Coaching Feedback or Advice? Which Do You Need?

I’ve been working on a rollout plan for a new major application. And, before I present that plan to the clients, I need to give the presentation a test run. I can ask my test audience to give me feedback or I could ask them for advice. What do I do? Does it make a difference?

If I ask for feedback, because people find it difficult to give critical feedback, I may get comments that do not provide the necessary information to significantly improve either the content or delivery of the presentation. And, in particular, I may not get the careful examination of the rollout plan that I need. Psychologically, most of us find it difficult to give such feedback.

A Harvard Business Review report revealed research suggesting that feedback has no, or even a negative, impact on performance. The feedback we get is often too vague and fails to indicate what we can improve and how to improve. The authors report that more effective input is received when we ask for ADVICE.

A series of experiments conducted by the authors, found that asking for feedback often results in vague and often “praising” comments. When asked for advice, people offered more critical and actionable input, sometimes in specific terms.

The authors note that in one experiment, “compared to those asked to give feedback, those asked to provide ‘advice,’ suggested 34% more areas of improvement and 56% more ways to improve.” In other experiments, advice more frequently contained detailed explanations of what worked and what didn’t, while feedback included generalities. 

Why is it, then, that asking for advice appears to be more effective than asking for coaching feedback? The authors believe that this has to do with feedback being associated with evaluation. When we were in school, we received feedback on our performance, most often with letter or numerical grades. At work, we receive feedback in the form of regular coaching conversations, performance appraisals, often with a few summary sentences and an indicator such as Exceeds, Meets, or Fails to Meet Expectations, or Significant Improvement Required. The authors write, “Because of this link between feedback and evaluation, when people are asked to provide feedback, they focus on judging others’ performance.” In other words, when we are asked for feedback we tend to focus on general performance over a longer period than on the specific topic at hand. 

Conversely, when asked for advice, an individual tends to focus on the specific issue at hand. And, we are more likely to focus on possibilities and opportunities than reaching backwards to compare the present with what you have done in the past. Depending upon the context of the request, we may be able to provide a detailed explanation of what worked and what didn’t and suggestions for improvement.

So, the issue appears to be simple: If I ask for coaching feedback on a specific issue, the response I get will often also include the responder’s knowledge of my past that is related to the issue at hand. The result may have fewer and/or less tangible suggestions for the future. However, if I ask for advice, the respondent is more likely to focus forward on how to make the project better, on opportunities to improve.

And finally, when you ask for feedback, are you clear about what you’re asking for? For example: “What could make this project report stronger?” or “How can I better address my client’s primary needs?” The more specific your request, the more likely you’ll get useful, actionable feedback—focused on the present, not weighed down by the past.

Gary Burnison suggests that when you seek advice or feedback, you:

• Know what advice you want.
• Come prepared with the specific details needed to define the problem. If you don’t come with the details, you will end up telling a “blow-by-blow story” of how you got to where you are, that might result in your advice-giver tuning out, losing focus, and identifying the wrong core issue.
• Ask the right person. Too often we go to someone we are comfortable with, rather than a more knowledgeable individual.
• Don’t ask everyone. You won’t be able to follow all of the advice you receive and may create a worse view of yourself because you didn’t take their advice.
• Don’t assume that you already know the answers.
• Be grateful. Thank people for their time and the information you received. This will go a long way in maintaining good, valuable relationships into the future.

Getting input from others about your work, and life, is critical So, whether you seek advice in a specific situation or ask for coaching feedback in that same specific situation, DO. It’s critical to your success.

Make it a great week for you and your team.  .  .  .  .  jim

Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates.  He previously was Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Vice President for Information Systems and CIO at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.