Feedback Frameworks That Land
Why most feedback fails, and the small set of frameworks that make it useful, specific, and bias-aware.
Most feedback is too late, too vague, or delivered as a sandwich of compliments. The fix is structure, specificity, and a 24-hour rule.
Why feedback fails
- Saved for performance reviews instead of given in 24 hours
- Talks about traits (‘you’re defensive’) instead of behaviors (‘when X happened you said Y’)
- Buried in compliments so the recipient doesn’t hear it
- Given in public when it should be in private (or vice versa)
SBI
- 1SituationSpecific moment in time and place
- 2BehaviorWhat they said or did, observable
- 3ImpactEffect on the work, team, or you
Radical Candor 2×2
Most well-meaning managers default to ruinous empathy — soft talk that protects the relationship and starves the person of growth.
Delivering it
- Inside 24 hours when possible
- Private for critical feedback, public for positive
- Start with observation, not judgment
- Ask before advising — ‘can I share a thought on that?’
- End with what good looks like next time
Read next
All playbooksHow to run weekly 1:1s that build trust, surface real issues, and make feedback land — without becoming status meetings.
How to prepare for and run the conversations every manager will face — performance, conduct, exit, conflict — without making them worse.
The system around the review matters more than the review itself. A modern approach to goals, feedback, calibration, and the conversation.