To increase the quality and effectiveness of the feedback you give, we recommend using the three-step process that we teach and practice at the Center for Creative Leadership: the Situation-Behavior-Impact model. Called SBI for short, this simple feedback structure keeps your comments relevant and focused to maximize their effectiveness. Essentially, SBI means you describe the Situation in which you observed the employee, you describe the Behavior you observed, and you describe the Impact of that behavior on you and others present in that situation.

You may be accustomed to moving quickly to the impact or effect of a subordinate’s behavior or action in order to get a solution. But if you want to encourage real development among your subordinates, slow down. Reduce your feedback to its essential elements. Recreate 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 like 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.

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. If 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’ve worked so hard to build. Even if you were 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.