Feedback-Driven Course Corrections

10,000 hours of practice? Yeah, they still matter, but they only pay off when each hour rides shotgun with immediate feedback. Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman told Inc. Magazine that relevance and real-time correction are the multipliers that turn long practice into fast mastery. If practice is water, feedback is the cup that keeps it from spilling out all over the place. When repetition runs on autopilot, your brain quietly holds on to every flaw. A crisp critique, whether from a coach, a peer, or an AI copilot, snaps you back into conscious control. It rewires the pattern before it hardens, and delivers the small win that keeps motivation rolling for the next rep. Practical ways to blend those hours with high-velocity feedback: 🏹 Set micro-targets for every session Name one measurable outcome before you start (trim thirty seconds off a 5K split, refactor a function to cut runtime by five percent, open a discovery call without filler words). End only after you check that metric. 🏹 Build a same-day feedback channel Pair each practice block with a critic who can respond within twenty-four hours: a mentor dropping Loom notes on your sales call, an AI pair-programmer flagging inefficient loops the moment you hit Save, or a training app overlaying bike-fit angles on video right after your ride. 🏹 Run a five-minute post-mortem Immediately jot what worked, what flopped, and the single tweak you will test next time. Reflection turns raw data into insight while the memory is still warm. 🏹 Track velocity over volume Count iterations per week, bugs squashed per hour, objections neutralized per call, or whatever. Share those numbers publicly so the team celebrates speed of improvement rather than brute hours logged. If 10,000 hours is tuition, feedback is the scholarship that lets you graduate early. Which feedback ritual shaved months off your learning curve? Share so we can tighten the loop together. Welcome to Tuesday, ya'll!

As an early-stage founder, I've learned a painful but valuable lesson: working hard isn't enough if you're heading in the wrong direction. Recently, I caught myself grinding away at features our users never asked for, while real opportunities passed us by. Hard work is admirable, but hard work without proper validation is just expensive learning. The most difficult pivot isn't changing what you're building—it's changing what you believe about your business. Now, before diving deep into execution, I ask myself: -Am I solving a real problem? -Have I validated this with actual customers? -Is this the highest-leverage thing I could be working on? Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stop, reassess, and change course. What's your experience with course-correcting in your startup journey? #startuplessons #entrepreneurship #founderlife

Regular feedback stops minor issues from snowballing into avalanches. One or two degrees off course might seem small at first, but over time? It’s a problem. That’s why creating space for frequent feedback is essential in leadership. As I've matured as a leader, I’ve learned that the best way to avoid future roadblocks is by making feedback a regular part of how my managers and I operate as a team. I’m always intentional about creating space for constructive feedback from my managers. I want them to feel comfortable offering honest input so we can course-correct early and avoid small issues turning into bigger ones. I make a habit of setting up consistent check-ins where I’m able to ask my managers direct questions like: 🔎 Where should I focus in the coming year? 🔙 Are there areas where I should step back? ⌚ Am I spending my time in ways that deliver the results we need? It’s those kinds of questions that open up space for honest conversations. And honest conversations are the key to helping us all improve. When you make feedback a consistent practice, you can pivot quickly before things go off course. And by keeping the conversation open, you set both yourself and your team up for success. The clearer your sense of direction, the sooner you and your team can start making progress. #LeadershipDevelopment #ConstructiveFeedback #TeamSuccess

Do your learners treat training as a “one and done” activity, only to forget what they’ve learned later? 🤔 Meaningful learning isn’t something that happens all at once. It’s a process that builds over time. Learners need repeated opportunities to engage with the material, apply what they’ve learned, and adjust based on feedback. Providing timely feedback throughout this process is essential for reinforcing learning and encouraging growth. Without it, learners are left guessing whether they’re on the right track. For example, consider a leadership training program that teaches conflict resolution skills. Instead of a single role-play exercise meant as an assessment, imagine a variety of activities sprinkled throughout the course. During one activity, learners might identify and label conflict styles. Later, they practice techniques for de-escalating tense conversations. After each activity, they receive targeted feedback like, “You showed empathy well, but next time, try rephrasing to clarify the other person’s point.” Over time, this iterative learning process helps learners refine their skills and gain confidence. Want to make learning iterative and impactful? Try this! ⬇️ 👉 Plan for multiple touchpoints. Create spaced activities that revisit key concepts, giving learners opportunities to deepen their understanding over time. 👉 Use actionable feedback. Go beyond “correct” or “incorrect.” Highlight what they did well and give specific advice on what to improve. 👉 Include self-reflection with feedback. Encourage learners to reflect on their progress after receiving feedback. Ask questions like, “What will you do differently next time?” 👉 Incorporate peer feedback. In group settings, allow learners to give constructive feedback to each other, which can deepen their own understanding. Learning is a journey, not a sprint. When we provide timely feedback and give learners the chance to revisit concepts, we set them up for long-term success. ---------------------- Hi! I'm Elizabeth! 👋 💻 I specialize in eLearning development, where I create engaging courses that are designed to change the behavior of the learner to meet the needs of the organization. Follow me for more, and reach out if you need a high-quality innovative learning solution. 🤝 #InstructionalDesign #IterativeLearning #FeedbackMatters #eLearning #LearnerEngagement #AdultLearning #LearningAndDevelopment

There is only one type of company that will survive in the future. And no, this has nothing to do with AI. It’s the companies that collect, manage, and act on customer feedback. A few years ago, I was preparing to roll out a new program focused on enablement, education, and engagement. Instead of building it in a vacuum, I interviewed 20 different customers to get their feedback on what I was planning. Not only did this shape the final design, but when I rolled it out, I shared back with the broader customer base how their peers’ voices had directly influenced what we built. That one decision did three things instantly: 1️⃣ Showed we cared. 2️⃣ Illustrated that we listen. 3️⃣ Encouraged even more customers to share in the future. And the program? It became one of our most successful launches. Feedback isn’t just “nice to have.” It’s your survival strategy. Because when customers tell you what’s working and what’s not they’re giving you a free roadmap to: ❗ Fix broken experiences before they become deal breakers. ❗ Double down on what’s driving loyalty and expansion. ❗ Spot emerging needs before your competitors do. But here’s the part most leaders miss: every team in the business can tap into customer feedback and act on it. ✅ Marketing can refine messaging by listening to how customers describe their wins and struggles. ✅ Sales can tailor discovery questions based on feedback about what attracted (or repelled) prospects. ✅ Support sees trends in recurring tickets that point to product or education gaps. ✅ Services hears firsthand how onboarding and implementation shape customer confidence. ✅ Product can prioritize the features that customers say would truly move the needle. ✅ Customer Success uncovers both risks and expansion opportunities through ongoing conversations. ✅ Finance can better forecast retention and growth by understanding feedback-driven health signals. The insights are everywhere. The real power comes when companies can connect the dots across all teams and turn feedback into coordinated action. And this is where I see the biggest roadblock: Companies struggle to manage feedback across the business in a meaningful way. It’s siloed, scattered, and often disconnected from strategy. So let me ask: Is this a challenge you’re seeing in your organization too?

Obsess over the feedback loop. All the learning you need is in the feedback loop. Most people don’t fail because they lack talent. They fail because they lack a system for learning from failure. Every success story rests on a foundation of failures that were properly ↳ Analyzed ↳ Iterated On ↳ And Improved Most of us don’t hit these important marks. We move move past failure too quickly, avoiding the embarrassing discomfort of reflection. We take failures personally instead of treating them scientifically. We assume trying harder is the answer when we need to try harder to design a better approach. I focus on one core truth: Learning more from failure is how we ultimately win. Failure is a feedback loop, and if yours is broken, you won’t just fail, you’ll repeat your failures over and over. Here’s how to fix that. 👇🏼 1️⃣ Pause & Reflect ↳ Before you move forward, stop. ↳ What went wrong? ↳ What did you assume? ↳ What was unexpected? 2️⃣Capture Data ↳ Write everything down. Future-you needs this information. 3️⃣ Remove Your Ego ↳ This isn’t about you, it’s about the process. ↳ Failures are feedback, not character judgments. 4️⃣ Get External Input ↳ Find people ahead of you who will tell you the truth. ↳ No sugarcoating. ↳ No yes-people allowed. 5️⃣ Identify the Root Cause ↳ Surface-level problems aren’t the real issue. Dig deeper. ↳ What’s the pattern behind your failures? 6️⃣ Make One Small Change ↳ Not everything needs an overhaul. ↳ Start with one adjustment and test the impact. 7️⃣ Test & Observe ↳ Don’t make assumptions. Run your new approach. ↳ Measure the results, and see what actually works. 8️⃣ Iterate with Consistency ↳ One correction doesn’t fix everything. ↳ Keep adjusting, keep improving, keep refining. 9️⃣ Build a Culture of Learning ↳ Winners review their losses more than they celebrate their wins. Every failure contains data. Every mistake contains insight. Are you learning? If you’re not, you’re setting yourself up to fail the same way again. DO. FAIL. LEARN. GROW. WIN. REPEAT. FOREVER. What do your feedback loops like? Which of these ideas might be most helpful to your work? Drop a comment below to share your experience. 👇🏼 _____ 🔗 Subscribe to The Failure Blog via the link in my profile (💯🙏🏼) ➕ Follow me, John Brewton, for content that Helps (💯🙏🏼) ♻️ Repost to your networks, colleagues, and friends if you think this would help them (💯🙏🏼)

Few quick lessons as an entrepreneur turned Product Marketing Manager here at PortPro Course Correction: 🔄 Adaptability: Pivoting and adjusting strategies based on customer feedback, market trends, and performance metrics is crucial. Flexibility can turn potential pitfalls into growth opportunities. 📈 Continuous Improvement: Regularly refining our product, marketing strategies, and ongoing customer engagement keeps us competitive and relevant. 👥 Customer-Centric Approach: Our success hinges on complex real-world, #drayage results that drive customer satisfaction and retention. Adapting based on feedback leads to better user experiences and higher retention rates. There's nothing like the voice of the customer - especially within an organization with a high product release rate. Execution: 🛠️ Consistency and Reliability: Delivering products and services reliably builds trust and satisfaction. Customers will give you the benefit of the doubt, be more receptive to feedback calls, and try out your new releases sooner rather than later. ⚙️ Efficiency: Optimizing processes and resources to hit our goals effectively leads to higher productivity and better financial performance too. Know your KPIs and, when you can, instrument your product to track them 📈 Scalability: As we grow, scalable and repeatable execution processes are essential. It helps manage increasing demand without compromising on quality and speed. The Balance: 🪄 Early Stages: Focus on course correction to find that sweet product-market fit. 🚀 Growth Phase: Reliable execution is key to scaling and meeting demand. If things aren't flowing as you feel they should, raise concerns early, and engage with your team to find solutions that everyone can buy into. 🏆 Mature Stage: A perfect balance ensures stability, innovation, and responsiveness to market changes. It takes time and work to get here but with the right team, the sky's the limit. Practical Lessons: 🚫 Don't Do Everything for Everyone: Sometimes, it's better to hit the pause button if you find yourself stuck. Set your team up for support and review. Often, they’ll step in and do their thing, adding their expertise as you go. The sum of the whole is greater than the parts. ⏳ Time is a Premium: For certain roles in the org, if you can't get what you need from high-demand individuals, work with what you have. Notify, and move forward. 💼 Have a Backup Plan: Execution is king, and within that execution sits course correction. Be ready and able to hit unpublish when you need to. Being mindful of course correction and execution is equally important. It’s about finding that harmony and adapting to customer business needs within the current market environment. Regular reviews and strategic adjustments while maintaining high execution standards lead to sustained success and profitable growth. #SaaS #Growth #Innovation #CustomerSuccess #ProductManagement

At what frequency should managers and employees connect for feedback? Feedback conversations are essential for not only assessing past endeavours but also for fueling future performance. Unfortunately, in many #organisations, these discussions happen only once a year, often right before annual performance reviews, serving little purpose beyond ticking a box. Let's dive into a hypothetical scenario from an IPL cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Mumbai Indians (MI) bat first and scored 199 runs in their 20 overs. In response, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) managed to score 42 runs without losing a wicket after the powerplay. CSK takes a #strategic timeout to evaluate the run chase. (Feedback process starts) While the opening batsmen felt satisfied with this progress, the team's #coach and captain believed otherwise. They note that Mumbai Indians did not utilise their main bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, in the first six overs, which means he might bowl at the death and can choke the runs. Furthermore, they consider the dew factor, which did not materialise as anticipated, and this can aid spinners in the middle overs. They advise the batsmen to adopt a more aggressive approach to maintain a manageable run rate. Fueled by this feedback, the openers started pouncing on the bowlers, and CSK successfully chased down the #target in the 18th over, securing their spot in the semifinals of IPL-2024. (Yes, I hope they reach the semis :D) Now, imagine if there had been no feedback after the 6th over, and the openers continued with the same #strategy for another 6 overs. It would likely have been too late to course-correct. That's the power of timely #feedback. Waiting a year for feedback is like waiting for a 20-over inning to finish before sharing feedback—it's too late to make any meaningful #impact. So, what should be the cadence of feedback in the #workplace: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly? Well, research suggests that maintaining a feedback cadence once every 11 days produces the best results in terms of #engagement and #performance. However, in reality, there is no 11-day cycle we are accustomed to. Hence, either weekly or fortnightly feedback conversations between a manager and employee can be conducted to produce the best of results. Anything beyond this time frame hinders timely course correction, leading to decreased awareness, missed improvement opportunities, and lower morale and engagement, ultimately impacting individual and organisational performance. If you enjoyed the post, please follow Abhay Ranjan for more such content. PS: Generated the AI images from Microsoft Copilot, funny that they are drinking water from capped bottles. Well, they will also work on the feedback :) #feedbackculture #performancereview

I don’t know what all those gauges and readouts on an airplane dashboard mean, but I do know that I want the pilots flying the aircraft to see them. Otherwise, they’d be flying around the globe pressing buttons and throwing switches on hunches and guesses. It’s the same with change activation. If a business wants its initiatives to actually, you know, work, they need the gauges and readouts of change: two-way feedback loops. Too many transformation strategies stall mid-air because they're missing one critical piece: live feedback from the ground. 🚫 Not the kind that comes 90 days later in a spreadsheet from HR. 🚫 Not the kind that’s missing in a thousand unanswered surveys. 🚫 Not the kind that's too late, showing up in exit interviews from disgruntled employees already moving on to greener pastures. I’m talking about real, instant, interactive, informal feedback. The kind that can be used to course-correct in real time. I call this the “Triple I” strategy: Instant  Interactive  Informal Here's the thing about feedback: 🧭 It’s a compass. It surfaces what people are thinking right now — what they’re confused about, excited by, or flat-out resisting. 📈 It’s a growth engine. It helps teams learn faster and build smarter next time. If they already know that job security is a major concern for one group, why go through the pain of rediscovering that from scratch during the next initiative? 🧠 It’s organizational memory. A well-run feedback system captures insights that can be used again and again. No need to keep asking the same questions if the answers have already been documented. But here’s the challenge: Most companies don’t have the time, tools, or energy to conduct 1:1s, focus groups, and in-person interviews across tens of thousands of people. And survey fatigue is real. You can only send so many Surveymonkey forms before people start auto-clicking “neutral.” Instead, tap into an activity people already do several times every day: interacting with content. When change comms or capability building initiatives are embedded into a change activation platform with built-in interactive functionality, something magical is unlocked: ✅ Questions get asked  ✅ Concerns are shared  ✅ Colleagues respond to each other  ✅ Change champions emerge organically  ✅ A real-time pulse on what is and isn't resonating emerges  Even better? The data is captured automatically. Comment data becomes reports visualized in-platform with sentiment analysis layered on top. Visibility into what’s trending by audience, location, and job level — across the entire organization — without running a single survey. Access to 24/7, large-scale feedback *that doesn’t feel like feedback.* No forms. No follow-ups. Just natural interaction with change content and powerful data to guide your next move. That’s the kind of loop that fuels real agility and speed. Because strategy without feedback isn’t agile - it’s flying blind. 

Corporate Soul Stories Chapter 16: The Art of Giving Creative & Constructive #Feedback – Growing Without Tearing Down Claire was a rising leader—sharp, driven, and always pushing her team to be better. But if she was honest, there was one part of leadership she dreaded: Giving feedback. She had seen it go wrong too many times. 🚨 The Sugarcoated Trap: Feedback so vague and polite that it did nothing to help. 🚨 The Bulldozer Approach: Brutal, demoralizing, and crushing instead of coaching. 🚨 The Avoidance Game: No feedback at all—just silent resentment until it was too late. But the best leaders? They knew the secret: Feedback isn’t about criticism. It’s about growth. The Garden Analogy: How Great Feedback Works One day, Claire’s mentor, a veteran executive named Mark, gave her a new way to look at feedback. "Think of your team like a garden," he said. "Some plants need sunlight—encouragement, praise, recognition." "Some need pruning—corrections, adjustments, realignment." "Some need deeper roots—mentorship, challenges, new skills." "Your job? To help them grow—not to rip them out of the soil." That was Claire’s turning point. The 3 Rules of Game-Changing Feedback ✅ 1. Focus on Growth, Not Judgment Instead of “This was wrong,” she started saying “Here’s how we can make this even better.” It wasn’t about pointing fingers. It was about pointing forward. ✅ 2. Make It Specific and Actionable Instead of “You need to improve your presentations,” she said “Let’s work on making your key points clearer in the first two minutes.” No one can fix vague feedback. Clarity creates progress. ✅ 3. Balance Praise with Challenge She learned to celebrate strengths while addressing areas to improve. People need to hear what they’re doing right so they have the confidence to tackle what’s wrong. The Transformation: When Feedback Becomes a Superpower Claire’s team changed. 🚀 People stopped fearing feedback and started asking for it. 🚀 Mistakes became less about failure and more about learning. 🚀 Productivity soared—because when people know how to improve, they actually do. And here’s the kicker—Claire grew too. Because the best leaders don’t just give feedback. They invite it. They ask, “What can I do better as your leader?”—and they listen. Final Thought: Feedback Isn’t a Weapon. It’s a Gift. The difference between a boss and a leader? A boss tells you what you did wrong. A leader shows you how to do it right. Ask Yourself Today: "Am I helping people grow—or just pointing out what’s broken?" "Do I avoid feedback because it’s hard, or embrace it because it’s necessary?" Because the best teams thrive on feedback. Not fear. To be continued… 🚀 DC*