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The model belongs to the Center for Creative Leadership. It gives feedback a useful shape; it does not prove your interpretation is correct or guarantee that the discussion will feel comfortable.
For managers, the main challenge is often translating “They have a bad attitude” into something a colleague can recognise and change.
SBI feedback starts with something observable
Before speaking, write down what you actually saw or heard. Remove words that claim to know motivation, such as careless, disrespectful or uncommitted. Those words may describe your interpretation, but they rarely help someone identify the precise action you mean.
Compare these drafts:
| Judgement | Observable description |
|---|---|
| You were dismissive. | You started answering before Sam finished the question. |
| You never prepare. | The two requested cost estimates were missing from Monday’s pack. |
| You are unreliable. | The agreed update arrived after the review meeting had ended. |
Specificity also protects against exaggeration. If you mean two meetings, say two meetings. “Always” and “never” invite an argument about exceptions rather than a discussion of the event.
Check that the observation is relevant to the job. Feedback about accent, personality or communication style needs particular care. A preference for your own style is not automatically a performance requirement.
Build the message in three short parts
Locate the event, describe the action and explain the effect you can support. Keep the opening short enough that the other person can respond before feeling prosecuted.
A hypothetical example:
“During yesterday’s client review, you answered while Sam was still explaining the delivery issue. The remaining detail did not reach the group, so we agreed a deadline before discussing that constraint.”
That is a statement about a meeting and a consequence. It avoids the unsupported claim, “You wanted to undermine Sam.”
Be equally precise about uncertainty. If you cannot establish a causal effect, say, “I was concerned we had not heard the full constraint,” rather than presenting your concern as a proven business loss.
Do not add a catalogue of unrelated grievances. One conversation can cover a recurring pattern, but the examples should illuminate the same problem.
Ask a question that can change your understanding
After the opening, pause and ask, “What was happening from your side?” The answer may reveal urgency, a technical misunderstanding or a problem with the meeting itself.
Listening does not require withdrawing the concern. It allows you to distinguish impact from intent and build a better response.
Suppose the colleague explains that the client was about to approve an unsafe timetable. You can acknowledge the reason for intervening while still discussing how to flag urgency without preventing another person from finishing.
A useful follow-up is: “What could you say next time to make the urgency clear and keep the missing information in the discussion?”
Avoid questions that contain the desired confession: “Do you understand how disrespectful that was?” Such questions turn a dialogue into a demand for agreement.
Make the next action smaller than the whole problem
A feedback conversation should end with a behaviour the employee can attempt. “Be more professional” is too broad. “Signal that you need to intervene, state the urgent risk, and let the speaker complete the remaining context” is actionable.
Agree where the new behaviour will be tried and how you will review it. Do not promise that one attempt will transform the relationship.
Positive feedback benefits from the same precision. Instead of “Great work,” identify the useful action: “You separated confirmed dates from estimates, which let the group see where a decision was still needed.”
That tells someone what to repeat. It also avoids treating feedback as something that only appears when the manager is unhappy.
What if the person disagrees?
Separate disagreement about the facts from disagreement about their meaning. If they say the estimate was in the pack, check the document. If they agree it was missing but dispute its importance, explain the decision it was intended to support.
You can say, “Let us check the record before deciding the next step.” Admitting an error does not weaken a legitimate standard; it shows that the standard applies to your reasoning, too.
If emotions rise, slow down and restate the shared purpose. For a sensitive issue, schedule a private continuation rather than forcing a resolution in a corridor or public meeting.
Serious misconduct, harassment or safety concerns may require formal reporting. SBI is a conversation structure, not a replacement for organisational procedures.
A five-minute preparation exercise
Write your intended message, then underline every statement about motive. Replace each with an observation or an explicitly labelled concern.
Next, answer three questions: What effect can I support? What might I have missed? What specific change would help the work?
For broader preparation, use Peak Belt’s difficult-conversation guide and performance-feedback guide. More leadership practice is available in TrueNorth.
Keep a private conversation private
Choose a setting where the colleague can respond without an audience. If the issue emerged in a meeting, address any immediate factual confusion briefly and arrange the fuller discussion separately. Avoid copying a wide group into corrective feedback to create pressure. Share agreed process changes with the people who need them, without distributing the personal conversation.
Take one draft feedback sentence from your notes today. Edit it until the person could recognise the event without needing to accept your judgement of their character.
AI-assisted researched guidance from PeakBelt. Hypothetical examples are labelled in the text. See our editorial approach.