Giving feedback

Be specific about what happened and what to do next, keep it about the work rather than the person, and say you think they can meet the standard.

• Evidence: Some
• Takes: 15 minutes to prepare
• Work

Right now

1. Write one sentence about what happened. Something a camera could have recorded: “The client deck went out with last quarter’s numbers.” Not “you’re careless”.
2. Write one sentence about what you want next time. “Please get a second check on numbers before anything goes to a client.”
3. Pick a time soon and in private. Within a few days of the event, while it’s fresh, and not in front of others.

Before

• Use a simple structure. A common one is Situation, Behavior, Impact: when and where, what they did, and what effect it had. You can add a fourth step: ask what they were trying to do [6]. This is widely taught in management training; it hasn’t been tested much in trials, but it forces you to be specific.
• Pick one or two points, not seven. Save the rest for another day, or decide it doesn’t matter.
• Plan the “what next” part. In a meta-analysis of 435 education studies, feedback that included how to improve and how to check your own work had much bigger effects than praise, criticism or rewards alone [2].
• Remember they probably want to hear it. In five experiments, people underestimated how much others wanted constructive feedback, especially how much the receiver would value it. Imagining yourself in their shoes corrected this best [3].

During

• Say why you’re bringing it up. If true, tell them you have high standards and think they can meet them. This is called “wise feedback”. In school trials it made students more likely to revise their work [4]. Only say it if you mean it.
• Describe, then stop. Give your Situation-Behavior-Impact sentence and let them respond.
• Ask their view. There may be a reason you don’t know about.
• Agree one next step and when you’ll look at it again.
• Skip the compliment sandwich if it feels false. Genuine praise is good. Padding a criticism with praise you don’t mean can make it hard to tell what you’re actually asking for.

After

• Write down what you agreed and send a short note: “Thanks for today. We agreed Sam will check figures before client decks go out.”
• Notice when they get it right, and say so specifically. “The numbers in today’s deck were spot on. Thanks for getting them checked.”
• If it went badly, give it a day, then check in briefly. “I’ve been thinking about Tuesday. How are you feeling about it?” One awkward conversation rarely ruins a working relationship.

Why this works

The core evidence is a classic meta-analysis of 607 effects. Feedback improved performance on average, but over a third of the time it made performance worse. Feedback that discouraged people, or pulled their attention onto themselves rather than the task, worked less well. Feedback that showed the correct way to do it worked better [1]. A later meta-analysis in education found the same pattern: the more useful information feedback contained, the more it helped [2].

Wise feedback comes from three randomized field experiments with US school students. It helped most for Black students who distrusted school [4]. A later attempt to repeat it with 94 university students did not find the same effect [5]. So treat it as a reasonable thing to say when it’s true, not a proven technique. Neither study was done in workplaces.

Rated Some. The two meta-analyses are large, but much of the research comes from classrooms and labs, and a lot of everyday feedback advice, including the SBI model, is common practice rather than tested.

Topics: Work, Feedback, Management, Conversations

Sources checked 4 October 2026. Spot a mistake? Tell us.