AC4P with Dr. Scott Geller 011 | Feedback

Dr. Scott Geller (00:23):

Practice makes perfect. Have you heard that one? Practice makes perfect, right? Do you believe that? Do you believe that all it takes is practice to do better? Of course not. You need feedback. That's the lesson today. You need feedback. Now, sometimes you get natural feedback. You throw the baseball, you see where it goes. You swing the tennis racket and you see where the ball goes. That's feedback. That's natural feedback. We call that intrinsic feedback, but that's not enough to improve. Is it? Sometimes you need a coach. We need a teacher. We need a parent to give us direction to tell us how well we're doing or where there's room for improvement. Notice, I didn't say, when you do wrong, that's wrong. There's no information. And that's wrong. It's about room for improvement and there's always room for improvement. So let's talk about how we help people do better.

Dr. Scott Geller (01:25):

First rule feedback needs to be behavioral. When you give feedback, it's not about their personality. It's not about their mindset. It's not about their disposition. It's about their behavior. What was done well and where is there room for improvement. Second rule, give more supportive feedback than corrective feedback. What do I mean? I mean, people need to hear that they're doing things well, you know, let's not assume that when someone does something well that they know they did it well, besides they like to hear someone else tell them that. That's how we build a sense of competence. And when we feel competent, we're more likely to be self-motivated, but that's not enough. We do need corrective feedback. There's always room for improvement. So how do you give corrective feedback? Do you just say that's wrong? Do better. Well, first that's not behavioral. And secondly, that can be a big turnoff to the person.

Dr. Scott Geller (02:31):

Corrective feedback needs to be non-directive. What do I mean? I mean, first ask questions, get the person to own up to room for improvement to say, "yeah, I could have done that better". And when they say that, now ask them, what do they mean? What do they think they could have done? So you get the individual who's receiving corrective feedback to first own up to room for improvement, and perhaps even suggest what they could do or should do to do better. And perhaps they will ask you for advice. That's when you've known you've done it right. Give corrective feedback, ask questions so that they will ask you, okay, help me. How could I improve? So that's corrective feedback. So here it is. When you give feedback, make it behavioral, focus on behavior. There's always room for improvement. We're not the best we can be. We can always improve.

Dr. Scott Geller (03:40):

All right. That's feedback, behavioral feedback. And then when we do it well, give people supportive feedback, let them know. And don't just say, nice job, specify what they did well. So they know, yeah, I'm good at this. I'm good at this particular behavior. And when there's room for improvement, then you want to be corrective. But instead of just telling people what they did wrong and correcting them, ask them, this is being non-directive. This is being humanistic. Ask them where there's room for improvement. And perhaps they will even ask you then, okay, I wasn't the best I could be, help me. And when they ask you for that advice, now you can be directive on their terms. That's how you give corrective feedback. And that's how you improve behavior. And in the process, improve motivation. We're more motivated when we believe we're doing things right. And people have told us it's right, that is supportive feedback. But then with corrective feedback, people help us do better. So then we feel more competent and more motivated.