In this article, we share very simple and easy steps that you can follow to delivery hard feedback to a boss, co-worker, or client.
Whether you’re a manager or a peer, being able to deftly deliver hard feedback is fundamental to achieve career success. I’ve always believed that a strong feedback culture is a sign of a well performing team. After all, we are all human. And giving feedback should be as commonplace as other daily activities such as writing emails, attending meetings, and talking to customers. The issue is that most people don’t know the steps to deliver hard feedback, and oftentimes find it awkward or intimidating.
I’ve also always believed that those that excel the most in their career and get ahead the fastest are usually those that embrace a feedback culture with open arms. If you master it, you will not only positively set yourself apart from others, but it will also have ripple effects within your team. You will up-level those around you, increase productivity of the team, and create a growth-mindset environment, all critical characteristics of a winning team.
And many of the largest tech companies in the US have already adopted this mindset. If you work at a tech company in 2024, you’ve probably been exposed to some sort of manager <> direct report feedback process hosted by HR or your People team. If you happen to work at a more progressive company, you’ve also probably been exposed to a process where you can give peer, self, and upward feedback as well. This is called 360 degree feedback.
So whether you are gearing up for your next annual feedback process, or just looking to sharpen your skills in day to day interactions, the framework we share in this article will certainly set you up for success.
The 3 Types of Feedback
First, let’s make sure we are on the same page about the types of feedback. As mentioned, there is:
- Downward & Peer Feedback: Giving feedback to a direct report or cross-functional team mate
- Upward Feedback: Giving feedback to your boss or someone ranked higher than you in the company
- Self Feedback: Giving feedback to yourself through the process of introspection
Self feedback is a skill all on its own, so we will reserve that lesson for another article. Today, we will explore the way to smartly approach downward, peer, and upward. Though these are very different types of feedback, the way that you prepare and structure the feedback is relatively the same.
Steps to deliver hard feedback:
Situation, Behavior, Impact (& Recommendation) Framework
Developed by the Center for Creative Leadership, the SBI framework was designed to ensure that feedback is simple, direct, specific, and actionable. All things someone would want when receiving developmental critique.
I’m sure that we can all reflect on a time when we received vague and unstructured feedback. Think back to how it made you feel. You probably felt frustrated. Maybe you felt confused, like you were stuck with no clear path to resolution. This type of feedback sucks and is usually a one-way ticket to creating an unhealthy work environment.
The other part that sucks is that once it’s delivered, it’s hard to recover. If you give vague or unstructured feedback to someone, it’s probably going to tarnish your relationships with them and your path to recovery and regaining that person’s followership will be a steep hill to climb. This is a particularly important lesson for managers.
The SBI(R) Framework Explained
- S: Situation: The part of the feedback where you set the stage of the scene. You explain the situation in detail, making sure to include dates/times and details around who was involved. The more specific you can get, the better.
- B: Behavior: The part of the feedback where you explain the person’s behavior. Articulate clearly the exact actions they took (almost like a football commentator would give a play-by-play description). It’s also important to base this on facts only. Don’t make assumptions around why the acted the way they did, but focus on the observable actions that occurred.
- I: Impact: The part where you article the impact of their actions. This is where the finesse comes into play. It’s important not to get emotional or frustrated when recounting this. Focus on the facts and try to qualify with specific emotions or numerical impact (if relevant). If you get stuck, consider these helpful lines:
- When you did that, I felt XX
- As a result of your action, XX happened
- When you did that, it had ripple effects such as XX
- When you did that, XX person felt XX
- R: Recommendation: The part of the feedback where you explain what you would have liked to see instead. You are specific in what “good looks like” and give them details so they know what to specifically do next time they are in this situation. Over the years as a manager, I developed this last step myself as a means to really bring the feedback home. By painting the picture of what good looked like, the majority of the people I gave feedback to left the room with clarity and a sense of a path forward.
Also Read Powerful Steps To Take After You Get a Rejection Email
A few other thoughts and steps to deliver hard feedback
- Timely feedback is always best. If you observe a behavior that you want to correct, it is best to do it as close to the moment that it happened. This way, the actions and situations are fresh, and people are more likely to be engaged.
- If you are a manager, consider keeping track of feedback in a tracker. Add screenshots and examples of similar observable behavior, and address it as a packaged deal in your next 1:1. Make sure to jot down the dates / times for specificity.
- Please do not start using the ‘feedback sandwich’ approach. IMO this is a tell-tale sign of an inexperienced manager or feedback-giver. It’s essentially the act of sandwiching bad feedback between two pieces of good feedback to ‘soften the blow’ so to speak. I think this is so dumb. Why? People are smart enough to see through it and it completely ruins your credibility and undermines your authority to give the feedback in the first place. Instead of tiptoeing around facts, just lead with the facts. To soften the blow, improve the upfront frame by saying something like “I am about to give you feedback because I care about you and I care about the success of this team. I hope we can agree to maintain a growth mindset during this conversation and as with all my feedback, please feel free to push back on anything I bring up and we can discuss it together”. So much better.
Remember this simple framework the next time you need to give feedback to a peer or a boss. It’s a sure fire way to come across as articulate, confident, and organized – all things that are necessary to be viewed as an expert feedback-giver.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out our related article on influencing without authority at work. Pairing the skillsets you learned in this article with this other essential skill will set you up for long term success in your workplace.
