Teamwork Tuesdays: Marshall Goldsmith — Feedforward Instead of Feedback

Feedback is a tricky beast. On one hand, you need it to know how you are doing, but it can feel judgemental and force your defenses to go up.

Traditional feedback focuses entirely on the past and is an autopsy of what you already did wrong. You can’t change it, you can’t fix it, and mentally, it can force teams to play defense.

Legendary executive coach Marshall Goldsmith pioneered a massive culture shift to solve this, and it’s a game-changer for any team: Feedforward instead of Feedback.

While feedback is backward-looking and often feels like a judgment, feedforward is entirely forward-looking and focuses strictly on options for the future.

When a team culture shifts from feedback to feedforward, something incredible happens to the dynamics:

1. People stop getting defensive. You can't change the past, but you can change the future. Feedforward feels like coaching, not criticizing.

2. It expands psychological safety. It removes the sting of failure and turns mistakes into immediate, actionable strategy.

3. It crowdsources brilliance. It allows teammates to help each other grow without the awkwardness of having to point out each other's flaws.

Goldsmith said, “Feedforward comes from people who care about your future, whereas feedback often feels like an interrogation about your past."

Try this incredibly simple exercise during your next meeting or practice:

• Step 1: Have each team member state one specific behavior they want to improve in the future. (Example: "I want to become a better active listener during high-stress moments.")

• Step 2: Ask teammates for two positive, forward-looking suggestions for the future. No one is allowed to mention the past or say, "Well, last week you didn't listen." They can only say, "In the future, you could try..."

• Step 3: The receiver can only say one thing in response: "Thank you." No defending themselves, no explaining, just accepting the ideas.

The Team Challenge: Next time a teammate messes up or underperforms, don't drill them on what they did wrong. Ask them: "What's the feedforward for next time?" Watch how fast your culture shifts from finger-pointing to problem-solving.