---
title: "Feedforward: How to Have a Feedforward Discussion | PPS International"
description: What feedforward is, how it differs from feedback and how to hold a feedforward discussion, with an example agenda and a guide for talent development teams.
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# Feedforward: How to Have a Feedforward Discussion
Feedforward is a conversation about the future. Instead of describing what someone did, you ask for suggestions about what they could do next time. Marshall Goldsmith popularized the practice as an alternative to feedback \[1\], and it has become one of the simplest tools we teach in our [communication and influence](https://www.ppsinternational.net/communication-influence) work, because most people can do it well with very little practice. This page shares the two-minute video in which we explain the distinction between feedback and feedforward and walk through an example agenda. It then goes further: what feedforward is and is not, how to hold the discussion, examples from the workplace and, for talent development professionals, how to build feedforward into a manager population.
If you lead talent development, the section on building feedforward across your managers is toward the end. If you are a manager or team member who wants to use it tomorrow, start with the video and the agenda.
In this video, we share the distinction between feedback and feedforward, a process originated by Marshall Goldsmith, and we provide an example of what a feedforward agenda might sound like.
## What is feedforward?
Feedforward is a request for ideas about the future. A person names one behavior they want to improve, asks others for two suggestions that might help, listens without commenting and says thank you. The question changes from 'How did I do?' to 'What could I do better next time?', and the request is for input rather than evaluation. Feedforward also helps align intention and impact: what you meant to do and how it was received. There is no discussion of what went wrong in the past and no critique of the suggestions. Goldsmith developed the practice as an exercise with leaders, and the rules he built into it are what make it work: describe the behavior in one sentence, such as 'I want to be a better listener', ask for two suggestions for the future, take notes rather than reacting, thank the other person and then switch roles so that both people give and receive \[1\].
Two clarifications help. First, feedforward is a workplace practice, not the engineering term. Feedforward control in systems and the feedforward layers in neural networks share the name and nothing else, which is worth knowing when a search sends you to the wrong kind of page. Second, feedforward is not a softer way of delivering feedback but a different conversation with a different purpose, and the two are strongest when a manager can do both.
## Feedforward vs. feedback
Feedback is meant to help us grow, but too often it focuses on the past, the part we cannot change. It can feel judgmental and trigger defensiveness, and it usually arrives after the moment has passed. We work under two premises about feedback: it is information that describes performance in relation to a standard, and its intent is to reinforce or alter behavior. Feedforward serves a different need. Here is how the two compare in practice:
| Dimension | Feedback | Feedforward |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Time focus | The past: what happened and how it measured up. | The future: what could work next time. |
| Content | Observations, examples and a judgment against a standard. | Suggestions and ideas, offered without judgment. |
| What the receiver does | Listens, may explain or defend, agrees on a change. | Chooses the behavior, asks, listens, takes notes and says thank you. |
| Typical reaction | Some defensiveness, even when it is delivered well. | Usually openness, because nothing in the past is being judged. |
| Who can offer it | Someone who observed the performance. | Anyone who knows the task, including people who do not know the person. |
| Best used for | Performance against expectations, safety, compliance, recognition of results. | Development goals, behavior change, preparing for an upcoming situation. |
Keep in mind that feedforward does not replace feedback. A manager whose team member is missing a standard still needs to say so clearly; our article on [helping employees have a realistic view of their performance](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/articles/helping-employees-have-a-realistic-view-of-their-performance) covers that conversation. What feedforward adds is a way to talk about growth that people welcome rather than brace for, and a way for a manager to ask for suggestions about their own behavior without putting the team on the spot.
## How to have a feedforward discussion: an agenda you can use
Here is the agenda the video walks through, and the one we use in workshops and coaching. It works with a colleague, a mentor, a manager or a whole team:
1. Describe a goal you are working toward, something you would like to improve. 'I am working on giving others more space to contribute in meetings, and I would like your input on what I could do differently.' One goal, stated positively, is enough; a list dilutes the suggestions.
2. Ask for two suggestions that could help you move forward. 'Do you have any tips for me?' or 'What do you recommend?' Two is deliberate. It is easy to answer, and it keeps the conversation short.
3. Listen. Let the ideas sink in without defending, correcting or debating. Judging an idea, even with 'that's a good one', turns the conversation back into feedback, so take notes and hold your reactions. Use active listening and summarize what you heard.
4. Say thank you, and share a takeaway or a next step you are considering. 'That gives me something to try in my next meeting. Thanks for the insight.'
5. Switch roles. Feedforward works best when it flows both ways, so once you have wrapped up, offer the other person the same conversation.
We suggest one addition to improve the outcome: put a date on the next step. 'I am going to try that in Thursday's meeting. Can I tell you how it went?' Agreeing on a follow-up is a step many people skip.
When the roles are reversed and someone asks you for feedforward, the rules are the same in the other direction: offer two suggestions for the future, keep them practical and say 'you are welcome' when thanked. Be sure to stay out of the past. If you have worked with the person before, it is tempting to explain what went wrong last time; that is feedback, and it belongs in a different conversation.
Managers we work with get the most from a version they run with their own teams. Every few weeks, in a one-on-one or at the end of a team meeting, ask 'What is one thing I could do differently as your manager?' and take the answer without debate. It takes a minute and models the practice for the team, and it tends to surface the small operating frustrations that do not make it into an engagement survey.
## Feedforward examples
A few examples from the situations where we see feedforward used most:
- A project leader without formal authority asks three team members for two ideas each on running a tighter status meeting, tries the most common suggestion the following week and reports back.
- A new manager preparing for her first round of performance conversations asks a more experienced peer, 'What are two things you wish you had done in your first year of one-on-ones?'
- A team member asks their manager, before a high-stakes presentation, 'What are two things that would make this land well with the executive team?' Asking upward is a form of [managing up](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/articles/managing-your-manager), and managers tend to respond well to it.
- In a 360-degree feedback debrief, the coach shifts the last third of the conversation to feedforward: the leader chooses one behavior from the report and gathers suggestions from colleagues over the following month, rather than dwelling on the scores.
- A team closes a project review with a feedforward round: each person names one thing they want to do better on the next project and hears two suggestions from the group.
## Why feedforward works, and where it is not enough
Goldsmith's explanation of why the exercise lands so well with leaders is consistent with what we see in workshops \[1\]. The future can be changed and the past cannot, so people find it more useful to look ahead. It is more productive to help someone be right than to prove they were wrong, which is what negative feedback often turns into. Successful people, who tend to resist judgment, accept ideas aimed at their goals. Suggestions can come from anyone who knows the task, so a new colleague can be as helpful as a long-standing one. And because nothing personal is being judged, people do not take feedforward personally. In our experience, the energy in a room changes when a group moves from a feedback exercise to a feedforward one; people lean in, and they leave with something to try.
Feedforward is not enough on its own when someone is not meeting a standard. In these cases, describe the standard and provide examples before any conversation about the future. When safety, compliance or ethical conduct is involved, the past has to be addressed directly. Feedforward is not a substitute for documentation when a performance problem needs a record. Our [*Having Tough Conversations*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/having-tough-conversations) and [*Conducting Performance Reviews*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/conducting-performance-reviews) programs cover those conversations; feedforward works best alongside them, not instead of them.
## For talent development leaders: building feedforward into a manager population
Most managers can hold a feedforward discussion after seeing one demonstration of conversation. The difficulty is getting a population of managers to use it regularly. This is where talent development professionals come in. A few cues that a manager population would benefit from learning more about feedforward:
- Feedback is infrequent, poorly timed or critical enough to damage motivation, and the only time individuals get an indication of their performance is at review time.
- Development conversations stall because managers do not know how to talk about growth without it sounding like criticism.
- Engagement survey items on 'my manager helps me develop' lag the rest of the survey.
- Managers rarely ask their teams for suggestions about their own behavior, and the teams have stopped offering them.
Here is how we build feedforward into programs with clients:
1. Teach the distinction between feedback and feedforward, providing an agenda inside the feedback skills managers are already learning. Our [*Giving & Receiving Feedback*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/giving-receiving-feedback) program covers planning for feedback, using a structured agenda and handling difficult reactions. Feedforward fits naturally in the development portion of that skill set. [*Manager as Mentor & Coach*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/manager-as-mentor-coach) uses it in the coaching conversation.
2. Run a feedforward practice. Goldsmith's rotating one-on-one format, where every participant gives and receives feedforward with several colleagues in a few minutes, is the quickest way we have found to make the practice feel close-to-real life. Participants often say it is enjoyable and energizing.
3. Give feedforward a place in the performance management operating rhythm. Add a feedforward question to any one-on-one or touchbase templates, to the close of the [appraisal discussion](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/videos/successful-appraisal-discussion) and to project reviews, so that managers do not have to remember it as an option. Our guide to the [conversations top-performing managers have mastered](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/articles/5-conversations-top-performing-managers-have-mastered) can also support the skill.
4. Use feedforward in assessment debriefs and coaching. Feedforward is the natural next step after a 360-degree report or a style inventory, because it moves the leader from the scores to what to do next; our [coaches](https://www.ppsinternational.net/coaching) use it routinely.
5. Train employees on how to hold a feedforward conversation, not only managers. Feedforward works upward and sideways, and teams where everyone can ask for suggestions tend to need less from their managers.
6. Have managers of managers ask about it. A single question in a skip-level or a leadership meeting, 'What feedforward have you asked for lately?', keeps the practice alive.
PPS International Limited introduced the feedforward process in a global vision care organization as part of the core conversations that team leaders need to have to be successful in achieving results through others. This group was familiar with feedback and had received training on giving feedback. Because of this, we invested time in distinguishing feedback and feedforward and connected feedforward to coaching and developing employees. After the program, we provided participants with a link to the feedforward conversation video included in this article as a resource to help them recall the key points of the conversation. We also provided a planning worksheet, which we encouraged them to use prior to conversations, including loading into their company approved AI tool along with the video and asking for feedback on what they would cover.
Measuring the effect does not need to be complicated. We look at whether development conversations are happening more often and outside the appraisal cycle, whether engagement items on manager support and development move for the teams of participating managers, what 360-degree feedback says about a leader's openness to input six months later and what participants report about the suggestions they tried. Timing is realistic at three to six months from workshop to visible habit, provided the operating-rhythm changes in step 3 are made; without them, the practice tends to fade.
## Frequently asked questions
### What is feedforward in communication?
In [workplace communication](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/articles/4-ways-improve-communication-workplace), feedforward is a request for suggestions about the future: 'What are two things I could do differently next time?' The person asking chooses the behavior, listens without evaluating and says thank you. It is future-focused where feedback is past-focused, and it can come from anyone who understands the task, not only from people who observed the person's performance.
### What is the difference between feedforward and feedback?
Feedback describes what happened and how it compared to a standard; feedforward asks for ideas about what could work next time. Feedback is the right tool for performance against expectations, safety and recognition of results. Feedforward is the right tool for development goals and behavior change, and it produces far less defensiveness because nothing in the past is being judged. Effective managers use both.
### What is an example of feedforward?
A manager says to a team member, 'I am working on giving others more space to contribute in meetings, and I would like your input on what I could do differently. Do you have any tips for me?' The team member offers two ideas, the manager listens without debating, says thank you and shares what she will try in the next meeting. No part of the conversation is about how the last meeting went.
### What are 'feed up', 'feed back' and 'feed forward'?
In educational research, John Hattie and Helen Timperley describe effective feedback as answering three questions for the learner: where am I going (feed up), how am I going (feed back) and where to next (feed forward) \[2\]. The third question is the one this page is about. The workplace practice of feedforward described here focuses that 'where to next' conversation on suggestions from others, with the person asking choosing the goal.
### Can feedforward replace performance reviews?
No. A performance review addresses results against expectations, and that needs feedback. Feedforward improves the review by giving the development portion a future focus: once the results have been discussed, the manager and team member each choose one thing to work on and ask each other for suggestions. Many managers we work with close the appraisal discussion this way.
## Where to start
Watch the video, then try the agenda once this week on something small and real: choose one behavior, ask one person for two suggestions and say thank you. If you lead talent development, pick one manager cohort and add a feedforward round to their next workshop or team meeting, and put the question into the one-on-one template so that it is top-of-mind. We offer training on holding leadership and other conversations, including our [*Giving & Receiving Feedback*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/giving-receiving-feedback), [*Having Tough Conversations*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/having-tough-conversations) and [*Manager as Mentor & Coach*](https://www.ppsinternational.net/resources/programs/manager-as-mentor-coach) programs.
## References
1. Goldsmith, M. *Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback*. [marshallgoldsmith.com](https://www.marshallgoldsmith.com/post/try-feedforward-instead-of-feedback).
2. Hattie, J. and Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. *Review of Educational Research*, 77(1), 81–112. doi:10.3102/003465430298487.
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