Feedback is one of the most emotionally charged experiences at work. Managers dread giving it, and employees brace for impact. Because it focuses on the past, it often sparks defensiveness, anxiety, and mistrust.
Feedforward offers a better way.
This session introduces a practical, future-focused approach that shifts conversations toward clear next steps, mutual growth, and psychological safety. Participants will learn why future-based dialogue reduces threat responses, explore common emotional traps, and practice a simple framework for creating constructive, possibility-centered conversations.
The result: more trust, more openness, and a workplace where people grow by talking about the future—not the past.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain why traditional feedback often fails—and identify the emotional reactions that make people shut down instead of grow.
- Use Feedforward principles to shift conversations from past mistakes to future-focused possibilities, enabling more open and productive dialogue.
- Apply a simple, repeatable framework for offering behaviour-based suggestions that build trust and psychological safety.
- Demonstrate how to invite input and co-create next steps, fostering a collaborative and mutually rewarding development experience.
Who should attend this program?
Everyone at any level can benefit from this program.
Registration Difficulties/Questions: Please reach out to the Professional Development team at Professionaldevelopment@hrpa.ca
Speaker(s)
Dr. David S. Cohen Ed.D.
Dr. David S. Cohen, Ed. D. has a vision: organizations that thrive by living their values in good times and especially VUCA times. David earned a reputation as a contrarian consultant because he does not always follow what is popular in his chosen field. He works with other leaders, helping them understand what is and what is not necessary to build a healthy organization. Read full bio here.