Feedback....

The second of my blog entries is going to explore feedback, how we can use it as a leader and how it was used for me during my trip to Snowdonia back in November. Upcraft (1982) defines feedback as the exchange of information among group members based on behaviour.  When I started leading on my first day from the Helyg Hut in the Ogwen valley up on to the Carneddau Range, I charged on ahead concentrating solely on navigation and effectively ignoring the group I was leading. Within a hundred metres of leaving the bus I received my first bit of feedback from the Mountain Leader/ Lecturer who was overseeing me for the day. The feedback was basically that I needed to spread myself throughout the group talking to every member rather than charging off.  Taking this on board I relinquished the navigation and allowed a first year to take over and then ensured I spoke to every member of the group. According to Priest & Gass (1997) for feedback to be appropriate it must be specific, descriptive, well intended, solicited, well timed and directed towards change. All of these criteria were met in the feedback I received from my lecturer.

This feedback was an example of Extrinsic Feedback; feedback from an external source. There are many forms this feedback can take ranging from a comment from coach or instructor to a medal or certificate for an accomplishment. This then reinforces the feelings you get inside on how your performance went developing your intrinsic feedback from our senses.  As an example after my feedback I talked to the students in my group and heard their responses, the lecturer then gave me further extrinsic feedback which reinforced my intrinsic feedback. From then on during my first and second days of leading I did not need the external feedback from my lecturer. I could glean information on my performance through my senses, I could hear if the group were not happy with the pace or situation and then act upon it.

Bandwith theory comes into play when you are an outdoor instructor. Continual comments of “You’re doing really well… Keep going…. That’s fantastic…” are patronising to all but the novice participant and can get incredibly annoying during a long day on the hill. Bandwidth theory is the process of reducing feedback so much that only a comment or gesture would suffice as feedback. This narrowing of the feedback bandwidth has a positive effect on the participant’s performance by establishing extrinsic feedback parameters allowing intrinsic feedback to develop.

Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming Priest & Gass: Human Kinetics (1997)

Sport Psychology Matt Jarvis: Routledge (1999)

MACKENZIE, B. (2002) Information Feedback [WWW] Available from: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/infofb.htm [Accessed15/3/2012]