are beneficial: feedback grounds us in invaluable lessons from the past, while feedforward pushes us toward innovation and motivates continuous progress.
With ClickUp, teams can seamlessly integrate both strategies into their workflows. From gathering feedback via Forms and tracking progress with Automations to planning future actions through collaborative Chat, Docs, and Clips, it’s an ideal tool for managing and supercharging organizational performance.
Try it for yourself—sign up to ClickUp today!
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