Coaching practices for Goals and Feedback
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Goals and Feedback, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I set a goal and then just go quiet on it, never checking where I actually stand until the deadline ambushes me
- All the feedback I get is about whether I hit the target, and none of it touches the assumptions underneath how I’m even seeing the situation
- I’ve only ever set myself one kind of goal
- No matter how carefully I word it, my feedback seems to land as me sitting in judgment over them from above
- My feedback conversations end with the person nodding and saying "yeah, makes sense, got it"
Practices that may help
- Close the loop with regular, specific feedback
Goals without feedback are motivationally inert — feedback is the other half.
Goal Setting Theory, Made Practical - Seek developmental feedback, not just performance feedback
Ask for feedback that challenges your assumptions about how you see, not just how you perform.
Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical - Understand the three-goal hierarchy: outcome, performance, process
Use all three goal types — but know which one to focus on during execution.
Process Goals, Made Practical - Establish shared purpose before delivering critique
Frame critique as help toward a shared goal, not an evaluation from above.
The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead - Close feedback by checking understanding, not agreement
Ask "What did you take from that?" rather than "Do you agree?"
The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead - Debrief against process goals, not just the outcome
After performance, evaluate whether you executed your process goals before evaluating the result.
Process vs. Outcome Goals in Sport and Performance - Calibrate stretch with a target score
Aim where hitting ~70% is a strong result, so comfort means you aimed too low.
OKRs for People, Not Just Companies - Feedforward: Future-Focused Feedback That Actually Changes Behavior
Feedforward, developed by executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, replaces backward-looking critique with forward-looking suggestions — asking "what ideas do you have for the future?" rather than "what did I do wrong?" The core claim is that people are more receptive to ideas about what they could do than to judgments about what they did. Evidence is primarily clinical and practitioner-based rather than from controlled trials. - Build a three-level goal hierarchy
Stack outcome goals (direction), performance goals (benchmarks), and process goals (moment-to-moment focus) in a single structure.
Process vs. Outcome Goals in Sport and Performance - Review process goal execution separately from outcomes after each performance
Evaluate how well you executed your process goals independently of whether you won or lost.
Process Goals, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Feedback For Growth Not Performance
Ask for feedback that challenges your assumptions about how you see, not just how you perform.
Seek developmental feedback, not just performance feedback
- How To Write Process Goals
Process goals must be both actionable (you can do them) and observable (you can confirm you did them).
Design process goals that are specific, observable, and within your control
- Observable Goals Performance
Process goals must be both actionable (you can do them) and observable (you can confirm you did them).
- Outcome Performance Process Goals
Process goals focus on the specific behaviors and techniques under the performer’s direct control (how you execute) rather than on outcomes (whether you win). Sport psychology research consistently finds that process goals maintain attention on controllable actions, reduce anxiety, and improve performance consistency — especially under pressure — while pure outcome goals can undermine both.
- Outcome Vs Process Goals
Outcome goals (winning, achieving a score) set direction but are only partially within a performer’s control. Process goals (executing specific actions or maintaining specific focus) are fully controllable and directly drive the behaviors that produce outcomes. Sport psychology research indicates that process and performance goals produce better results under pressure than outcome goals alone — because they direct attention to what can actually be influenced in the moment.
- Performance Goal Framing
Set goals against your own past standard rather than against others.
Orient toward mastery rather than performance comparison
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.