Feedback Traps
By Cheryl Coker, Ph.D, New Mexico State University, appearing in the Mind Games section of the USOC Olympic Coach E-Magazine, Winter 2008 issue. Here’s the link to the issue.
The importance of providing athletes feedback regarding their performance is without question. Unfortunately, a number of feedback traps exist that coaches can fall into. These traps reduce feedback effectiveness or worse, create unintentional consequences that can hinder performance. Here are five common feedback traps that should be avoided:
Trap #1 - More is not better!
Feedback serves many purposes. It can reinforce a behavior, provide information about the correctness of a performance attempt, explain why an error occurred, prescribe how to fix an error and motivate athletes to continue working towards their goals. Accordingly, feedback facilitates skill development and performance. It stands to reason then that one might think that the more frequently feedback is given, the greater the gains in learning and performance. This however, is not the case and in fact, can be detrimental.
If feedback is given too often, athletes become accustomed to receiving it and can develop an overdependence on the coach. When this occurs, they are no longer actively engaged in processing and assessing response produced sensory information but instead simply wait for the coach to tell them what happened and how to fix it. The danger with this strategy is that the athlete is no longer forced to develop necessary problem solving skills to develop their own error detection and correction mechanisms. In other words, athletes will not learn how to ascertain the specific cause of an error nor will they be able to determine the adjustments necessary for its correction. Instead, prompt athletes to evaluate their performance prior to providing feedback. This strategy promotes reflective thinking that leads to superior learning.
Want the rest of the traps? Read the article or the PDF version of the issue.