Giving Effective Feedback

Written By Jonah Cacioppe

What is feedback?

Feedback is information about past behaviour, delivered in the present, which may influence future behaviour.

Think of feedback as information to help the other person.

Ineffective feedback is:

  • Judgmental and value-laden

  • Vague, general, and global

  • Dogmatic

  • Too early or too late

  • Unsupported by data

  • Corrosive, destructive, or negative

  • Demeaning, discounting, or disrespectful

Are you giving feedback to correct their behaviour or to show you are right?

Effective feedback:

  • Seeks their point of view

  • Timely

  • Evidence based

  • Specific (behaviour, not person)

  • Remind them of purpose (why?)

When preparing to give feedback, ask yourself the following:

Preparation - 

  • Objectives: What outcome do I want to achieve

  • Determine the gap between current and desired behaviour

  • What would be the ideal outcome?

  • What would he/she want as an ideal outcome?

Seeing it through their eyes - 

  • What is their point of view: what might be their view/problems?

  • What is my attitude toward the other person?

  • What are my concerns?

  • What do I need to let go of?

Opening - 

  • What will I say to open this discussion

  • Ask questions: Seek to understand

  • What questions will I ask?

Staying calm - 

  • How will I stay calm and clearheaded?

  • Breathing: deep breaths (Be aware of tension in my face and body)

  • What is the worst thing that could happen?

  • What buttons/reactions do they stir in me?

Location and time - 

  • Where will we meet?

  • What day and time?

Prior communication - 

  • How will I communicate with him/her before the meeting (phone, email, face-to-face)?

  • What will I say regarding this meeting?

How will I establish the conversation? 

• "I have something I’d like to discuss with you that I think will help us work together more effectively.”

• "I’d like to talk about X with you, but first I’d like to get your point of view."

• "I need your help with what just happened. Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

• "I think we have different perceptions about X. I’d like to hear your thinking on this."

• "I’d like to talk about X. I think we may have different ideas on how to…"

• "I’d like to see if we might reach a better understanding about X. I really want to hear your feelings about this and share my perspective as well.”

The SBI feedback method is a short and simple technique that can be used for both positive and negative feedback.

Jonah Cacioppe
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