A framework for providing negative feedback

Since projects are made up mostly of unique individuals, the projects can be stressful and challenging, even when we all have good intentions and the project scope is feasible. Since people can be a source of project stress, it’s critical that we have the tools and ability to communicate with each other; otherwise, the stress can build up and create conflict.

When you or your team are perceiving someone's behavior negatively, it's critical to address it. It may seem easier to avoid discussing the behavior and just wait for the project to be over. You may even consider complaining to your boss and asking them to resolve the issue. But as a leader, if you have a conflict, then it's you that likely is the best person to resolve it. Learning how to appropriately address the perceived behavior with your peers sooner rather than later will make you a more effective teammate and likely improve team outcomes. Below we provide some tips and present the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI™) framework to help guide you through a constructive and professional way to address perceptions of negative behavior.

Plan the conversation

Here are some tips to get you started:

Check in to make sure your teammate is okay. You never know what a person may be dealing with outside of the project, so start by asking if they're okay or if they're dealing with challenges outside of the project. Starting from a place of empathy builds trust and connection.
Set up a time to chat face-to-face: After establishing that your teammate is ok, the first thing to do is reach out to set up a time to meet with this person face to face so you both can see each other and hear each other. That means you should not try to resolve this over Slack, text, or email. Research shows that we can read people's emotions much better when we can hear their voice. The tone gets lost when it's just in text format. Just let the person know you have something you wanted to discuss with them and that you can explain more when you meet.
Keep it 1-on-1. Avoid ganging up on the person by having the whole team there. Instead, when it's just one person there to address the problematic behavior, you're less likely to put the other person in a defensive position from the get-go.
Do NOT assume or speculate. When we perceive someone's behavior negatively, we often jump to conclusions and make assumptions about why someone acted the way they did. We can't read minds. While we think we can read people's minds based on social cues, research by Nicholas Epley of Chicago Booth finds we can only predict the thoughts and feelings of strangers about 20% of the time. 35% of the time when it’s a close friend or partner¹. Here's the main takeaway: It's best not to assume or speculate about why others act the way they do. Try to always give them the benefit of the doubt before you have all of the information, otherwise, you could react unfairly and can cause the relationship to atrophy more when it shouldn’t.

Use the Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI™) framework in your conversation

When we perceive someone's behavior negatively, we often jump to conclusions and make assumptions about why someone acted the way they did. When giving feedback to that person, it can be hard to stay objective. Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI™) is a tool developed by the Center for Creative Leadership that helps you remove judgment from the feedback you give and make it clearer.

This tool works best for giving negative feedback as it can make the recipient less defensive about it, but it can absolutely be used for positive feedback, too. SBI™ offers a few simple steps along which you can structure the feedback you want to give.

1. Situation - Start by describing the situation where the behavior occurred. Primarily where and when. This makes the feedback specific and the other person can more easily relate to it.

2. Behavior - Next describe the specific behavior you're giving feedback about. Tell the other person what they've done or what you've seen them do, not your perception of why they did it. This is critical to leave your judgment out of the feedback.

3. Impact - Explain the impact their behavior had. This can range from what you thought and felt and why, to a broader impact on others, the whole team, and/or project outcomes. Again, do not assume or speculate that person's intent. Sometimes you may want to ask what the intention was behind their behavior. They might have a sound reason that you don't know about or is different from your assumptions. This can greatly help explain the gap between their intent and the actual impact.

Confirmation and Next Steps - After you've described the situational behavior and impact, confirm the teammate understands and has a chance to process the information and respond. Also, confirm that you and the team understand the teammate's perspective better too. Lastly, the feedback is only useful when it's fully considered and acted upon so if the person and/or team agrees to make a change, be sure the change can be measured. To do this, agree on a clear goal of what they (or the team) are going to do next and set a clear deadline of when to make that change. This way there's no ambiguity about what this person or team needs to do in order to improve and creates accountability for making that appropriate change.

Examples

Let's see what giving feedback using this tool can look like.

1. Imagine a student team's Project Manager talking one-on-one with a teammate who is chronically missing meetings and unresponsive on Slack.

They start by describing the situation: "The other day we all agreed to meet in the Atrium to work on our project."
Then they describe their report's behavior: "However, you didn't show and when we tried to reach you on Slack we didn't see any update or reply from you."
And share the impact the behavior had: "We ended up finishing the project ourselves because we were not sure if you would be able to pick up some of the remaining parts and to be honest this put additional stress and work on the team."
Results: Finally, the PM does not speculate why this is happening and lets the teammate explain their side: "We were just curious why you missed the meeting and why we couldn't get a hold of you on Slack after you missed it. We didn't want to make assumptions and felt it was best to check in with you. Is everything okay with you? "

2. Imagine a manager talking to their direct report after a recent meeting.

Situation: "In yesterday's product review meeting, you were giving an update for your team."
Behavior: "However, you didn't share any recent learnings about how our customers use this new feature."
Impact: "This made me and the team worry about whether you've been talking to our customers recently at all."
Results: Finally, the manager confirms the direct report has processed the information and confirms the next steps: "Is there a reason didn't you share anything about customer use during your update? If we agree that the customer updates are important, can we establish a plan for how and when you'll provide an update?"

Conclusion

Use the SBI™ tool to give clearer feedback in a non-judgmental way. Frame the feedback within a situation, describe the specific behavior, and share the impact the behavior had. You should also confirm they understand and allow time for them to respond. Then be sure that the person has a clear next step so the team knows how and by when the teammate (or the team as a whole) plan to make a change in their behavior moving forward.

Sources:

Untools.com - https://untools.co/situation-behavior-impact
Center for Creative Leadership - https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/closing-the-gap-between-intent-vs-impact-sbii/
- _{SBI and Situation-Behavior-Impact are trademarks of the Center for Creative Leadership.}
¹Epley (Booth): https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/misunderstanding-what-others-think-believe-feel-and-want