Feedback or Feedforward? Differences and Best Practices for High-Performance Cultures
In organizations striving to build a high-performance culture, communication is one of the most critical elements. Two fundamental concepts of this communication—feedback and feedforward—may seem similar but have important differences in their functions and impact during development processes. Understanding these differences and using both effectively is vital for successful performance management.
What Is Feedback? Creating Awareness
Feedback focuses on a person’s past behaviors or performance. Its main purpose is to raise awareness about previous actions. For example:
“During the last meeting, you spoke too fast in your presentation, which made it difficult for participants to understand the topic.”
Such feedback helps individuals understand how their behaviors are perceived and the results of their actions. Effective feedback, when non-judgmental, observation-based, specific, and timely, greatly contributes to identifying areas for improvement.
However, there are important considerations in feedback processes, especially in high-performance cultures:
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Increased Defensive Reactions: Feedback can be perceived as personal criticism, causing defensiveness.
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Focus on the Past: Constant focus on past mistakes can reduce motivation and hinder growth.
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Decreased Motivation: Repeated negative feedback may cause feelings of inadequacy and performance decline.
Therefore, feedback should be delivered empathetically and carefully, especially in individual and sensitive situations. Group feedback sessions should be managed cautiously to avoid turning into blame games.
What Is Feedforward? Focusing on the Future and Empowerment
Feedforward is a communication approach that focuses on the future, offering constructive and concrete suggestions. The goal is to guide individuals or teams on how to perform better moving forward. For instance:
“How can you adjust your presentation speed so that your audience better understands your message? What methods could you try?”
Feedforward is found to be more motivating and effective than feedback in high-performance cultures due to:
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Reduced Defensive Reactions: Future focus lowers the risk of personal offense.
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Increased Motivation: Concrete development paths inspire hope and progress.
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Solution-Oriented: Emphasizes actionable steps rather than problems.
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Strengthens Team Dynamics: Supports a culture of shared learning and collaboration, boosting team motivation.
Especially in goal-oriented performance management models like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), feedforward is a critical success factor. Questions like “What can we do better next time?” accelerate both individual and team development.
Comparison of Feedback and Feedforward: Differences in Focus, Direction, Risk, and Usage in High-Performance Cultures
The Importance of Feedforward in High-Performance Cultures
In high-performance cultures, communication focuses on continuous learning, adaptation, and progress. That’s why modern communication models such as CFR (Conversations, Feedforward, Recognition) include “F” for feedforward. Feedforward:
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Increases motivation without extra resources or budget,
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Encourages people to focus on the future and continuous development,
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Creates a positive and supportive work environment.
While feedback remains a valuable tool for raising awareness, the real driver of high-performance cultures is feedforward. Just as in personal relationships where constructive, hopeful conversations about the future build stronger bonds, future-focused communication in professional settings creates meaningful and lasting impact.
Conclusion: Feedback or Feedforward?
Both feedback and feedforward are essential communication tools for development. However, to sustain motivation and growth in high-performance cultures, feedforward should take precedence. Feedforward helps individuals and teams take concrete steps toward the future, creating hope and positive energy. Feedback, when delivered empathetically and timely, raises awareness but alone does not guarantee high performance.
Discover Our Feedforward-Focused Management Model
At Myliba, we offer management models and platform solutions centered on feedforward. To build sustainable success and a high-performance culture in your organization, contact us to learn more about our feedforward applications. Also, watch our recorded webinar on feedforward by clicking here.