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Have you ever received feedback that made your heart jump out of your chest? Your body heat up like an inferno? Your stomach knot up like a Bavarian pretzel?
Have you ever received feedback that made you beam with delight? Caused you to feel like you're “walking on sunshine”? Made you get that fluttery feeling in your stomach?
In education, we constantly take in and provide feedback to others. It is an essential component of the learning process. Years ago, my admin team received feedback from an anonymous survey given to every teacher, student, and parent. With all three stakeholders, there were some positives 👍 and some negatives 😣. The positives let us know what we were doing right and what we could build upon while the negatives caused some of us to go down the rabbit hole of excuses.
Some blamed the participant(s) for providing less than glowing words. Even though some of the feedback stung, I tried to remove myself emotionally from it and look at it objectively. What I found were ways we could build upon our school culture. I’ve continued to use this approach throughout my time as an administrator and have learned and grown in ways I know I wouldn’t have if I tried to justify criticisms.
In this week’s post, we’ll first explore the purpose of feedback, reflecting on some learning theories. With some of my personal experiences sprinkled in, I’ll then share the Feedforward Framework which I have developed over the past eight years. By the end of this post, you’ll be able to follow this framework and use feedback to move forward, growing and improving along the way.
What’s the Purpose of Feedback?
In the fall of 2019, I had the incredible opportunity to see Jimmy Casas speak at my local intermediate unit. He was highlighting some of the major takeaways from his book, Culturize (if you haven’t read this, I recommend it along with Recalibrate the Culture).
While there were numerous takeaways from this workshop, one point in particular that stuck with me was his declaration that you should not have to give anonymous surveys to get feedback. If you have to, then something is seriously wrong with your culture.
I agree with him that the anonymous survey should become an obsolete practice. However, the anonymous survey acts as a protective barrier to those who feel vulnerable or may have had negative experiences with providing honest feedback. Regardless, a survey is one way you can acquire feedback to plan forward.
However you get feedback, whether it's in the classroom, in an evaluation, during an impromptu one-on-one, or through an anonymous survey, it is a major part of the learning process (Jonassen, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978).
For Vygotsky (1978), learning can occur in two ways: 1) actual development which is essentially what someone can achieve on their own, and 2) potential development or the zone of proximal development which is only possible with the assistance of a mentor or in collaboration with peers. As such, there are both social and individual factors that impact knowledge acquisition (Palincsar, 1998; Vygotsky, 1978).
Feedback is a social process grounded in dialogue between individuals. Because of that, relationships impact feedback (Price et al., 2011), which is one of the reasons why you should develop relationships before you start giving a ton of feedback. If you do not have a relationship with the individual, the feedback will not stick. It will be like throwing raw spaghetti at the wall. Besides making a mess, you're going to be frustrated that it isn’t working.
Weiner (1968) proclaims that one of the primary purposes of feedback is to change outcomes or outputs. One way to look at feedback is as a means of controlling or changing some system that is currently in place. Ideally, individuals will provide feedback to encourage learning. This learning occurs when the feedback initiates an actual change (Wiener, 1968).
To put it simply, feedback should encourage sensemaking and ultimately inspire growth, change, and learning.
The Feedforward Framework
The main premise around the Feedforward Framework is that when we receive feedback, we take that input and use it to fuel our future actions. We look to improve our current condition, taking in the input (feedback) to change our outputs (future performance).
So you might be asking, how should you as an individual take in feedback? When someone asks you a question to get you thinking about what you’re doing, what should the next steps be? When someone tells you something that you might not want to hear, how can you manage that? Begin by following this framework:
1. Q-TIP
No, this isn’t something you use in your ear. It stands for Quit Taking It Personally. I heard this acronym years ago on a podcast. It has stuck with me. This mantra can help when you get feedback that you might not necessarily like. It can help ground you and help you see the bigger picture.
Sometimes, those who give us feedback, especially the kind we don’t like, can be venomous in their language and/or tone. You have to have the personal fortitude to dig beyond the venom to find any golden gems even though they may be covered in grime.
Just because someone doesn’t communicate effectively doesn’t mean we should completely ignore what they have to say. Listen patiently. Take a deep breath. Try to understand that the person giving you less than stellar feedback could have their own baggage they are carrying that makes them an ineffective communicator.
The Q-TIP mantra will help you hear those individuals’ feedback while also preserving your dignity.
2. Lead with Curiosity
Curiosity isn’t just for the little monkey, George. Being curious and asking questions, as long as it is done respectfully and not meant to undermine the person giving you feedback, can help you delve into feedback and gain a better understanding. Lead with an open mind when someone is sharing with you and again, don’t take it personally.
Questions as simple as, “Can you tell me more about that?” can be just the nudge they need to further clarify and contextualize their observations and suggestions. You could also use questions that allow you to lean into their expertise such as, “What would you think if I …..?” or “What has been particularly helpful for you when …..?”
Also, consider reaching out to others about the feedback you’ve received. Find individuals who will be honest with you and willing to collaborate as you grow and learn.
If you are willing to mull around in the feedback, churning and learning with curiosity and questions, then what you find could be invaluable and assist you in planning forward.
3. Plan Forward
Whenever I move into the planning phase, I try to first look for themes. If you are synthesizing a survey, this can be particularly helpful. Just put on your researcher hat and start the coding process!
Even if you do not have an inordinate amount of feedback from a survey, you can still reflect and look for common threads. Perhaps the feedback all relates to one central area that you need to focus on. If this is the case, then work to create an action plan moving forward.
After you’ve done your reflection, start thinking about what you need to do to improve or grow in those areas. For the survey data my admin team and I received, I took the common threads and started proposing actionable items for us to remedy our areas of growth.
Whatever you create, keep it to a few focused items. Once you accomplish those items, you can always go back to the data and complete another iteration of this process.
4. Implement
Now for the fun part! It’s time to implement! You’ve reflected, developed your plan, and now are ready to charge full steam ahead into your growth and learning. When you decide to implement, I would recommend you keep the feedback that drove your action plan at the forefront of your mind. You can even write reflective blurbs as you move through your plan to ensure you are addressing the feedback.
You might even want to bring some friends along for the ride. Working closely with a professional learning community (PLC) or just a peer or two can be helpful for your growth and development as you reflect and engage in dialogue with them about the action plan.
5. Reflect & Get More Feedback!
Once you’ve implemented your plan, it is time to do some more reflection and get more feedback! Ideally, you’d want to work with the same individual who gave you the feedback but if that is not possible, lean into that PLC of yours.
I also recommend giving another survey. To ensure validity and reliability, I would suggest you use the same initial survey. Then, see what the difference is between the two surveys. If there is a positive change, then you’ve reached Valhalla!
If there isn’t a positive change, then it is back to the drawing board. 🙂
One Last Thought
Stephen Covey once said, “It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it.” My hope for anyone reading this post is that the next time someone gives you feedback, whether it is positive, negative, or meh, you take the time to immerse yourself in that feedback and use it to feedforward.
Doing this work is not easy or for the faint of heart. And what you may find could totally rock your world. f you give yourself the opportunity and grace to learn from that feedback, then you will be wise like the great Stephen Covey.
References
Jonassen, D. H. (1991). Evaluating constructivist learning. Educational Technology, 31(9), 28–33.
Palincsar, A. S. (1998). Social constructivist perspectives on teaching and learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 49(1), 345–375.
Price, M., Handley, K., & Millar, J. (2011). Feedback: Focusing attention on engagement. Studies in Higher Education, 36(8), 879–896.
Vygotsky, Lev (1978). Mind in Society. London: Harvard University Press.
Wiener, N. (1968). The human use of human beings: Cybernetics and society. London: Sphere.
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