Include the next change in your question
A positive reaction to your explanation can leave you unsure what to change next time. When you need improvement ideas, try asking what to change the next time you do the task. Asking for an overall evaluation and asking for a specific revision give the other person different questions to consider.
After explaining a procedure to a colleague taking over your work, for example, ask for advice about demonstrations or documentation to add to the next handover, alongside their assessment of the explanation. Even after a positive reaction, the discussion can continue into which part of the work to change and how.
Feedback can include evaluations of both successful and problematic aspects. This article considers questions that request proposals for future action when receiving those evaluations.
In an experiment by Blunden and colleagues, 194 employed adults recalled a colleague's work and were randomly asked to write feedback or advice. Advice produced more concrete comments, which independent raters judged more actionable. Advice writers also focused more on their colleague's future work. (Eliciting Advice Instead of Feedback Improves Developmental Input)
The experiment measured comments, rather than recipients' subsequent performance. The questions and handover example below are practical proposals developed for this article, informed by that finding.
Ask about demonstrations or documentation for the next handover
Include the work requiring advice and the next occasion you will perform it. The following hypothetical example concerns teaching a colleague how to create invoices. It reproduces neither the experiment's questions nor its measured responses.
| Information requested | Example question |
|---|
| An overall evaluation | How was today's handover explanation? |
| Advice for the next explanation | Next time I explain invoice creation, which task should I add a demonstration of? |
| Advice about the instructions | Which screens or operations should I add to the instructions for someone creating an invoice independently? |
If the answer to the overall question is that the explanation was thorough, you learn how it was received. You still have no identified task to demonstrate or screen to insert into the instructions. The other two questions ask directly for those changes.
If the proposal is simply to explain more carefully, ask which operation or section needs explanation instead of guessing what “carefully” means. Finding a billing contact, entering a tax rate, and editing a saved invoice require different additions.
Someone who has never performed the task may lack the knowledge to recommend how it should be done. Ask where they became stuck while following the instructions, then check the proposed procedure with a colleague who knows the work.
Turn advice into a revision you can try during the task
Once you receive a concrete proposal, apply the intended change to the text or screens. In the hypothetical example, suppose the colleague says they do not know how to correct an entry after saving it. Add a demonstration of opening and editing a saved invoice to the next handover. Add the operations for opening the editing screen and saving again to the instructions.
These revisions specify what you will add to the explanation. Asking the colleague to edit a practice invoice also lets you examine whether they can complete the task with the added instructions. If they pass the previously troublesome step without asking for help, that provides evidence that the missing information for that step has been supplied.
However, more explanation cannot let someone complete the operation if they lack editing permission. Instructions and access settings require changes that address their respective causes. Evaluate the specificity of advice separately from whether the proposed revision resolves the problem.
Use both evaluations and proposals in your next task
When seeking improvement ideas, include the next task and the operation or material to change in your question. The handover example moves from an overall reaction to proposals for additional demonstrations and screens. Asking which parts of the earlier explanation helped also provides reasons to continue using those parts.
Businesses providing training or operational support may also revise their website's service descriptions after receiving advice about instructional materials. If you add a practical exercise to a course, for example, describe the work participants will practice and any preparation required so the website explains what you provide.
SpreadSite is a no-code website builder that lets you create, publish, and update a website from Google Sheets using ready-made templates.
To create a website you can update as your training or operational support services change, give SpreadSite a try!
Build a website with SpreadSite →
