Four Types Of Feedback

Four Types of Feedback - The Wastebasket TestIn this lesson you’ll learn four types of feedback: no feedback, negative, positive & specific. And I’m going to make the case for turning everything into one particular type of feedback.

I once taught alongside a teacher whose method was to tell everyone what they did wrong.

It was pretty miserable watching the students get more despondent and nervous as the lesson went on; their love of music being reduced to ‘did I get it right?’. Worst of all was that after a while the students sort of accepted that way of thinking as normal.

Don’t do that.

Here’s a technique for thinking about feedback that I learnt from Tennis Coach, Steve Smith.

You can use it as a teacher, and you can use it as a learner.

He says:

There are Four Types of Feedback

  1. No Feedback
  2. Negative Feedback
  3. Positive Feedback
  4. Specific Feedback

The Wastebasket Test

Imagine you’re blindfolded and I’ve given you crumpled up bits of paper that I want you to throw into a waste paper basket.

1. No Feedback

The first time you have a go, I say nothing. You’re blindfolded, you have no idea where the basket is. You may be facing the wrong way for all you know :)

2. Negative Feedback

On your second go, I say, ‘You didn’t do that right’. ‘Terrible! You’re not very good at this. There’s no way you’ll ever get it’. This is sometimes the kind of feedback we give ourselves.

3. Positive Feedback

The third go, I say, ‘Yeah! You’re awesome! Unbelievable! So talented!’.

Don’t mistake encouragement for feedback.

feedback mindsetDr Carol Dweck, in her splendid book, ‘Mindset‘, talks about praising the effort rather than the intelligence. If you have kids, try to notice when you say things like, ‘well done, you’re so clever!’ as opposed to ‘well done, you’ve worked really hard on that’.

4. Specific Feedback

The fourth go, I say things like, ‘Hold your palm up. The trajectory should be a little higher. Move a quarter turn to the left.’

The first three don’t get you anywhere.

Be Specific

You need to give and get specific feedback.

A trick is to try to turn those first three types into something specific by asking great questions and listening. Check out this article for some examples of how to ask better questions.

Think about this the next time you’re learning something from somebody. Are they being specific? If not, how can YOU guide them to be more specific. What questions can you ask?

I’ll leave you with this example of different types of feedback:

Bernard Tomic trying to get the umbrella where he wants it…

Here’s Andy Murray doing the same, but being more specific.

Comments on Four Types Of Feedback

  1. Mike Outram says:

    So your teacher sounds deranged :)

    Anyhow, you get to chose how you react. And if you want there are great lessons in negative feedback too.

    Funny how we all ignore the good stuff people say, but the bad stuff we reflect on.

    How do you turn that into something that works FOR you?

    I had a guitar lesson once with a chap who is hillariously brutal. The very first time after I’d been playing for a couple of years he said, ‘Right, play us something’. So I fumbled through a tune and he said. ‘You’re fucking rubbish’ :) [he was sort of being funny, and I took it that way]
    Or there was another time where I was playing a solo guitar introduction at a gig which I’m not that confident doing [but don’t tell anyone this, it’s just between you and me :) ], and some guys shouts out, ‘Get on with it!’ Ha ha! Brutal!

    If I start to think about it, there are MANY MANY examples!

    Some of the ways I can use this:
    I can see it as a funny story. Like a musical ‘You’ve Been Framed’ :)
    I could accept the point and ask why and how I can do it better.

    How else can you use that stuff?

  2. Chris Rothwell says:

    I once had a teacher who would only let me get a handful of notes into a piece before he stopped me and told me something like ‘that was SHIT!’
    Another classic that remains with me to this day is: ‘That was so bad….I can’t even accompany you, you are actually putting me off!’
    You know what….I don’t play with people anymore, haven’t for years, and I also stopped playing for several years after uni as every time I picked my instrument all I could do was kick my own ass for every note I played. I totally agree with what’s said here, and wish my former teacher had been shown this before he got me as a student, or anyone else to be fair.

  3. Mike Outram says:

    Cheers, Keith. Glad you’re enjoying the site :)

    I really like the listening & asking questions type of exchange. And the feeling of everyone being together in a big MUSICAL community.

    I’m always blown away by people who can bring all that together into an actual event. Steve Berry is one of those people. Stick him in a room with any combination of instruments, ages and abilities, and he’ll make something happen that makes everyone smile.

  4. John Hannon says:

    I’m not a guitar teacher but I’ve been (and still am) the beginner
    struggling to play the chords. I think you’re right about the value of specific feedback, and what ‘Start-Stop-Continue’ does is to take that one stage further.
    Some examples of useful specific feedback might be: practice
    play the tune using shell voicings to begin with before adding extensions (START); don’t try to play at normal tempo to begin with until you can play the chords fluently (STOP), or don’t use that particular 6th string root voicing for that 7th chord (STOP); you’re playing the Major 7ths just fine (CONTINUE).
    If a guitar teacher asked me for feedback, I might say: START finding out what it is that I want to do as a player rather than just taking me through your standard programme; STOP showing me how good a player you are because it’s about my learning, not your skill; encourage me to CONTINUE to my daily practice routine (or whatever it is that I am currently doing that will help me progress).

  5. Mike Outram says:

    Thanks for that, John.
    Sounds interesting, haven’t applied that myself yet.

    Do you find that you can think of things to ‘start, stop & continue’ quickly now that you’re familiar using it? Let’s say someone was struggling to play a tune with some unfamiliar chord types, what kind of thing would you say?

  6. Keith Calder says:

    Mike, this is one of the reasons why I’m signed up with you and enjoying it. I have been with a variety of teachers over the years and every single one has fallen foul of this kind of thing (and worse). Even though we haven’t had a one-to-one session (yet), it’s so clear that your attitude and posture on teaching are diametrically opposed to the normal crap that passes for teaching out there.

  7. John Hannon says:

    Hi Mike, thanks for the post. When I’m not playing guitar, I
    work as a professional leadership coach.

    One way that I have found that works well for feedback is ‘Start-Stop-Continue’. In other words, what behaviour would you like the person receiving the feedback to start; what would you like them to stop; and what would you like them to continue? This works equally well whether you are giving someone feedback, or asking for it. By limiting the feedback to a person’s behaviour, i.e. what they do, it’s easier to avoid the Carol Dweck ‘mindset’ pitfall of praising or criticising a person’s so-called ‘inherent abilities’ such as intelligence or musical ‘talent’ rather than their efforts.

Comments are Closed