After one of the great vaudeville comedians of the early twentieth century transitioned to movies, he used a running gag to open an early film. In the scene a stagehand rushes into Lou Holtz's backstage dressing room to exclaim, “You're on!”

The comedian looks up and asks, “Oh. How am I doing?”

That is the age-old question, and no matter what level you occupy in an organization, from line manager to senior executive to team leader—even stagehand—it's a question you'll need to answer. The skill of giving meaningful and effective feedback, the focus of this chapter, is important because it helps people develop and, ultimately, it gets the work done.

Whereas the previous chapter examined how to solicit feedback, we are turning the tables here to examine how we give feedback. Having established the supreme importance of communication in the workplace, and the make-or-break role of feedback, we now know some of the values of quality, usable feedback:

• FEEDBACK IS BASED ON OBSERVATION.
• ITS MESSAGE IS SPECIFIC AND DIRECT.
• IT ENABLES THE RECEIVER TO UNDERSTAND THE PRECISE IMPACT OF HER OR HIS BEHAVIOR.
• IT CAN MOTIVATE THE RECEIVER TO START, STOP, OR CONTINUE BEHAVIOR THAT AFFECTS PERFORMANCE.

This chapter explains how to deliver effective feedback by showing how to build your message, when to deliver it, and how to communicate it. By using the methods and examples we offer, your feedback can become a tool for development—for others and yourself.

MEASURING BEHAVIOR

As a manager, you no doubt spend a good deal of time on numbers, wrestling with an unwieldy amount of information about factors that affect your business: What is my division's revenue versus expenses for the quarter and what is driving expenses up? What percentage of our quota has my division achieved year to date and what is left in the pipeline? What is our current production level and how can we increase capacity in the short term?

Managers deal in numbers because they are specific and quantifiable and can be used as goals. Yet oftentimes the same managers who develop specific “What if” scenarios in response to numbers, and examine business data like scientists with microscopes, use no such specifics when evaluating the company's most important capital: employee performance.

The question is, How can we apply the same analytical rigor and attention that we use to understand business information to give feedback?

Think of feedback you may have heard (or given) in the past.

• “HE IS A GOOD LEADER.”
• “SHE COMMUNICATES WELL.”
• “HE NEEDS TO BE MORE STRATEGIC.”

The intent of such statements is to be helpful. But how helpful can statements be that evaluate or interpret but don't go on to describe the “because”—the specific behavior observed—so that the recipient of the feedback might learn and develop by repeating or avoiding that behavior? All three examples above beg the question of what caused the speaker to create the feedback message.

• WHAT DID YOUR BOSS DO THAT MADE YOU THINK HE WAS A GOOD LEADER?
• WHAT DID YOUR TEAM LEADER SAY (AND HOW DID SHE SAY IT) TO MAKE YOU THINK SHE COMMUNICATES WELL?
• WHAT DID YOUR SUBORDINATE DO THAT MADE YOU CONCLUDE HIS THINKING WASN'T STRATEGIC ENOUGH?

FOLLOWING A PROCESS

Feedback all comes down to a conversation—but potentially a conversation that is a memorable and far-reaching experience in our working lives. The right feedback at the right time, delivered in the right way, can change the course of a project, a career, maybe even a business.

Let's face it, giving others feedback—positive or negative—is challenging in itself and takes courage and honesty. But knowing how much is riding on feedback, you want to make the most of the opportunity.

That is where learning and following a process helps guide us, and the more skilled we become in following the process, the more comfortable it becomes. For decades at CCL, we have taught a research-based, practice-tested process for delivering feedback that has stood the test of time. We break it down to three essential steps and provide multiple tips and tools.

Before learning more about the mindset, skillset, and toolset that support delivering ongoing feedback, consider the ten behaviors listed below that typify a leader skilled at delivering feedback; identify the three that you feel you are currently strongest in and the corresponding three that you feel are most in need of development.

STRENGTH	NEED
	Recognizes the importance of giving feedback to others.
	Gives appropriate feedback to others.
	Gives feedback to others at the appropriate moment.
	Gives feedback to others in the appropriate manner.
	Gives feedback related to specific situations.
	Gives feedback that describes specific behaviors.
	Gives feedback that describes the impact of the behavior.
	Delivers only firsthand feedback.
	Verifies that feedback is clearly received by others.
	Follows up with additional feedback as needed.

Take a moment to reflect on how your perceived strengths and corresponding development needs in this area have played out in the past and currently. As you progress through this chapter, keep in mind how you might augment or leverage these approaches.

During many CCL programs we ask managers and executives this question:

Usually, only one or two people raise their hands. Why so few? The explanations vary, but we often hear: “It's hard to do,” or “I am afraid I will say something I will regret,” or “People get emotional when they hear things they don't like,” or “It might jeopardize my work relationships.”

These concerns are valid, but they all stem from common mistakes that people make when giving feedback. Some of these mistakes result from a flawed mindset and can be easily redirected into more constructive thoughts. Outlined below are some common limiting mindsets and the alternative liberating mindsets that can channel your mental energy in the right direction.

You can avoid common feedback mistakes by learning how to communicate important information about performance to subordinates, peers, or superiors in a way that helps them listen to what you are saying and identify ways in which they can improve.

As previously discussed, during the course of giving feedback to tens of thousands of people over many years, CCL has developed a feedback technique we call SBI, shorthand for situation-behavior-impact. Using this technique, which CCL teaches to thousands of managers every year, you can deliver feedback that replaces personal attack, incorrect judgments, vague statements, and third-party slights with direct and objective comments on a person's actions.

Hearing SBI-type feedback, the recipient can more easily see what actions he or she can take to continue and improve performance or to change behavior that is ineffective or even an obstacle to performance.

The SBI technique is effective because it's simple. When giving feedback, you describe the situation, you describe the behavior you observed, and you explain the impact that the behavior had on you: simple, direct, and effective—if you learn the three steps and practice them regularly. In the following pages, we will show you how to use each component of the SBI approach.

CAPTURE THE SITUATION (S).

The first step in giving effective feedback is to capture and clarify the specific situation in which the behavior occurred. If you say, “On Tuesday, in the break room with Carol and Fred” rather than “A couple days ago at the office with some people,” you avoid the vague comments and exaggerations that torpedo so many feedback opportunities. Describing the location and time of a behavior creates context for your feedback recipients, helping them remember clearly their thinking and behavior at the time. Remember, capturing the situation is only the start of your feedback session.

Here are a few examples of how you might successfully describe a situation when giving feedback:

• “YESTERDAY MORNING, WHILE WE WERE INSPECTING THE PLANT . . .”
• “LAST MONDAY, AFTER LUNCH, WHILE WE WERE WALKING WITH CINDY TO THE MEETING . . .”
• “TODAY, FIRST THING THIS MORNING, WHEN YOU AND I WERE TALKING AT THE COFFEE MACHINE . . .”
• “THIS PAST FRIDAY NIGHT, AT THE COCKTAIL PARTY FOR THE NEW MARKETING MANAGER, WHEN KARL WAS EXPLAINING HIS NEW JOB DESCRIPTION . . .”

Specificity is important when recalling a situation. The more specifics and details you can use in bringing the situation to mind, the clearer your message will be.

DESCRIBE THE BEHAVIOR (B).

Describing behavior is the second step to giving effective feedback. It's also the most crucial step and the one most often omitted—probably because behavior can be difficult to identify and describe. The most common mistake in giving feedback happens when judgments are communicated using adjectives that describe a person but not a person's actions. That kind of feedback is ineffective because it doesn't give the receiver information about what behavior to stop or to continue in order to improve performance.

Consider the phrases below:

• HE WAS RUDE DURING THE MEETING.
• SHE WAS ENGAGED DURING THE SMALL-GROUP DISCUSSION.
• SHE SEEMED BORED AT HER TEAM'S PRESENTATION.
• HE SEEMED PLEASED WITH THE REPORT HIS EMPLOYEES PRESENTED.

These phrases describe an observer's impression or interpretation of a behavior. Now look at the following list of actions an observer might witness that would lead to those impressions and interpretations.

• HE SPOKE AT THE SAME TIME ANOTHER PERSON WAS SPEAKING. (Rude)
• SHE LEANED FORWARD IN HER CHAIR, WROTE NOTES AFTER OTHER PEOPLE SPOKE, AND THEN SAID HER THOUGHTS TO THE GROUP, REPEATING SOME OF THE THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE SAID. (Engaged)
• SHE YAWNED, ROLLED HER EYES, AND LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW. (Bored)
• HE SMILED AND NODDED HIS HEAD. (Pleased)

The phrases in this list use verbs to describe a person's actions. The focus is on the actual behavior, not on a judgment about what the behavior might mean. If you remember to use verbs when describing behavior, you avoid the mistake of judging behavior. By focusing on the action, not the impression, you can communicate clear facts that a person can understand and act on.

In order to become more adept at identifying behavior and, in turn, more effectively communicate what you have seen to the feedback recipient, you have to capture not only what people do but how they do it. The new CEO who stands before her company and says, “I'm excited to be your new president” will appear insincere if she has no expression on her face, speaks in a flat voice, and uses no hand gestures. So when giving people feedback using SBI, it is not only important to capture what is said or done but how it is said and done.

EXPLAIN THE IMPACT (I).

The final step in giving effective feedback is to relay the impact that the other person's behavior had on you. The impact you want to communicate is not how you think a person's behavior might affect the organization, coworkers, a program, clients, a product, or any other third party. The impact you want to focus on and communicate is your reaction to a behavior. There are two directions you can take when sharing the impact of a person's behavior.

• You can evaluate or make a judgment about the person's behavior: “I thought you showed interest when you asked for the group's opinions.” This tactic is the most common, but it is also the less effective of the two because the person getting the feedback can argue with your interpretation of the behavior.
• You can acknowledge the emotional effect the person's behavior had on you. “When you told me in the meeting that my concerns about product deadlines were ‘overblown,’ I felt belittled.”

The second approach can be more effective than the first because it truly is your reaction to someone's behavior, a reaction that only you experienced. The person hearing your feedback can't easily dismiss your personal experience, and so is more likely to hear what you've said.

By communicating the personal impact a behavior has had on you, you are sharing a point of view and asking the other person to view that behavior from your perspective. That kind of sharing helps to build trust, which in turn can lead to even more effective feedback as communication is improved. If you have difficulty finding the right word to describe the impact a behavior has had on you, take a look at the Impact Words tool below.

Getting just the right word to express the impact a behavior has on you is important. The right word can help keep your feedback from being vague or misconstrued. Finding the right word, however, isn't always easy. To help you put impact into words that you can deliver as effective feedback, we compiled this list of descriptive impact words.