WAKA · In Nature We Believewaka.gaiaeducation.org/collection/five-finger-feedback/
Five-Finger Feedback
A whole group evaluated in twenty minutes, with one hand
Get honest, actionable, mid-course feedback early enough that the second half of the week can still change.
- Duration
- 15–30 min
- Group size
- Any
- Setting
- either
- Energy
- gentle
- Materials
- Paper and pensor a flipchart with a hand drawn on it
End-of-week evaluations are for the next group. This one is for this group, and it happens on Wednesday when there is still time to do something about it.
How it runs
Everyone draws round their hand. Each finger is a prompt:
- Thumb — what was good. What should stay exactly as it is.
- Index — what I want to point at. Something to look at more closely.
- Middle — what I did not like. The rude finger; say the rude thing.
- Ring — what I want to keep. What I am committing to.
- Little — what came up short. Too small, too rushed, missing.
- Palm — how I am, in the middle of all this.
Fifteen minutes to fill it in alone. Then either post them anonymously on a wall, or read them round the circle — pick one and say which before people start writing.
Facilitator notes
- Anonymous or named is a real choice, not a detail. Anonymous gets you sharper content; named gets you a group that owns what it said. In a group of strangers on day three, anonymous.
- The facilitation team must respond the next morning, out loud, naming what will change and what will not and why. Feedback collected and not answered does more damage than no feedback at all.
- The middle finger is the point of the exercise. If every middle finger is blank, the group does not trust you yet — and that is the finding.
