Delivering Feedback for Success: SBI
Center for Creative Leadership’s feedback tool SBI is a simple formula to share the information your team members need to know how to be successful.
Tool Summary
SBI is one of the original feedback delivery tools created by the Center for Creative Leadership. Today, there are many more feedback tools to choose from but this is one of the most simple and tested. SBI stands for Situation, Behavior, and Impact. The intention of communicating feedback in this way is to ensure the feedback is clear and objective by adding specificity and removing subjectivity and judgment. The tool advises that you state the situation, define the behavior, and communicate the impact. To round out the formula and make the tool more actionable, add “share your ask” as a fourth step or element - SBI+A.
Adding a suggestion of how to change the behavior or what to do differently can make the feedback feel more motivating as you are providing a solution, not just critique. You can use this formula whether you are delivering feedback, asking for feedback, communicating about feedback in general, or advocating for yourself.
How to Apply
When delivering feedback, you need to communicate enough detail or information so your audience knows how to be successful or knows what behavior to change or reinforce. You need to aim to remove emotion and subjective judgment.
“Great job” and “we need to do better next time” are rarely effective unless timed perfectly because statements like this are not specific enough to let the audience know what to continue doing or what to change.
Use SBI+A to make sure your feedback is detailed, objective, and motivating.
S is for Situation
Situation is the detail- it clarifies the context of the feedback. Defining the situation can often seem easy, but is in fact more challenging than expected. Easy situations may look like, “in yesterday’s meeting…”
When you hear feedback from a third party, you may not know the situation. This is when things become more challenging. As an example, your team member says: “Joe has been challenging to work with, can you address that, [manager]?” You will need to clarify the situation either with the complaining party or with your team member. “Can you tell me more about your recent work with Joe, what’s been happening, how’s it been going?”
B is for Behavior
Behavior is often the most difficult to verbalize and communicate. You need to be objective in your observation The subsequent communication of the behavior needs to be clear and as much as possible, stating facts not assumptions or interpretations. A fly on the wall or a hidden camera should agree with how you describe the behavior. There is no space for subjectivity. For example, consider the difference between “When you state the problem without communicating solutions” vs. “When you complain in our 1:1s.”
You need the person receiving the feedback to agree with your observation of the behavior and then to quickly move on to focus on the change or action (the action can be reinforcement). The more objectively observable the communicated behavior is, the easier it is to avoid getting caught up in confusion, conflict, and emotional reactions and move on to focus on the change or desired action.
I is for Impact
Impact describes the consequence of behavior. It is the motivator behind why your feedback is important to communicate in the first place. The observable impact of a behavior should be significant enough to motivate taking action and achieving results.
Feedback at work often falls under one of the below categories for impact:
Business goals or needs- anything that impacts predetermined group goals ex: deadlines, objectives, company values
Relationships- anything that impacts how you work with one another ex: collaboration, transparency
Performance- anything that impacts success in a role or career growth ex: exceeding expectations, promotion, raise
Consider which category the feedback you want to give falls under to reinforce your intended outcome.
The impact of a behavior should be communicated clearly, and objectively.
A is for Ask
Lastly, you need to define what you are asking for, what is your desired outcome for giving feedback in the first place? Are you asking them for a specific change, to continue the good work, or to discuss the situation to troubleshoot a solution? What do you want from the discussion?
By structuring your feedback using these four elements, you can deliver more effective feedback for better outcomes.
Example
An example of difficult feedback
The feedback in this example is more challenging to communicate objectively since the feedback is being given second-hand, the behavior is not something you have observed or have examples for. The impact of the behavior is relationship based.
“Hey Joe, I’d like to check in and discuss some recent information I’ve heard. The marketing manager mentioned your behavior has been different in the last two project meetings. He said you have been really direct and short in your communication. I know I did not see it for myself, but I want to discuss this with you since he felt it was important enough to flag it to me. Can you tell me your take on what’s been going on?”
S: I’d like to check in and discuss some recent information I’ve heard. The marketing manager mentioned … in the last two project meetings.
B: your behavior has been different…He said you have been really direct and short in your communication
I: I know I did not see it for myself, but I want to discuss this with you since he felt it was important enough to flag it to me.
A: Can you tell me your take on what’s been going on?
Simpler feedback example
In this example, you have personally observed the situation and have examples, but the impact is still a bit tricky given it is relationship based and not a direct KPI problem.
“Hey Joe, I’d like to check in and discuss some recent observations I’ve made. In the last two project meetings, you were very direct in your communication with the marketing manager. You only answered “yes” to a few questions where normally you would elaborate and did not engage in any discussion where you were not directly named. I want to discuss this with you since it feels a bit out of character and check-in. Can you tell me your take on what’s been going on?”
S: I’d like to check in and discuss some recent observations I’ve made. In the last two project meetings, … in your communication with the marketing manager.
B: you were very direct in your communication … You only answered “yes” to a few questions where normally you would elaborate and did not engage in any discussion where you were not directly named.
I: I want to discuss this with you since it feels a bit out of character and check-in.
A: Can you tell me your take on what’s been going on?
What not to do feedback example
Taking the same scenario this example is subjective and assumptive. Additionally, the ask is not clear. The feedback would most likely cause a negative reaction and not end in the desired change.
“Hey Joe, I’d like to discuss some feedback. I haven’t liked your tone recently and others have mentioned it to me as well. It’s important we’re all team players here. I know you understand that. Can I trust our next meeting will be different?”
S: It is not clear when you are referring to
B: This is a subjective evaluation, not an observable behavior
I: Relates back to maybe a shared value of team players but assumes this person is not upholding the values rather than a better-weighted impact
A: It is not clear what to change and there is no effort to discuss it together
Measuring results:
The results of feedback are relatively easy to measure. Effective feedback sets in motion the desired change. The behavior changes or continues as reinforced.
Look for patterns. Is the change or reinforcement sustainable over a long time?
It can be most important with feedback to look for measurable results. Set a baseline to where someone is today and track small changes towards a target goal rather than looking for 0 to 100 overnight.
If you like the SBI+A model and want to explore others consider COIN or COILED.
Resource
Leading Effectively Staff , (2022, September 6). Use situation-behavior-impact (SBI)™ to understand intent. CCL. from https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/closing-the-gap-between-intent-vs-impact-sbii/
