Category: Importance of Feedback

The Importance of Feedback:

Feedback is a strong external stimulus which can provide positive or negative reinforcement to behaviour. Feedback is a very important powerful tool used in many industries. It is important in the structure of business/personal development as it serves as a guide in improvement. Feedback has the ability to track performance and assists an individual to achieve their goals, by guiding an individual to success and highlighting where to improve. This is important as it is creating a new way of viewing how one sees themselves, and viewing things from a different perspective.

Feedback is a motivational tool, enhancing performance levels and helping with productivity. It allows for a CEO or a coach to communicate with their team more effectively, which then has the ability to create a better atmosphere to work or play in, and hopefully delivering better results.

The Importance of Feedback in Professional Sports:

A study in 1983 by Bandura, A., & Cervone, D. Tested the hypothesis that self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms mediate the effects of goal systems on performance motivation. The trials consisted of 4 focus groups of 80 cyclists, monitoring improvements in performance levels.

• Group 1 had specific performance goals.
• Group 2 had no goals but had performance feedback from coaches.
• Group 3 had specific goals allocated at the beginning as well as feedback received throughout.
• Group 4 had no goals in place, nor did they receive any feedback throughout.

Results: Group 4 had the least amount of improvement in their performance compared to the other focus groups, falling very much behind on overall performance level. Group 3 improved their performance levels four times more effectively than any other group.

This is a prime example as to why feedback is an important tool of communication to improve performance, especially in a sporting context. Feedback allows coaches to communicate to their athletes how they are performing in relation to their expectations of where they should be, making it a critical component of teaching skills at professional levels.