Giving feedback or guidance is one of the most powerful influences on employee development because it has the potential to double the speed of learning.
Many people still use the popular sandwich approach to give feedback, which is to layer corrective suggestions between two pieces of praise. The method makes sense in theory but does not work as well in actuality. Roger Schwarz of the Harvard Business Review notes that most managers believe that it is easier for people to accept negative feedback when it is packaged with positive points, but research shows that this is ineffective because when you lead with praise, people usually find it insincere as they are anxiously anticipating the negative parts. Also, the positive feedback section, when coupled with the negative feedback is diminished because people continue to focus on the negative part that still drums loudly in their minds.
Although it may appear more comfortable to ease into the conversation with a positive start, it stirs up the very anxiety we are trying to avoid in the first place. As Schwarz points out, “the longer you talk without giving the negative feedback, the more uncomfortable you’re likely to become as you anticipate giving the negative news; your employee will sense your discomfort and become more anxious as well.” These delay tactics rarely do any good.
Here are 4 common frameworks for providing feedback: 1. magical feedback 2. Radical Candor 3. SBI Method 4. Intent v. Impact. You can feel free to get inspiration from any of these methods and create your own approach to deliver your message effectively.
Magical Feedback
It is more appetizing to discard that stale sandwich and replace it with magical feedback, a concept pioneered by a group of psychologists from Stanford, Yale, and Columbia. Their research showed that this particular form of feedback used by a teacher boosted student effort and performance immensely.
The secret formula has 3 components: connection, belonging, and high standards.
1. Connection: According to a 2018 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, only 44% of employees feel their manager cares. When you take steps to connect with your employees, they feel appreciated. Find out what makes your employees’ hearts sing and start by asking.
2. Belonging: People want to feel like they are a part of a community. Research shows that having friends at work is most important. When you say to your team, your success and growth are vital; many of your team members are depending on you, this sends a powerful signal.
3. Recognizing high standards: When giving feedback, acknowledge the high expectations you set and the employee strength of x, y and z to get there even with a difficult journey. When managers are aware of their team’s individual assets, they are much more likely to feel engaged and energized.
Separately, each aspect has a limited effect, but when combined, it creates feedback magic and can sound like this. I am invested in your growth and deeply care about doing great work together. Your teammates count on you for your high-quality and timely work so when you miss deadlines, it erodes creates delays and erodes trust amongst our partners. You are a top performer who has a consistent and positive impact on this team, what would it take for you to get on track and meet your commitments?
Radical Candor
Another way to give feedback is to use Kim Scott’s Radical Candor approach which is where you care personally and challenge professionally. Author Lara Hogan provides a helpful formula to achieve this goal, which is an observation of the behavior + Impact + question + request = actionable, specific feedback.
1. Behavior Observation. Describe the who/what/when/where of the situation in which you are referring, keying in on the behavior.
2. Impact. Describe how your employee’s behavior/action has impacted you or others.
3. Question. Ask a question to learn more about the situation. This part is important because you can learn about the person’s intentions and draw attention to the intention-impact gap, which can build trust and understanding.
4. Request. You can offer a request for using the desired behavior going forward and even provide an example or co-create one.
Example. When Beth spoke, I noticed you jumped in and cut her off when she was not done explaining her idea (BEHAVIOR). That interruption made her feel like her ideas were not validated, and she will be more hesitant to share next time (IMPACT). Can you help me understand why you jumped in that way (QUESTION)? How could you give somebody the space to complete their thoughts for next time? Or, I’d like you to give somebody the space to complete their thoughts so they feel safe sharing (REQUEST).
SBI Method
The SBI approach comes from the Center for Creative Leadership.
S (situation) - Describe the situation. Be specific about when and where it occurred.
B (behavior) - Describe the observable behavior. Don’t assume you know what the other person was thinking.
I (impact) - Describe what you thought or felt in reaction to the behavior.
When we gathered in the meeting with the purpose of deciding on the initiative and after Andy spoke up, you raised your voice, stormed out of the room abruptly, and slammed the door behind you. The impact of that behavior on Andy is that it caused him to shut down and not want to contribute his ideas anymore and it disrupted the meeting because we could not make a decision. Taking this approach where you are laying out the facts rather than making judgments such as you are angry or you have a problem, is much more productive.
Intent v. Impact
This is an even more simplified version. When you start your discussion by assuming positive intent and focus on the impact, you can diffuse the other person’s potential defensiveness because you are not assigning any malice to their actions. For example, you can say, “I know it is not your intent to shut me down in the meeting and that you value a free exchange of ideas, and when you jump in before I have had a chance to finish articulating my ideas, the impact it has on me is to go silent and not contribute. It makes me feel rushed and the conclusion I draw is that if I do not have my thoughts concise and crystalized, I should not share. I would love to talk about a productive way forward so we can keep our focus on the things we value which is to have diverse perspectives. What would you suggest to achieve that goal? When you ask a question and enlist their support to devise a better framework to interact, you will have their buy-in.
As a manager, when you are providing guidance to somebody, it is more than just your job, it is the right thing to do. In On Liberty, John Stuart Mill explains it very well. He said, ‘The source of everything respectable in man, either as an intellectual or as a moral being, is that his errors are corrigible… The whole strength and value of human judgment depending on the one property that it can be set right when it is wrong.’ Giving people guidance to improve their work will have a great impact on others.
Quote of the day: “Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a [person’s] growth without destroying [their] roots.” – Frank A. Clark
Q: What approach do you use in providing feedback to your team? Comment below.
[The next blog in this series 2/3 will focus on The Art of Receiving Feedback]
As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to help them provide effective feedback to their direct reports, teammates, and other stakeholders, contact me to learn more.
Feedback delivery makes all the difference