Don't ask for feedback, do this instead...
Research from Harvard Business School has found that people give better, more actionable insights when they are asked for advice rather than feedback.
That’s because advice forces people to be future focussed, thinking about how things can be improved.
Feedback, however, tends to result in vague, passive input.
In one study, when the researchers asked executive education students about their instructors, those who were asked for advice were more likely to provide detailed explanations of what worked and what didn’t.
For example: “I loved the cases. But I would have preferred concentrating more time on learning specific tools that would help improve the negotiation skills of the participants.”
In contrast, those who were asked to provide feedback were much more general (e.g. “This faculty’s content and style of teaching was very good.”)
So next time you want feedback, ask for advice instead!
Ref: Blunden, Yoon, Kristal, and Whillans. "Soliciting Advice Rather Than Feedback Yields More Developmental, Critical, and Actionable Input." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-021, August 2019. (Revised April 2021.)
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