BOLA

What is Feedback?

Previous It is a term banded about when talking of interpersonal communication and learning. You may say, "Can I give you some feedback on this?" or "I need feedback to understand how you really feel and want me to respond". A cybernetic view defines feedback as information about the results of a process (its outputs) which is then returned back into the process (a circular feed or recursive loop) and used to adjust and change the process itself.

In terms of interaction between two people, information on what one person does Ð or is perceived to do (their output) - is returned to them by the other person (another system) who is "in the loop".

In an interpersonal feedback loop, information about someone's actions and their effect is communicated back to them Ð they receive information from another person about that person's view of them.

When talking of interaction between people - many assertions are made about "meaningful, useful feedback". The general proposition is that feedback information (messages) can be helpful. We have to be careful however about such assertions as sweeping generalisations. Abstracted propositions from cybernetics need to be set against the perceptions, motives, feelings, commitments and reactions of both the giver and the receiver of the feedback.

Positive feedback

Cyberneticists define positive feedback as information returned to the process which reinforces and encourages the original results (basically "keep it going" and "more of it").

Examples such as a chain reaction, population explosion, industrial expansion, capital invested at compound interest, inflation, proliferation of cancer cells illustrate how increments of positive feedback may continue unabated without standards or norms being applied to ensure the steady state of "the system" . The feedback loop left to itself contributes to system overload and even destruction. It is important to control wild looping behaviour - by negative feedback in order that the system can maintain itself over time.

Negative feedback

Cyberneticists do not define negative feedback not as critical (interpersonal) feedback but as a loop or return of information that leads to adaptive, goal-seeking behaviour. The goal may be self-determined, fixed or evolving and such adaptation will sustain a "level" e.g. temperature, concentration, speed, direction. Man-made systems demonstrate purposes (e.g. maintenance of glucose levels in the blood, making a profit, increasing market share by 5%) and we are influential in defining the goals of organisations and "schemes".

In a negative loop, variations toward a plus (+) trigger system corrections toward the minus (-) and vice versa. But, if feedback leads to one minus adjustment after another (-), then the system may be brought to a halt e.g. in the business world - bankruptcy and economic depression. So we define and work within performance standards (limits of expectation) for a group, a market place, a machine. The system corrects and moves (dynamic within limits) of a standard, an ideal or equilibrium point. A thermostat or a water tank with a ball valve are simple examples of regulation by negative feedback so too is an interest rate adjustment (albeit far less simple).

So if the returned feedback influences the system to produce a result opposite to previous results it is negative feedback ("pull back, pull back, do less, close it down").

Wild swings , steady rides and Interpersonal Feedback

Unregulated feedback may not stabilize the system but put it into overdrive, freeze it or overwhelm it (exponential growth or decline). If the system cannot process and evaluate the feedback it may swing violently ("This does not compute, I am over stimulated, I cannot cope"). The ideal is for a system that can evaluate the nature of the feedback and adapt to different types and volumes - all in all , maintain the equilibrium that it is designed for or can cope with.

Interpersonal Feedback

"Interpersonal feedback" is communication that helps another to reflect on and adjust their behaviour. Such communication to a person or a group has a capacity to give that person information about how they are perceived by and affect others. This, or so the homely advice goes, helps an individual put his/her behaviour "on target"

  1. to secure his/her own goals.
  2. to adjust his behaviour in relation to others (their goals)

Everyday experience tells us that this is so. But it is also partial in its "truth". The advice does not account for problems such as

Am I giving you this feedback to really help you in a genuine caring way or am I doing it because you deserve getting it between the eyes - me telling you how it really is? It is about time someone told you the way things really are between you and me and between you and other people.

Of course, such feedback may be

Many, many "might bes".

Lets consider some of these factors and evaluate the oft heard guidance on effective feedback behaviour.

Hints and tips on "effective" feedback behaviour

Here comes the "effective" word again. It references someone's "ideal" or a model way of doing things - their experience of what-seems-to-work, a synthesis of various precepts, conditions and commitments e.g. to group values and selflessness over selfishness. The US National Training Laboratory in the late 1960s offered a recipe for giving feedback in interpersonal situations. The NTL recommendations are included in the prescriptions listed below which suggest that useful feedback should be:

  1. descriptive rather than evaluative.
  2. specific rather than general.
  3. given when it can be checked with others for accuracy and veracity
  4. fielded with reflective, paraphrase statements
  5. supported by questions to the giver
  6. solicited not imposed with attention to the motives for giving and receiving feedback. Are the motivates based on an intention to hurt?
  7. given when it is desired - accommodating the fact that many just do not want feedback and do not want to give it.

    We can usefully:

  8. be careful concerning the non-verbal signals/responses we communicate when giving feedback.

    and

  9. Direct feedback towards behaviour that the receiver can do something about
  10. It should be well-timed - given at the time the behaviour takes place

    We can account for:

  11. Personal feedback in a group setting
  12. Open, high trust exchange in a supportive group
  13. Open Space and High Trust

Conclusion?

Feedback is an interpersonal communication process. It offers information from others about how well "my" behaviour is received. This information can be compared with their intention.

There are however problems of skill, perception and trust associated with feedback processes. As a broad prescription, for the individual who wants to learn or to be more skilled in their interpersonal relations with others, various hints and tips are recommended for "giving and receiving feedback".

Further Resources