Feedback

One of the most common complaints I head from instructors is that they didn’t get any feedback from their trainer. If instructors want feedback, it’s not a stretch to say that students are looking for feedback too.

Feedback helps

• Reinforce positive actions
• Redirect ineffective movements
• Keep your student emotionally invested

Feedback shouldn’t be judgmental it is imprecise and be taken personally. Get the words good, bad, right and wrong out of your vocabulary. Focus on what you see and how it relates to the student’s intentions.

For example:

Judgmental feedback: “Those turns looked bad,” “You’re in the backseat”
Objective feedback: “Do you feel how your hips drift back during the finish of the turn. It puts you in a difficult position to start the next turn,” “That last turn washed out because you looked uphill”

Make sure your feedback is welcome

Create an atmosphere of trust by showing respect and empathy

Students will be more likely to receive feedback if you ask for permission, make observations rather than judgments and checks to be sure the feedback is understood

If you are working on a task, keep your feedback specific to the task and explain how the feedback will help the student with the task

Feedback should be immediate

Feedback is useless if it isn’t personal. If you give feedback to the group people who need the feedback will ignore it and people who don’t need it will try to change something that doesn’t need changing will. Your students will appreciate the personal attention.