Learning About Feedback Two

 

Giving criticism and receiving feedback is how people learn from there mistakes, however, how this advice is given will dictate just how much someone is going to learn from it. Likewise, learning how to receive advice is equally, if not more important. There are two articles that come to mind when thinking about these topics:

 

1)         “To err is human – and a powerful prelude to learning”, By Claudia Williams,

To err is human - and a powerful prelude to learning (hechingerreport.org)

 

2)       “Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback”, By Marshall Goldsmith.

Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback - MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

 

In the first article, “To err is human – and a powerful prelude to learning”, by Claudia Williams, she makes an argument about how making mistakes is a part of learning as opposed to having done something correctly the first time. There is research into the subject that Williams points out that shows that when students are confident in their answers, but wrong, these are classified as positive mistakes. Correcting them and reassuring that their answer was a confident error will help them retain the information in the long run. This is interesting because a lot of times when students are wrong, there is never any feedback, which is detrimental to learning. Moreover, the article brings another interesting article, from Carol Dweck’s, Growth Mindset, which talks about how a lot of the US education system is resistant to errors and responding to their progress, and that halts students learning. One last interesting concept that this article shows, is just how different other countries approach this idea. Japan for example, encourages students to explore errors, which in term helps create healthier and more productive mindsets around errors.

 

In "Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback," Marshall Goldsmith brings up this concept of Feedforward, which highlights some concepts such as, but not limited to; being productive and positive will negate being defensive, having more objective advice then personal criticism, and people will listen to feedforward, then they will feedback. But what exactly is this “feedforward”? Giving feedforward is better for enhancing communication and foster a more direct approach to be positive. The article also does a good point in bringing up how being forward with people in a way that doesn’t make them align their self-image, since people are prone to do that. Nevertheless, the article is good at highlighting how this is a good skill to possess. From management, or giving feedback to your peers, being feedforward is more productive than giving feedback.

 

In my own opinion, I think that this is solid advice. For instance, a lot of time being defensive, like what Goldsmith brought up, is a natural response to being told “you are wrong”. I think that leading with a positive remark, or re-evaluating with acknowledging the positive mistakes, aid in a growth centric mindset. Moreover, I think that being able to acknowledge this will help me grow in being able to give more positive constructive criticism. Lastly, I think the most important part of giving feedback is being able to take it and use it and grow from it.

Comments

  1. Trenton ThompsonOctober 16, 2024 at 2:32 AM

    I think you made a very good point when you said, "Learning how to receive advice is equally, if not more important." I think it is important to learn how to take someone's advice without taking offense to it as well. I believe advice can be very important in playing a key role in someone's development, whether that be in storytelling or just life in general. If we are too closed off to advice or criticism, we will never be able to learn and hone in our craft. I also agree that some people might take advice as someone telling them they are wrong, and that is where they get defensive, like you mentioned. It is good to stand up for yourself, but it is also good to be humble enough to take someone's advice, because it might be life changing.

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