Three Keys to Effective Feedback

Sloan R. Weitzel

Managers who spend a lot of time developing specific what-if scenarios about their businesses and who examine business data with the intense rigor of a scientist often use no such specifics or data when evaluating the company's most important capital: employee performance. But effective feedback requires using the same attention to detail that is used when analyzing business information.

Creating and delivering a specific message based on observed performance is key to effective feedback. You may have told a fellow manager, a coworker, or even your boss that he is a good leader, that she communicates well, or that he needs to be more strategic. You may believe such statements are helpful feedback. But they only evaluate or interpret; they don't describe specific behavior so a person can learn and develop by repeating or avoiding that behavior.

Effective feedback should enable the receiver to walk away understanding exactly what he or she did and what impact it had on you. When the result is this specific and this direct, there is a better chance that the person getting the feedback will be motivated to begin, continue, or stop behaviors that affect performance.

Think about statements you might have made to co-workers, bosses, or subordinates about their performance. Then ask yourself: What did the person do that made you think he was a good leader? What did she say and how did she say it to make you think she communicates well? What did he do that made you conclude his thinking wasn't strategic enough?

There are a number of common mistakes that people make when giving feedback. Among them are delivering feedback that is framed in judgmental terms, that is too vague, that goes on ad nauseam, or that contains an implied threat or inappropriate humor.

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 hear what you are saying and helps them identify ways in which they can improve. During the course of giving feedback to tens of thousands of people over many years, the Center for Creative Leadership has developed a feedback technique called situation-behavior-impact, or SBI. Using this technique, 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 this kind of feedback, the recipient can more easily see what actions to take to continue and improve performance or change behavior that is ineffective or an obstacle to performance.

The SBI technique is effective because it's simple. When giving feedback you describe the situation, describe the behavior you observed, and explain the impact the behavior had on you. The following is a look at how to use each component of the SBI approach.