Taking apart the feedback sandwich
Rethinking the Praise-Criticism-Praise Approach
I have been working with several individual coaching clients recently on improving their coaching skills with staff. One aspect that always comes up is how to give critical feedback. One of them told me recently that she is known for her sandwich feedback with one of her subordinates in particular. (He’s the one who struggles the most). The standard format of the feedback sandwich is praise-criticism-praise. She said that whenever she gives him a compliment he now jokes and asks what it is she really wants to say to him. The sandwich isn’t really having the impact it is supposed to. He doesn’t really hear or believe the positive acknowledgement because he knows that the meat of the conversation is coming, and then doesn’t really hear the compliment on the other side because he’s thinking about the critical feedback and knows that the praise is just designed to soften things anyway. Is there another way?
Taking apart the feedback sandwich
The sandwich approach to feedback, “praise-criticism-praise”, is a well-known strategy in management training. For those who are giving feedback, many believe it feels a bit easier to “soften” the negative feedback by adding in some positives. Some people think it will give balance to the feedback, and others think it’s easier for the recipient to hear it when presented this way.
Roger Schwarz in his Harvard Business Review blog, “The ‘Sandwich Approach’ Undermines your Feedback” offers an alternative view. To summarize:
“Easing in” to sharing negative feedback can actually increase discomfort and anxiety for the person giving the feedback as the longer one talks without giving the negative feedback the harder it can become. This may also result in the recipient sensing the discomfort and becoming more anxious themselves.
In his work with teams interviewing direct reports, it turns out that almost all say they want just the meat-not the bread on each end. It undermines trust.
People learn better when receiving feedback, positive or negative, in a timely manner, so rather than holding positive feedback for a time when you need it as a part of a “sandwich”, offer it when it happens. Employees report not believing the positive feedback anyway if it’s presented as a part of a feedback sandwich, so to increase one’4ts trust, authenticity and transparency, offer the positive separately from the negative feedback.
So what’s a better way to approach giving negative feedback than serving a lukewarm, stale, overdone sandwich? Try two things. First, don’t assume that you necessarily have all the facts. Sometimes you can start with an open-ended question—“Bill, I heard that the client was unhappy that you didn’t get that to her by the deadline. Is that right?” Maybe you don’t have all the information.
Furthermore, a mind shift may be helpful for you in giving negative feedback. We try to soften it with a sandwich, and sometimes dread giving it, because we worry that it will hurt them and our relationship with them. But if you can identify what they care about and anchor your feedback in that, then you’re not hurting, you’re helping them with their goals and helping them to improve.
Not easy, but certainly worth trying if it might have a deeper impact. Let me know what you learn!
Great Link
This is a great overview on how to ask better questions; invaluable to help you give better feedback. 8:36
Moving from Theory to Action
To support you in preparing for giving critical feedback, here are some reflection questions:
What is my mindset going into this conversation-how do I remind myself that feedback is my interpretation and not necessarily a fact? Where can I be curious? Can I hold that I might not have all the information?
What does this person care about that would make the feedback important for him/her to want to know? How can I frame this conversation from that perspective?
Who am I in relation to this person? What is my level of power? How can I be responsible for my social context such as race, gender, age, etc. in offering this feedback?
What is my mood right now and how can I put myself into a frame of mind that will be helpful? Is the other person in a mood to be able to listen? What is the mood I want to create in through this conversation (shame, blame, accountability, possibility, empowerment)?
What is my first sentence to “enter” into the conversation in an honest, straightforward way?
Quarterly Quote
“In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.” – Carol Dweck
Book Review
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever
Michael Bungay Stanier
A client raved about the impact this book is having and I want to share it with you. It’s a highly pragmatic book that offers a clear structure on how to have coaching conversations with your subordinates that will have impact. It is based on seven basic questions:
Question 1: "What's on your mind?"
Question 2: "And what else?"
Question 3: "What's the real challenge here for you?"
Question 4: "What do you want?"
Question 5: "How can I help?"
Question 6: "If you're saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?
Question 7: "What was most useful for you?"
This is one of those cases of simple doesn’t equal easy, otherwise we could just end here. In the book the author helps you understand why these questions are so powerful, how to use them in a work context, and put them into practice (this is the hard part). A great read and reference to have on your management shelf. And when I think about it, my sense is that these questions would really work at home, too!