The feedforward interview: A theoretical account

In the ongoing effort to maximize employee performance, the managerial tools of performance management, performance appraisal, and feedback often fail to produce desirable organizational outcomes. As a remedy, some scholars suggest the Feedforward Interview (FFI), which helps employees identify strengths, develop new behaviors, and improve performance. To promote understanding of the FFI, we detail the theoretical mechanisms activated by each of its five stages and offer new ways to use it. The FFI potentially creates the proximal outcomes of positive emotions, bonding, psychological safety, insights, interviewer knowledge, and satisfaction of intrinsic needs. These outcomes motivate change and improve work performance, collaboration between interviewer and interviewee, and well-being. We discuss differences between feedback and the FFI, boundary conditions, and applications—from performance appraisal and personnel selection to employee, team, leadership, and organizational development—thereby providing managers and practitioners with deeper knowledge and a broader range of potential uses for the FFI.