Practice Perfect by Doug Lemov; Erica Woolway; Katie Yezzi

Author:Doug Lemov; Erica Woolway; Katie Yezzi
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-08-05T21:00:00+00:00

Speed of consequence beats strength of consequence pretty much every time. Give feedback right away, even if it’s imperfect.

Remember that a simple and small change, implemented right away, can be more effective than a complex rewiring of a skill.

RULE 26 USE THE POWER OF POSITIVE

We often assume that feedback is a tool for repair. You give it to fix something. It’s the vehicle for telling people what they did wrong and how they can do it better. But as we noted in Rule 6, Practice “Bright Spots”, there is opportunity for those who can get past the assumption that the goal is always to fix the things that are wrong with us. Over the past few decades, a groundbreaking group of “positive” psychologists has emerged with a focus not on what goes wrong but on what goes right. People cope effectively and sometimes heroically with incredible difficulty: they overcome, endure, and thrive in the face of adversity. Positive psychologists seek to study and learn from such cases and apply the lessons so that more of us respond with energy and vigor in the face of challenge.

We don’t denigrate the importance of identifying areas for improvement and productively getting after them. Any productive sequence of practice must eventually do that, probably sooner rather than later, but a fix-it model underrates the compelling “power of positive” to guide change and improvement. Author and consultant Marcus Buckingham, whose book First Break All the Rules has consistently been ranked among top business books since its publication in 1999, has been widely influential in messaging that organizations get further managing strengths than weaknesses. The assumption that “each person’s greatest room for growth is his or her areas of greatest weakness” is often not correct, he observes. In fact people tend to improve most and fastest at things they are good at or by applying their existing talents in new settings. Focusing feedback on strengths can be at least as productive as focusing it on weaknesses. If you do it right.

The “if” here is a big one, because most of us tend to rely on what we think is the most productive form of positive feedback: praise. Saying, “You did that well. Great job!” is nice. It motivates and inspires people. But we tend to think that’s it, that positive feedback motivates people by making them feel good. Ironically, that may be the weakest part of positive feedback. To transform positive feedback from a pleasant motivational tool to a major muscle group of improvement, consider adding three simple tools—a statement of identification, a statement of application, and a statement of replication.

Let’s look at an example. You’re in the backyard teaching your daughter, Danielle, to field ground balls. She’s a motivated kid and wants to learn, but there’s a lot to know about ground balls. Gotta move those feet and get behind the ball so you don’t have to reach. Gotta get your backside down and your head up. Gotta start with your glove open and your wrist flexed.

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