As Marshall Goldsmith writes, “Feedback is limited and static, as opposed to expansive and dynamic.”

The Feedforward tool prompts a coachee’s stakeholders to provide exactly the latter – expansive and dynamic inputs on how the coachee can better achieve their goals.

The Simply.Coach platform automatically, securely & confidentially picks the coachee’s active goals, captured on the platform, and adds a section in the tool for each goal. Every section then asks how progress in the past month was on that particular goal, and how the progress can improve in the coming weeks.

The Feedforward tool serves as a quick monthly touch-point with your client’s stakeholders on the client’s progress.

This tool is essential for business leaders who are working on goals that require regular inputs from stakeholders, but it can also be administered to coachees undergoing a variety of coaching interventions that center on improving their relations with their stakeholders.

And given that this tool relies on the coachee’s universe of support, the Feed Forward is also meant for their stakeholders, right from direct reports to peers, team members to managers, and even family and friends when required.

Certain goals require regular check-ins and Feed Forward to help coachees achieve their utmost potential.

Marshall Goldsmith also lists 10 good reasons people enjoy receiving feedforward, amongst which are:

1. a.“We can change the future, not the past.”
2. ”Feedforward assumes that people can make positive changes in the future, whereas feedback tends to reinforce stereotyping, self-fulfilling prophecies, and feelings of failure.”
3. ”Feedforward tends to be more efficient and effective than feedback. “

The triple advantage of the Feed Forward digital coaching tool is of helping everyone productively focus on the future, conveying inputs to the coachee in a more palatable way, and doing it far more efficiently and effectively.

While the advantages of the tool are undeniable, it is crucial to understand when it should be administered, and if the situation warrants you to stop using the tool.

Typically, the Feed-Forward is succinct enough to be sent out to stakeholders every month. But this must only be done if the stakeholders are invested enough in your coachee’s growth that they are willing to spend around 20 minutes of their time every month in providing constructive suggestions.

Around 5 minutes for every goal added – so generally around 15-25 minutes