How to Give Feedback to Subordinates
Creating or seizing an opportunity to give feedback to an employee is your first task. Next, you have to make your feedback effective. Compassionate and honest feedback from you will help your subordinates develop goals, make and reinforce positive changes, raise their self-confidence, and feel motivated to take action.
Describe the situation in which you observed your subordinate, the behavior you observed, and the impact of that behavior on you and others who were present.
Be Specific
To increase the quality and effectiveness of the feedback you give, we recommend using the three-step process that we teach and practice at CCL: the situation-behavior-impact model. SBI is a simple feedback structure that keeps your comments relevant and focused to maximize their effectiveness. When following this model, you describe the situation in which you observed the employee, the behavior you observed, and the impact of that behavior on you and others present in that situation.
Jim, I saw that presentation you made to the Excelsior group [situation]. I liked how you picked up on their questions. I noticed that you were able to move out of your prepared presentation to address their concerns without missing a beat [behavior]. They were all nodding their heads in agreement when you answered that question about the delivery time frame. You made me confident that you were in control of all the material and information. Joel Smythe told me afterward that our company seems to have a much better understanding of Excelsior's situation than anyone else on their short list [impact].
Keep It Simple
You may be accustomed to moving quickly to the impact or effect of a subordinate's behavior or action in an attempt to find a solution. But if you want to encourage real development among your subordinates, slow down. Reduce your feedback to its essential elements. Re-create the situation in your mind, and describe it (“I'm glad you came to the staff meeting yesterday”). Describe the subordinate's behavior in that situation, without embellishment (“During the meeting you kept looking at your watch”). Make your comments as direct as possible, and stick to the impact that the behavior had on you (“You made me feel that you didn't think our discussion was important”). Directness enforces honest feedback. Don't get ahead of yourself. Remember to go through each SBI step.
Avoid Interpretations
In keeping your message simple, not only do you keep it direct and honest but you limit it to the impact of the subordinate's behavior. When you observe troublesome behavior, you may be tempted to go beyond describing the impact to exploring reasons for the behavior. That invites misinterpretation that can damage the trusting relationship you have worked so hard to build. Even when you are perfectly correct in your attributions and interpretations, your subordinates are responsible for changing their behavior. You have to give them choices for making changes, not excuses for avoiding changes.
You may be tempted to go beyond describing the impact of a behavior to exploring the reasons for it. Don't.