How to Know if your Feedback Loop is Effective ?

Welcome back to weekend coffee chats ! So we all need feedback loops in our lives, and the better they are the more we develop. But do we actually have good feedback loops in our lives? How can we even know?

I got thinking about this when I was recently trying to learn some dance moves from youtube, and it got me to notice that learning to dance has a fantastic feedback loop. You learn the steps from an instructor or video, you dance in front of a mirror so you can see whether you’re making mistakes and so you correct them. Then you do it all again, again, and again.

So what about everything else we do? Well, you can use the same breakdown, just adjust it.

First, it depends on what or who is your mirror? Is it clear or stained? If clear all good, if anything else then you need a new mirror. Bonus Tip: human mirrors or feedback providers are rarely completely objective, the trick is to be transparent about the biases and lay them down from the beginning.

Who’s your instructor? Someone knowledgeable or a newbie like yourself? Whether you’re using the help of a video, a person, or even a robot (who knows where our future is going after all) they need to be knowledgeable. Also, if an instructor’s style doesn’t work with you, you can find a new one rather than assume you’re a terrible student.

And most importantly, are you repeating the moves till you get them right? As the first time is usually the worst (at least in dancing) and you’re likely to get most of it completely wrong.

It sounds so simple because it is for dance or outcomes we can see, but when it comes to other things in our lives things, things are not as clear. They get blown out of proportion and complicated, just look at the multiple evaluations for the outcome of “am I doing a good job”. We have self-evaluation, team evaluation, 360 feedback, and so much more. When in reality what matters is that simple boring circle of Instructor, practice, mirror, adjustment, repetitions, and time.

Sometimes we think our practice isn’t working or we’re not meant for this outcome. Does “I’ve got 2 left feet or I’m not a languages person” ring any bells? When the issue could be the mirror, or it could be these moves are so intricate they need an in-person instructor rather than a video one. You see where I’m going with this?

Now that the new year is around the corner, it would be worthwhile to consider whether your dancing (or whatever goal you’re working on) has improved over the past year rather than whether you’ve mastered it or spent days and nights tracking it.

As for my dancing moves, they’re as hilarious and uncoordinated as they can get, but hey at least they are improving!

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Disclaimer: None of this information is to be used as advice, it’s just for entertainment purposes. Additionally, all information used is publicly available.