Marshall Goldsmith’s feedforward: a practical conversation for founders
A discussion about improvement can get stuck in defending yesterday. A specific question about the next attempt gives both people something they can work on.
Ask for a practical suggestion about one future behaviour, listen, then choose an action to test.
What feedforward changes
Goldsmith’s feedforward exercise asks people to choose a behaviour and seek suggestions for improving it in the future. The emphasis is on listening and receiving ideas rather than debating a past evaluation. He does not present it as a reason to abandon all feedback. Our example adapts the idea to an owner’s recurring team meeting.
The distinction matters when the owner has more authority than the person speaking. An invitation to be honest can still feel risky if the founder usually explains why every criticism is mistaken. The next response tells the team more than the invitation does.
Choose a behaviour someone can observe
“Become a better leader” is too broad for a short conversation. Try a behaviour tied to a setting: give colleagues time to finish their recommendations in the weekly planning meeting, or explain the decision before assigning urgent work.
Choose something you can change. If you ask the team how to stop all external interruptions, they may be unable to help. If you ask how to make your response to interruptions clearer, they can suggest a concrete practice.
An original founder’s example
Imagine a founder whose team rarely challenges a campaign plan. He notices that he tends to announce his preferred option before asking for alternatives. For the next meeting, he asks a colleague: “What could I do at the start to make it easier for you to bring a different recommendation?”
The colleague suggests circulating the question in advance and asking everyone to write an option before the founder speaks. He thanks her and records the suggestion. He does not spend the next five minutes proving that he already welcomes disagreement.
At the following meeting, he tries the written options. Afterwards, he asks whether the change made participation easier and what remained difficult. This fictional example does not claim a measured performance improvement. It shows a specific change that people can observe and discuss.
Turn a suggestion into an experiment
Write the setting, the action and the review point. For example: in the next two planning meetings, collect options before sharing your preference; afterwards, ask participants whether they understood that their alternatives would be considered.
You do not need to accept every suggestion. Different people may recommend conflicting actions. Listen without turning the conversation into an immediate defence, then choose what you can realistically test. Explain the choice if it affects the team.
If the issue involves a missed commitment or harm, acknowledge that directly. Future-focused language should not be used to avoid responsibility for something that already happened. The practical improvement and the necessary acknowledgement can coexist.
Make follow-up visible
A one-off request for suggestions can look performative if nothing changes. Tell the person what you tried and ask what they observed. That follow-up does not need a formal score or a long survey.
Keep the discussion about behaviour rather than asking the team to reassure you that you are a good leader. Their role is to help identify a workable change, not to manage the founder’s self-image. Repeated small follow-ups can make the process more credible than a dramatic promise to improve everything.
Try it in your business
Complete this sentence: “In [recurring situation], I want to get better at [observable behaviour]. What is one thing I could try next time?” Ask one colleague, listen without rebutting and choose a change to test. Set a date to report what happened.
Sources & editorial note
- Marshall Goldsmith: Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback
NEXT MBA editorial analysis, prepared with AI assistance from the public sources above. The applications, scenarios and exercises are NEXT MBA examples, not quotations or transcripts. Product recommendations are ours; they do not imply the speaker’s endorsement of those products. Sources checked on 1 October 2026.