Joe Hirsch - The Feedback Fix: Dump the Past, Embrace the Future, and Lead the Way to Change

The Feedback Fix

Praise for The Feedback Fix

Shows the remarkable things that can happen when businesses, schools, and families rethink traditional feedback. Highly recommended. Marshall Goldsmith , executive coach, business educator, and bestselling author of Triggers

Most people dislike one thing more than giving feedback: receiving it. Joe Hirsch is here to fix that. This delightful, evidence-based book is a breath of fresh air, and Ive already started trying out his terrific tips at work and at home. Adam Grant , New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take

The giving and receiving of feedback is fraught territory, easily the most challenging part of my work as a teacher. The Feedback Fix is a fantastic resource, with practical, actionable advice on how to formulate quality feedback for others and hear the constructive criticism and praise. I highly recommend this book and am grateful to Hirsch for writing so eloquently about a topic that makes me squirm with discomfort. Jessica Lahey , New York Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure

Hirsch masterfully takes us on a journey that completely redefines what we think about learning, development, and performance. His book is smartly written, provocative, and insightfula must-have for any curious learner or leader committed to unleashing potential around them. Rand Stagen , Stagen Leadership Academy; former chairman, Conscious Capitalism, Inc.

Finding mastery involves searching deep inside yourself, refining a craft, adjusting to feedback (both internally and externally), and authentically expressing oneself in a wide range of environments. The Feedback Fix drills into the value and mechanics of how to use feedback, how to give feedback, and how to accelerate growth. Michael Gervais , PhD, high-performance psychology, Seattle Seahawks consultant

Successful relationships are grounded in honesty, authenticity, and respectful communication. A cornerstone of effective parenting, marriages, teaching, and workplace success is the ability to give feedback on progress in a manner that promotes growth rather than resentment. Hirsch has written a fascinating and practical book that is presented in an engaging mix of studies, stories, and detailed explanations on how to transform feedback into an effective, energizing source of creativity, enhanced connection, and motivation for change. I know that the paradigm shift presented in this book will change the way I give feedback to my students, colleagues, and family members. I highly recommend this book for anybody who is seeking a novel perspective on this all-important aspect of effective relationships. David Pelcovitz , PhD, Straus Chair in Psychology and Education, Azrieli Graduate School, Yeshiva University

The Feedback Fix is relevant and timely across all disciplines and settings. Hirsch has gifted us with a roadmap for more productive, more courageous, and more authentic conversations that will lead to lasting and positive change. Michelle Kinder , executive director, Momentous Institute

The Feedback Fix

Dump the Past, Embrace the Future, and Lead the Way to Change

Joe Hirsch

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowman.com

Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB

Copyright 2017 by Joe Hirsch

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

ISBN 9781475826593 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 9781475826616 (electronic)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Abby,

whose feedback changed everything.

Contents

Foreword

When I developed the concept of feedforward many years ago, I had no idea that it would have such a long lifeor so many surprising applications.

In the beginning, I was simply looking for a better way to do performance appraisals. I had been an executive coach for several years when I observed that the employee reviews tended to be an uncomfortable, embarrassing, or downright painful experience, for both the giver and the receiver.

Successful leaders, who prided themselves on their drive and competence, had a particularly hard time hearing about their own failures and missteps. Often they came away determined to prove that the negative feedback was wrong. That approach was rarely helpful, either for the person or for the organization.

I designed feedforward as an alternative to traditional feedback. As Joe Hirsch notes in these pages, feedforward involves asking for advice about how to do better in the future. The listener collects the advice without judgment or comment, except to say thank you. He or she is free to discard anything irrelevant or unhelpful.

I found that successful executives were particularly eager to try it since it gave them a chance to accept a challenge without the burden of negative judgment. It empowered them to set a course for the future instead of dwelling on the past, which they couldnt change anyway. Inherently positive, it assumed their capacity to change. And it was faster and more efficient than traditional feedback. Many of them actually enjoyed the process, even describing it as fun! It became an important part of my coaching process.

I am delighted that feedforward has proved useful not just for me but also for many others. In this book, Joe Hirsch gives compelling examples of how individuals and organizations are using it, with remarkable results. If my books and articles havent convinced you of the value of feedforward, The Feedback Fix surely will. Hirsch breaks down how it works and why it works, drawing on a trove of scientific research as well as his own reporting. From the halls of a mammoth multinational like Deloitte to a tiny school in Israel, and many places in between, he shows how feedforward is creating a quiet revolution in the way people work and live.

Particularly striking is how feedforward applies to educational settings. Instead of rating students on what they did in the past (the grading system familiar to most of us), Hirsch shows how some pioneering educators are asking their students positive and open-ended questions about how to solve problems in the future. In business, he shows how the principles of feedforward are helping individuals and teams look forwardand take the longest possible view of their own plans and potential. He also includes some poignant examples of how empowering feedforward can be for families.

This is a great point, and one Ive tried to impress upon coaching clients and people at my seminars over the years. Feedforward is not just a tool for business success; its also a life skill that can have dramatic consequences. For example, several years ago, I taught a one-day leadership course for a health-care organization in Oakland for about a thousand managers and union leaders. After my talk, a woman named Trudy Triner took the microphone to ask a question.

It turned out she didnt have a question, but rather a suggestion for me. She had attended many of my courses and read my books, she said. You always talk about the value of asking direct reports, How can I be a better manager? Or asking coworkers, How can I be a better team player? Or asking customers, How can I be a better supplier? And even asking partners or children, How can I be a better partner or better parent?