Purposes and Types of Feedback

Three Purposes for Feedback

Feedback is a two-way street. Both parties involved in the communication event are constantly providing cues, both verbal and nonverbal to one another. When actively listening, the speaker and listener enter a partnership where both are paying special attention to nonverbal and verbal cues as part of actively listening and speaking. Those engaged in a conversation often don’t know what they are doing, but they know how it feels when it goes well. They will often leave the communication event thinking, “wow, that was a great conversation. I really enjoyed talking to that person.”

In their book Thanks for the Feedback, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen identify three primary purposes for feedback:

1. appreciation
2. coaching
3. evaluation

According to Stone and Heen, knowing which feedback will be most helpful in a given situation is a key element in giving feedback well. Likewise, understanding which kind of feedback is being given can help you make the most of a feedback opportunity.

Appreciation Feedback

Appreciation feedback is mostly about relationships and connections. When your boss says, “I’m so glad you’re on the team!” That’s appreciation feedback.^[1]

In the following video, we overhear Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden State Warriors, give a master class in appreciation feedback as he talks to Warriors star Stephen Curry.

You can view the transcript for “Beautiful coaching moments between Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry!” here (opens in new window).

Coaching Feedback

You use coaching feedback when you want to help someone improve, learn, or change.^[2] Coaching feedback can come from all kinds of people in our lives, whether a trainer at the gym encouraging us to do one more pull-up or a partner in a relationship reminding us to put down the phone at the dinner table.

Evaluation Feedback

Evaluation feedback is a judgement of a person’s performance.^[3]  Evaluation lets you know where you stand against a given set of standards or expectations. Sometimes, as in the case of a final grade, the evaluation is given after the fact, and it’s not possible to make adjustments to change the outcome. Other times, evaluation is given along with coaching feedback. When you have a performance review at work, for example, you are often coached about how to perform even better.

Two Types of Feedback: Verbal and Nonverbal

Verbal Feedback

Verbal feedback means just what you would think: to provide feedback to another using words. Verbal feedback also refers to verbal utterances, such as “uh-huh,” sighing, and so on.

Utterances like nonverbal feedback are often not thought of consciously. All of us have attended a speech where people verbalize to the speaker. You may hear “aw” when someone understands something or thinks it’s cute. You may hear “huh?” when a point is not clear. These verbalizations are sometimes loud and the presenters hears these and sometimes they are very quiet where only the people sitting around them hear the sound.

This verbal feedback tells the speaker a lot about what is happening in the audience. It helps to gauge the level of engagement. A loud sigh might mean someone is bored. A laugh may mean that the joke told was truly funny and worked. A clicking sound may mean that the person finds the subject upsetting. Whatever the sound may be, a presenter is sensitive to the utterances and monitors the sounds to note how well, or poorly, the speech is going.

As with all communication, utterances are also culturally specific. There are some cultures where a “call and response” is expected when speaking. This means that the audience will verbally respond to what is said either using utterances or words. For example, if a speaker says to the audience, “good morning,” some audiences will not respond and sit quietly while other audiences will return a “good morning” in chorus. There are other moments in the speech where those who engage in “call and response” will state agreement or disagreement to a point. The speaker might hear “yes” or “uh-huh” loudly or they might hear “nope” or a negative utterance. The presenter is not expected to address that specific call. They are to continue to deliver their speech with appropriate pauses that allow for the audience to interact verbally.

Nonverbal Feedback

Imagine yourself speaking to a group of people who have their eyes closed, arms crossed across their chest, and legs crossed. What would this communicate to you, the speaker? You might interpret this behavior to mean the audience is not interested in your presentation. You might interpret this as a form of listening for that group. The important point is that you, the speaker, will interpret these behaviors to mean something.

Let’s take the same scenario with an audience who is looking at you, sitting up straight, and has their arms open on the table or in front of them. What does that mean to you? Some would think that the audience is very interested in what you have to say. These behaviors might even encourage the speaker while some might think that the audience is aggressive and too forward, which makes the speaker feel uncomfortable. Again, the person presenting will think that these behaviors mean something.

Nonverbal communication is meaning making without using words. It is a part of a communication event that often goes unnoticed on the conscious level, yet is integral to the event. Every person will scan the other person for cues while listening. These cues are helpful in knowing if a person is really listening to you. In fact, nonverbal behaviors are tied to speaking in every culture. For example, in a business meeting in the United States, a speaker might know that people who engage in eye contact, sit forward, or take notes are actively listening. In the same business meeting in Japan, the speaker has different cues that let them know the attendees are listening. The listeners may look at the table and lean back or sit back with their eyes closed; this indicates they are listening using their cultural, nonverbal feedback.

As a speaker, it is important to pay attention to what nonverbal behaviors the audience is exhibiting. As a listener, it is really important to consider what type of nonverbal feedback you are giving to the communicator.

To show you are actively listening, you want to consider what behaviors in your culture are considered affirming. For many in the United States, sitting forward, nodding one’s head, and looking directly at the speaker are cues that tell the speaker the person is listening. So, you as an active listener will want to employ these affirmative cues to signal you are paying attention. A word of warning—it is important to not give off too many cues as this could be confusing. It is best to keep it simple and provide signals that are clearly positive.

Since the world is getting smaller through the use of technology, it is also important for a listener to research what types of nonverbal communication are used by a group different from their own. When listening, you want to make sure that you are providing appropriate and affirming nonverbal signals to the speaker. This behavior will go a long way toward building positive relationships with the communicator.

Both verbal and nonverbal feedback allow the presenter to know what is happening with the audience. The speaker can then adjust to what they are learning from their audience.