In the BOOM organizational operating model, giving and receiving feedback is essential. This process enables the following benefits for an organization:
- transparency of relationships
- better flow of information
- greater connection and closeness among people
- fewer organizational silos
- fewer rumors
- less noise in communication
- greater focus on results
Why do people lack feedback?
As a coach, one of the most common complaints I hear in coaching sessions is the lack of feedback. Regardless of hierarchical level, education, length of service, salary, or gender, the lack of feedback is regularly among the three biggest challenges people face.
It is almost always about feedback from a superior. People feel that no one tells them whether they are doing their job well or poorly. As a result, they feel insecure and don’t know whether the direction and manner of their work meet the organization’s expectations.
I often hear sentences like:
„My boss hasn’t sat down with me seriously in over a year. All our communication comes down to operational topics or situations in which he tells me what I did wrong. What I need is for him to sit down with me for half an hour and tell me what I’m doing well and what I should improve.“
At the start of an individual coaching process, I usually hold a three-way meeting: the coachee, their superior, and me as the coach. The purpose of that meeting is for the superior to provide feedback to their employee so the employee can define coaching goals aligned with organizational goals. When the coachee hears that this will be the first stop of the coaching process, they are usually pleased, because they will finally receive concrete feedback.
In day-to-day operations, where everyone is swamped with obligations, quality feedback has become a kind of luxury that not everyone manages to get. BOOM views feedback broadly and integrally.
This means there are four types of feedback:
- Regular feedback
- Integral feedback
- Corrective feedback
- Annual review
The first two types, regular and integral, refer to conversations among all members of the organization, not only the relationship between a superior and a team member. The third and fourth types, corrective feedback and the annual review, are reserved for the relationship between a superior and a team member.
In the full version of BOOM, the superior is called the integrator, but the essence remains the same. Two people with different roles talk, where one has greater authority than the other. As you can see, there is a lot of conversation and a lot of feedback, but that is exactly why BOOM considers feedback one of the key levers for building a quality organizational culture and executing strategy.
The SBI principle in feedback: Situation, Behavior, Impact
All four types of feedback should contain the SBI principle:
- S — the Situation the feedback relates to
- B — the Behavior the person showed in that situation
- I — the Impact that behavior had on the person giving feedback, the rest of the team, or the business result
This is the combination that gives feedback exactly the power it should have. If you stick to this principle and include all three elements, you will significantly reduce the chance that the person feels offended, doesn’t understand what you want to convey, or fails to connect the feedback with their role in the team and organization.
Situation
Feedback should be placed in a specific situation, time, and context. This allows the person to mentally return to the very event the feedback refers to and connect it with a concrete memory.
While the recipient listens to the feedback, they will recall images, sounds, and feelings associated with that situation. That is precisely why such feedback becomes stronger and more memorable.
Without a clear context, the brain will try to create a picture of the situation on its own, and it often won’t have much to do with what you actually wanted to convey.
Behavior
For a person to understand and accept feedback, it must be concrete. If it is too abstract, it won’t produce the desired effect.
Words like aggressive, proactive, conflictual, insecure, uncommunicative, unassertive, unkind, tense, careless, lazy, confident, talented, or adaptable are abstractions. Positive abstractions are usually easier to hear than negative ones, but the problem remains the same: the feedback is unclear and leaves room for different interpretations.
Example of feedback with an abstract approach:
„Hey Ana, you know we now have a new rule that I have to give you feedback once a year. I think you generally do your job well, but what you should improve is to be more proactive.“
„What do you mean, be more proactive? I don’t think I’m not proactive, and when I’m not, it’s not because of me but because of others.“
„Okay, I don’t have a concrete example right now, but you know that’s your weak spot. Don’t act like you’re hearing this for the first time.“
„Come on. They told you to give some feedback, so now you’re trying to find something to hold against me. And the problem isn’t me at all, it’s others.“
„Fine, I’ve said what I wanted to say. Whether you accept it or not is up to you. You never listen anyway, so you won’t listen to this either.“
„All right. I hope we’re done. Can I go?“
„You can.“
This is how feedback that isn’t concrete enough can end. Of course, if you’re talking with a young person who has a year or two of work experience, you probably won’t get a response like this. However, when you talk with someone who has a lot of experience behind them, abstract and unprepared feedback will very quickly be called into question.
Example of feedback with a concrete situation
„Hey Ana, you know we now have a new rule that I have to give you feedback once a year. I think you generally do your job well, but what you should improve is to be more proactive.“
„What do you mean, be more proactive? I don’t think I’m not proactive, and when I’m not, it’s not because of me but because of others.“
„I see I was too abstract. Let me give you an example. We’re currently talking with the accounting service about improving the way we report. As director, I personally got involved in that project because that part of the information is very important to me. At the same time, you are the person who runs the finances in the company. In the last three weeks, since the talks began, you haven’t actively engaged or asked me anything about that topic. If you had, I would have experienced it as proactivity. It would mean that you independently seek information and try to understand topics related to the area you are responsible for. However, that hasn’t happened in the last three weeks. How do you see it? What does proactivity mean to you?“
„For me, proactivity is exactly what you describe. I just didn’t know it was expected of me.“
„Given your abilities, I believe that in such situations you could show how much more you can contribute to the team and gradually take on more responsibility and authority. That would also align with the career development direction you told me about earlier.“
In this way, the team member can understand very concretely what the director meant by the term proactivity.
Impact
This part helps the person become aware of the impact of their behavior on the person giving feedback, on other team members, or on the business result. This gives feedback a broader context and clearer meaning.
Without understanding the impact, it is difficult to develop awareness of the need for change or the importance of continuing good behavior and results.
In the previous example, the part describing the impact could sound like this:
„Ana, when you don’t engage and don’t seek information related to financial reporting, it creates the impression that you’re not interested in a career in finance. In addition, such an approach will make your future communication with accounting more difficult, because you won’t have enough context to understand the topics we’re discussing.“
If you use these principles in feedback, you will increase the likelihood of being understood, and you will make it easier for the people on the other side to make the changes expected of them.
