Ask for Advice, Not Feedback, to Get Input You Can Use

You finished the big presentation and asked your manager, "Any feedback?" They said, "It was great!" and moved on. Nice to hear. Useless for getting better.

Or you asked a peer for feedback on your draft and got a list of what went wrong, with no sense of what to do next.

A small change in wording might help.

What the research found

Jaewon Yoon, Hayley Blunden, Ariella Kristal and Ashley Whillans ran four experiments, including a field study in an executive education classroom, comparing what happens when people ask for feedback versus advice. They described the results in a 2019 Harvard Business Review article, and a peer-reviewed version later appeared in Management Science.

When people asked for advice rather than feedback, they got input that was more specific and more actionable. The authors' explanation is that "feedback" invites people to evaluate what you did in the past, while "advice" points them toward what you could do next. Interestingly, the advice responses weren't longer, just more specific.

There's a limit. Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge notes that asking for advice may not work as well when the process requires looking back at what happened, such as a post-mortem on a project.

"Feedback" asks how you did. "Advice" asks what you could do next.

How to ask

• Use the word "advice." "What's one piece of advice you'd give me for the next presentation?"
• Point to the future. "If you were doing this next quarter, what would you change?"
• Be specific about the area. "What advice do you have on how I handled the Q&A?"
• Ask more than one person. Different people notice different things.
• Say thank you and follow up. Tell them what you tried. It makes them more likely to help again.

Why it matters for your growth

If you're building a skill on top of a busy job, every bit of useful input counts. Clear, forward-looking advice helps you improve faster and gives you concrete examples of your growth to point to later.

It can also make asking feel less exposing. Many people find it easier to ask "What would you suggest?" than "What did I do wrong?" And the people you ask may find it easier to answer, because they get to be helpful rather than critical.

Where an accountability partner helps

An accountability partner can help you decide whom to ask and what to ask about. After you get advice, they can help you choose one thing to try and talk through how it went. Over time, you build a habit of seeking out input instead of waiting for it.

This week

After your next meeting, presentation or piece of work, ask one person: "What's one piece of advice you'd give me for next time?" Write down what they say and pick one suggestion to try.