[Music] leaders need feedback to become stronger leaders but they don't often get the feedback they need nor do they give the feedback others need to improve their skills everyone in the workplace is different and we experience the behavior of our co-workers in different ways sometimes another person's actions can affect us in a way that makes it harder to work well together in these situations we often don't let our colleagues know about their impact on us conversely sometimes a co-worker's actions are very helpful or motivating but we don't take the time to communicate specifically what he or she did that made the work go well giving feedback can be tricky that's why we often shy away from it but a method called Situation Behavior impact or SBI for short can help you gather and give specific constructive feedback to strengthen Effectiveness in your work with others first it's important to understand what feedback is feedback is different from criticism or praise feedback is about observation it is timely and specific it describes but does not judge SBI helps you deliver and receive feedback in a specific way here's how to give feedback according to the SBI method the first step in SBI is to get permission to give feedback that's a simple as saying may I give you feedback then describe the situation when and where something occurred make sure you are specific in describing the situation for example in the meeting today when you made a proposal for your unit to take the lead on the next steps of the project then describe the behavior that had an effect on you again make sure you are specific in describing the behavior it isn't helpful if you are vague or General in your description for example you said that my unit would provide the materials by next Wednesday finally Describe the impact the behavior had on you this part of the statement describes your emotional response and is particular to you for example when you made that commitment for my unit I felt disrespected because you hadn't asked me in advance if it was possible to meet such a tight time frame or when you made that commitment for my unit I felt complimented that you trusted me to get it done on such a tight time frame as you can see different people can experience the same behavior in very different ways specific feedback can help leaders draw helpful conclusions from this information and decide how they may or may not want to adjust their practices as a result in situation Behavior impact how you receive this information is as important as how it is delivered here are some dos and don'ts for receiving feedback do ask for feedback about specific events or actions and the impact your behavior had on the person's ability to do the work well focus on hearing and understanding the feedback Express appreciation for the information give yourself time to process what you have heard and decide what to do don't try to explain exp what you were trying to do or why minimize or dismiss what you have heard discount or deflect unexpected or Uninvited feedback about your positive impact on someone get angry or withdraw in the face of unexpected or Uninvited feedback about your negative impact on someone to encourage people you work with to give helpful feedback make sure you give SBI feedback frequently and ask for it from time to time you can pass out a simple SBI form during meeting meetings for example and ask that people fill it out take the time to fill out SBI forms for others using the form may be helpful in getting your team used to giving feedback in this way after a short time of using the form you may find that you can easily give SBI and don't need the form to help convey your feedback when you review other people's SBI forms together look for patterns and decide what adjustments in your practice might contribute to the work going well learn more about situation Behavior impact and other tools for results-based leadership at www.f.org