Giving feedback that lands
What you'll learn
- Specific + observable + timely. Trait labels are not feedback.
- SBI: Situation, Behaviour, Impact. No compliment sandwich.
- Ask for feedback up the chain every 1:1; safety is built by repetition.
Feedback that lands is specific, timely, and tied to an observable behaviour, not an inferred trait. 'You interrupted Anita three times in the standup' is feedback; 'you're dismissive' is character-attack dressed as feedback.
Use SBI (Situation–Behaviour–Impact) for delivery: name the situation, the observed behaviour, and the impact you saw. Avoid 'feedback sandwiches' — burying the message between two compliments dilutes it and trains people to brace for the middle of every sentence.
Bidirectional: ask the IC for feedback at the end of every 1:1. The first three times you'll get 'no notes'; the fourth time you'll get something real if you've made the channel safe.
Key points
- Specific + observable + timely. Trait labels are not feedback.
- SBI: Situation, Behaviour, Impact. No compliment sandwich.
- Ask for feedback up the chain every 1:1; safety is built by repetition.
Pitfalls
- Trait-attacks dressed as feedback ('you're not detail-oriented').
- Feedback delayed by weeks; the receiver no longer remembers the moment.
Ask your L&D team
In a real Adept rollout this routes to your company's L&D Claude project; in the demo it opens a fresh Claude chat.