Feedback is one of the cheapest development tools a manager has. It is also easy to get wrong.
Gallup found only 26% of employees strongly agree the feedback they receive helps them do better work. Kluger and DeNisi's meta-analysis found feedback improved performance on average, yet over a third of interventions made performance worse.
How feedback is given decides which side of that line it lands.
Why feedback fails
Too vague. "Good job" and "communicate better" give the person nothing to act on.
Too late. Feedback months after the event is hard to link to behaviour.
Too rare. Once or twice a year is far too little to shape daily work.
Aimed at the person. Kluger and DeNisi found feedback works less well when it draws attention to the self instead of the task.
Mixed with evaluation. Linking every conversation to pay or ratings raises anxiety and reduces learning.
What good feedback looks like
Good feedback is specific, timely and forward-focused. It names an observable behaviour, comes soon after the event and points to what to do next.
The Situation, Behaviour, Impact model from the Center for Creative Leadership gives a simple structure:
- Situation. "In this morning's team meeting..."
- Behaviour. "...you interrupted James three times while he presented..."
- Impact. "...he lost his thread and told me afterwards he felt unheard."
Then ask a question: "How did it look from your side?"
Give positive feedback properly
"Well done" is a rating, and it teaches little. Specific positive feedback names the behaviour and why it mattered.
For example: "When the board member challenged you, you stayed calm, acknowledged the concern and answered with one clear data point. That is the presence we need."
It tells people exactly what to repeat.
Build this capability in your organisation
Growth Performance designs bespoke programmes that turn insight into measurable behaviour change.
Care and challenge together
Kim Scott's Radical Candor describes feedback that cares personally and challenges directly. Care without challenge becomes vague. Challenge without care feels like an attack.
Strong relationships make honest feedback possible. Invest in them before you need them.
Build a feedback habit
- Leaders ask first. Ask your team for feedback, act on it and say what you changed.
- Create regular slots. Use one-to-ones and retrospectives for feedback, separate from formal reviews.
- Train the skill. Practise models such as Situation, Behaviour, Impact in management training.
Receive feedback well
Stone and Heen identify three triggers that make people reject useful feedback. Truth triggers dispute the content. Relationship triggers discount the giver. Identity triggers make feedback feel like a threat to who we are.
Listen first. Ask questions to understand. Decide later whether to act.
Feedback on AI-assisted work
AI changes what managers need to give feedback on. Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index found 86% of AI users treat its output as a starting point.
So feedback should cover how people checked and improved AI output, as well as the result. CIPD's Good Work Index 2026 found 45% of employees using generative AI do not trust its output to be accurate.
Open conversation about checking supports Adaptation: people directing and checking AI in real work.
Try this
For two weeks, give one specific piece of feedback every day. Keep it brief, and name the behaviour and its impact.
Then take the free Feedback Fitness Assessment.