Feedback from managers is often not well-received by employees. Gnepp and colleagues (2020) suggest that feedback conversations are most helpful when they focus on future actions rather than emphasizing past mistakes. The main goal of this study was to find ways to make feedback more effective. Specifically, they looked at how biases in judgment influence how people accept positive and negative feedback (Study 1), and how differences in how managers and employees explain the causes of performance, along with whether the feedback focuses on the future or the past, affect how feedback is received and whether it leads to real change (Studies 2 & 3).

Gnepp and colleagues conducted three studies to investigate why performance feedback is often ineffective and how it can be improved. In Study 1, managers reflected on past experiences giving or receiving feedback and rated the feedback’s accuracy, the provider’s qualifications, and whether they attributed the performance to internal factors (like effort) or external factors (like luck). Studies 2 and 3 used role-play scenarios with executives and MBA students to simulate feedback conversations, focusing on how these interactions influenced perceptions of the feedback, intentions to change, and whether participants emphasized a more future-focused or past-focused mindset. Study 2 compared participants who completed questionnaires before and after the discussion to those who responded only afterward, while Study 3 introduced developmental feedback guidelines to test their added effect on feedback quality and impact.

Across all three experiments, Gnepp and colleagues found that the practice of discussing one’s past performance can be counterproductive because it leads to disagreements on the causes of the unfavorable performance and perceptions of self-threat. Also, Gnepp and colleagues found that people make self-protecting attributions to justify not changing their behavior in response to negative feedback. However, the recipient’s perception of the feedback as future-focused can increase feedback effectiveness. Specifically, future-focused actions rather than analysis of the past performance influence acceptance of feedback and positive behavior change. For example, the recipients who rated their feedback as future-focused accepted their feedback and demonstrated a higher motivation to change than those who did not. 

This study relates to the general public providing and receiving feedback. For example, teachers can foster ideas on improving students’ test scores by focusing on their future actions such as taking the initiative to prepare for the next exam including studying in advance and immediately clarifying gaps in their learning. 

With EPIC’s research, we can explore the relationship between future-focused feedback and perceptions of failure. For instance, we can study how future-focused feedback affects one’s perception of a prior failure and their likelihood to succeed in the future.

If you are curious to learn more about Gnepp et al.’s (2020) study, use this link:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7304587/

This post is written by Eliza Hong.

Reference: 

Gnepp, J., Klayman, J., Williamson, I. O., & Barlas, S. (2020). The future of feedback: Motivating performance improvement through future-focused feedback. PloS one, 15(6), e0234444.