Reflacto

ENDE
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Feedforward Coaching

Peer feedback often turns into blame sessions about past mistakes. Feedforward flips this: instead of "here's what you did wrong," it's "here's what would work better next time."

  • Future-focused feedback
  • Can reduce defensiveness
  • Builds team relationships

What is the Feedforward method?

The Feedforward method turns a development conversation toward the future. Rather than judging past behavior, you describe what could help next time. Reflacto adds existing strengths and an observable success signal to the suggestion exchange.

  1. Outcome

    Clarify what should be different in a specific future situation and how you will recognize the intended result.

  2. Suggestions

    Gather concrete, observable behaviors for the future. Offer them as options, not as judgments about the past.

  3. Next attempt

    Choose a suitable option, connect it to an existing strength, and decide when and how you will check progress.

Feedforward in a concrete example

An illustrative example for an upcoming sprint planning session:

  1. Outcome

    In the next sprint planning session, Sarah should be able to explain her risk fully before the team discusses solutions.

  2. Suggestion

    Wait until she has finished her point, ask one clarifying question, and then summarize the risk in a single sentence.

  3. Next attempt

    Use your strength in structuring technical topics quickly. Try this on Tuesday; an observable success signal is that the team confirms the risk list together before estimating.

This is an illustrative example, not a ready-made script. It keeps the focus on the next attempt and makes the result observable; it does not replace any necessary discussion of harm or accountability.

When this method helps

Use when facilitating feedback between team members, especially when there's tension or when previous feedback conversations went poorly.

Limits and when to pause

Feedforward should not be used to avoid acknowledging harm, accountability or a recurring pattern. Past facts still matter when they define the problem.

Where Reflacto uses this method

Choose the situation you want to reflect on:

Key benefits

  • Can reduce defensiveness by focusing on future choices rather than relitigating past mistakes
  • Creates specific actions people can take instead of vague "be better" advice
  • Can strengthen relationships by keeping the conversation constructive
  • A future focus can make improvement easier to engage with

Questions Reflacto asks

Reflacto turns the method into these concrete reflection questions:

  1. 1What is the specific peer feedback situation you need to facilitate?
  2. 2What current behavior or pattern needs to be addressed?
  3. 3What would success look like in the future?
  4. 4What specific, actionable suggestions can help them get there?
  5. 5What existing strengths can they build on?
  6. 6How will progress be measured and tracked?

Common questions about feedforward

What's the difference between feedback and feedforward?

Feedback evaluates what already happened; feedforward describes what to do next time. Because it contains no verdict on a past mistake, the reflex to justify mostly disappears. The trade-off: feedforward never explicitly names what went wrong. If that naming is what the situation needs, feedforward alone won't get you there.

Is this Marshall Goldsmith's feedforward?

Yes — the term comes from executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, who proposed replacing critique of past behaviour with suggestions for future behaviour. The core insight is that people can't change the past but rarely argue about the future, which removes most of the defensiveness that makes feedback conversations stall.

When is feedforward the wrong choice?

Whenever there are consequences attached or something needs documenting. For performance problems, repeated broken commitments, or anything that might become an HR matter, you need a clear statement of what's actually happening. Feedforward is a development tool for people who are broadly delivering — not an instrument for resolving problems.

How do I actually phrase it?

Two sentences: the future behaviour you want and the observable effect it would have. Not "you interrupt too much", but "if you let the estimate finish before asking questions in the next planning, the risks surface earlier". The difference isn't politeness — the second version tells the person what to do.

Origin and Reflacto's adaptation

Feedforward was introduced by Marshall Goldsmith in a 2002 Leader to Leader article and later expanded into a book of the same name.

Also known as: Feedforward, feed-forward coaching

What Reflacto changed

Goldsmith’s original exercise is a short future-oriented suggestion exchange. Reflacto expands it into six questions that also ask what existing strengths to build on and how progress will be measured — additions the original exercise does not include.

Primary sources and further reading

Editorially reviewed by Daniel Schmeiß

Last substantive review: August 23, 2026

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