Teaching Staff to Receive Feedback: What One Study Found

Feedback conversations shape how clinics run. When staff struggle to receive feedback well, supervisors may start avoiding those conversations altogether—and that can affect client care. This study tested a simple, low-effort method to teach feedback reception skills: a short checklist reviewed before the conversation. The findings offer practical ideas for busy supervisors looking to make feedback talks calmer and more productive.

What Is the Research Question Being Asked and Why Does It Matter?

Can we teach staff to receive feedback well using a quick, low-effort method?

Most workplaces train supervisors on how to give feedback, but they rarely teach staff what to do during the conversation. In ABA clinics, this matters because feedback is frequent and tied to client safety, treatment quality, and team trust.

Some staff react to feedback by arguing, shutting down, or changing the subject. When that happens, supervisors may start avoiding feedback because it feels stressful or pointless. Over time, less feedback can mean slower skill growth and more repeated errors.

Teaching feedback reception isn’t about making people comply. It’s about making feedback conversations calmer, clearer, and more useful for both people.

This study tested whether task clarification—a clear list of what to do during feedback—could build these skills. The goal was to find something faster than behavioral skills training or computer modules. For busy clinics, a method that takes minutes instead of hours could be easier to use, as long as it doesn’t push staff to hide valid concerns.

What Did the Researchers Do to Answer That Question?

The researchers worked with three newer RBTs at one early intervention clinic. Each RBT completed a work task—writing an operational definition, writing session notes, or running a preference assessment. Afterward, an experimenter gave them a short feedback meeting lasting about 3 to 5 minutes.

During these meetings, the researchers scored six feedback reception skills:

• Eye contact or orientation
• Asking follow-up questions
• Active listening (summarizing)
• Acknowledging corrective feedback (nodding or saying “okay”)
• Stating commitment to change
• Keeping an appropriate overall demeanor

They measured these skills using video recordings and a scoring system that allowed partial credit for most skills.

The study used a multiple baseline design across the three staff. In baseline, staff received task feedback only, and the researchers measured how well they received it. Then they added task clarification: a checklist of the six skills that staff reviewed for one minute before the feedback meeting.

If task clarification alone didn’t lead to strong performance after a few sessions, the researchers added feedback about the feedback reception skills themselves—praise for skills shown and corrective feedback for skills missed. They also checked maintenance about two weeks after staff met mastery.

How You Can Use This in Your Day-to-Day Clinical Practice

If you want better feedback conversations in your clinic, start by defining “receiving feedback well” as real, observable actions. This study used six actions you can adopt or adjust for your setting.

The key move is to stop treating “professional during feedback” as a vague trait and instead treat it like a teachable skill set. When you do that, you can coach it with less emotion and more clarity.

Try task clarification first. Before a planned feedback talk, give the staff member a short checklist of what good feedback reception looks like in your clinic. Keep it brief—give them a minute to read it right before the conversation, just like the study did.

This works best when the checklist language is concrete. Use “summarize the main point at the end,” not “be open-minded.”

Don’t assume the checklist alone will work for everyone. In this study, one person met mastery with the checklist only, but two needed the checklist plus feedback about their reception behavior.

Set a simple decision rule: if you don’t see clear improvement after a few feedback sessions, add coaching on the reception skills. This prevents you from repeating the same approach for weeks while hoping it clicks.

Keep feedback about feedback reception behavior-based and short. Give one or two examples of what helped the conversation, and one clear thing to try next time.

For example: “When I gave the correction, you nodded and stayed with me—that helped. Next time, try asking one question at the end so I know we’re on the same page.”

Be careful with “commitment to behavior change.” A staff member can agree out loud and still not understand, or they may have a real concern about the feedback. Instead of requiring a promise, offer choice while still planning next steps: “What feels doable to try first next session?”

That keeps dignity intact and avoids training staff to simply say the right thing. The study noted that staff may reasonably disagree with feedback in complex situations, so your clinic’s checklist can include a respectful way to disagree—like “state your concern calmly and ask for an example.”

Plan for maintenance. In this study, one participant’s skills dropped at the two-week check. That suggests task clarification effects may fade for some people.

Schedule quick booster checks—one planned observation of a feedback talk every few weeks for newer staff. If you see slippage, reintroduce the checklist briefly or provide a short reminder.

Use this approach mainly for newer staff who show low feedback reception skills during routine supervision. The study was small, used an experimenter instead of the person’s real supervisor, and happened in one clinic. Don’t assume the same results for all settings or all staff.

It also didn’t test whether every skill is always needed. You can adapt the list based on context—like allowing fewer follow-up questions when time is tight.

Keep ethics in view. The point isn’t to teach staff to hide emotions or accept every correction without question. The point is to make feedback talks safer and more workable, so clients benefit and staff can grow.

If a staff member’s reaction isn’t threatening or disruptive, your job may be to listen and problem-solve—not to train a different face or tone.

Works Cited

Flynn, K. E., & Wilder, D. A. (2025). An evaluation of task clarification and feedback to teach feedback reception skills. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/01608061.2025.2468190