The Importance and Meaning of Actionable Feedback

When it comes to giving feedback, you’ll often hear that your feedback should be ‘actionable’ but what exactly does that mean, and why is it important?

Not all feedback is created equal. If you’ve ever received feedback for something that you’ve written before then you likely already know that. In truth, if you’ve ever written more than a single piece of feedback, then you’re probably aware that this applies to your own feedback just as much as it does to any that you receive. Feedback can be challenging to give even at the best of times. When offering your thoughts on a story, it can be a struggle to walk the tightrope between being honest about its flaws and not being overly harsh and risking demoralizing the author.

So what’s the solution? Well, that’s largely where actionable feedback comes into play. Unlike undetailed, basic, and blunt feedback, utilizing actionable feedback is a great way to go into detail about why something about someone’s story isn’t working without hurting their feelings. Let’s take a moment for a quick example. As an author, which feedback would you rather receive? Feedback that says “Your story’s ending sucks!” or feedback that takes the time to say “While your story has a weak ending, there are a few reasons why that is the case, and here are a few suggestions that might help you strengthen it.”

I suspect that, like most authors, you’d rather receive that second example as feedback. On the surface, those two statements might not actually seem all that different, but one is simply a statement on the reader’s perceived quality of a story, while the other identifies the problem, and then offers suggestions on how to overcome it. It’s no longer just a statement, but rather, the second example has turned their feedback into a conversation between themselves and the author. It’s polite, and offers thoughts with the intention of helping instead of just admonishing the writer. That is the essence of actionable feedback, and the core of how to approach writing it for other people. Approach it as if it were a conversation with another person. Naturally, when giving feedback, there will be many times where the feedback’s recipient isn’t able to answer your feedback directly, however, if somebody you knew asked you for your opinion on their work, there’s a good chance that you wouldn’t just tell them that it sucks and move on, correct? More likely, you’d sit down and outline what worked and didn’t work for you about their story and why. That’s actionable feedback. Feedback the author can act on clearly and directly, and that’s the sort of feedback we should always strive to give when writing feedback for others. The setting shouldn’t matter, nor should the recipient's ability to comment on your feedback directly. Keep your feedback polite, constructive, and clear.

Of course, it’s also important to remember that there’s a difference between actionable feedback and rewriting someone’s story for them. Actionable feedback, like all kinds of feedback, should be a guiding hand that helps an author find problems within their work and help them build upon their own ideas on how to fix it. It isn't the job of the person giving feedback to rewrite someone else’s story as if it were their own, or as if they had a better understanding of the author’s intentions than the author themselves. Remember, the core of actionable feedback is that it should be approached like a respectful conversation. Rewriting swaths of a writer’s work is not only disrespectful, but also shows a dangerous amount of arrogance and an excessive belief in your own abilities as being better than others. Put simply, you probably wouldn’t want someone else rewriting large chunks of your story to suit their tastes, so approach other people’s work with the same mentality and the same amount of respect that you want others to show you.

When giving actionable story advice, consider your phrasing. Instead of saying “Change this to this because that’s better,” consider saying “Think about putting more emphasis on this part of the story to increase its potential impact on a reader.” Remember, when giving feedback, your job is to be a guiding hand for the recipient. Be clear about what you think would benefit from a change, but remain respectful and helpful.

So, with that all said, the next question to ask is why is it called actionable feedback? That might seem obvious to some, but there are plenty who might misconstrue the meaning. To be clear, it's not called actionable feedback because it’s feedback that you’re demanding that the author act on. Rather, actionable is used to describe this kind of feedback because it’s structured in such a way that’s clear and makes it easier to act on and implement if the recipient chooses to do so.

What makes it easy to act on? The answer to that question is structure. When writing actionable feedback, make sure to identify the problem clearly. This usually involves stating it clearly in a sentence. Afterwards, make sure to give targeted and practical advice on how to resolve the issue. Next, we need to ask what practical advice means. Well, for example, suggesting a small change to something could be seen as easily achievable and practical feedback. Suggesting that somebody re-write half of their story to implement your feedback, on the other hand, would be a good example of advice that’s far less practical to actually implement. Be realistic about what the person reading your feedback is likely to be able to do. With that all covered, it’s important to ask what targeted means in this context. Keeping your feedback targeted means to keep it focused on the problem you're trying to help resolve. Rather than giving unstructured suggestions that try to cover an entire story and jump between problem points with no rhyme or reason, give your feedback point-by-point, keeping your suggestions focused on a singular point or problem before moving on to the next. From there, approach each point you’re offering feedback about in a similar manner.

Finally, remember to keep your feedback succinct. A huge amount of negative feedback can be demoralizing for the recipient. They may walk away from your feedback with the thought that they’re not a good writer at all and should just quit. You never know what stage of their writing journey someone may be at. Because of that, it’s often more prudent to focus on the points that you consider to have the biggest problems rather than trying to cover absolutely every single thing you consider wrong with a story. When it comes to feedback, you may not be providing it alone. In those cases, it’s both fine and preferable to trust the other people giving feedback to cover different ground than you. Different people saying different things can come across as far less overwhelming for an author than one person giving them an essay-length deconstruction of everything wrong with their work.

Hopefully, this brief discussion helped clarify not only what actionable feedback is, but also its importance. Remember, your feedback is important and has an impact. Every piece of feedback you give could be shaping future writers. That’s why it’s important to remember to be respectful, kind, and approach the feedback you give with the acknowledgment that there’s another human receiving it.

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About the author: Ash Bartel has been a voracious reader ever since she was a child and an avid writer for almost just as long. Despite a lengthy history with writing contemporary fiction, Ash enjoys stories of all genres and subject matters. She’s always eager to see a well executed plot twist come together and loves seeing all of the brilliant and ingenious ways that people build their characters, worlds and stories.