week 4 discussion questions

profilemsmccleydoe1

Discussion 1: Shared Practice: Feed Forward Activity

Giving and receiving feedback in a formal performance appraisal can be a task that managers consider unpleasant and employees view as unhelpful. The added paperwork, the challenges of appropriately incentivizing performance with pay or promotion, the lack of actionable feedback given or received: all of these cause managers and their charges to view traditional feedback paradigms with cynicism and skepticism. Is there another way to integrate feedback into the workplace without dampening enthusiasm?

On his website, Marshall Goldsmith discusses some of the limitations of traditional feedback: “it focuses on the past, on what has already occurred—not on the infinite variety of opportunities that can happen in the future. As such, feedback can be limited and static, as opposed to expansive and dynamic” (Goldsmith, 2002). In response to the many limitations he identifies in the feedback process, he has developed an alternative: feedforward. In this Shared Practice, you will have the opportunity to experiment with the feedforward method and examine its potential effectiveness.

Before you begin your Discussion review the Activity on feedforward found in the Goldsmith article from this week’s Resources.

Then think about your goals and consider three questions:

  • What should I stop doing?
  • What could I start doing?
  • What might I want to do differently?

Finally, consider the benefits, implications, or consequences to stopping, starting, or changing the behaviors you thought about.

Post by Day 2 a description of one behavior that you would like to change in your professional lifeone that significantly impacts how you manage or relate to othersand briefly describe this behavior in your post.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ posts.

Respond by Day 3 to two colleagues, preferably ones that have yet to receive a response, in the following way:

  • Provide two suggestions on something your colleague can do in the future to positively change the behavior. Provide rationale for your suggestions based on your experience and the Learning Resources for the week.
  • Note: All suggestions are to be phrased as feed forward and should not deal with the past. Do your best to provide meaningful advice and remember not to comment on the advice given to you by your colleagues, other than to thank the other party.

Post by Day 5, create a new post that describes your experience using feed forward. Explain how you might use this tool as a manager in your current organization or in the future, as well as the potential challenges or limitations you see in using the feed forward technique.

Click on the Reply button below to reveal the textbox for entering your message. Then click on the Submit button to post your message.

    • 9 years ago
    • 12
    Answer(1)

    Purchase the answer to view it

    blurred-text
    NOT RATED
    • attachment
      feed_forward_activity.docx