Feedback 3.0: Evolving beyond the SBI Model
A core responsibility of the product manager is cross-functional collaboration. These partners exist in all areas of the business and could span from lifecycle marketing to quality assurance.
We work with a variety of individual people that have a range of responsibilities.
There’s a mock that needs to be created for an experiment — “Oh, reach out to Mya for that”.
There’s a test plan that needs to be developed — “Kameron should be able to support that effort”.
But, we often discuss these groups in aggregate when something goes awry or when there’s a failure, misstep, or broken communication.
The experiment wasn’t successful — “Yes, product inflated the opportunity size”.
The original launch timeline was June 6th. It’s July 1st. What happened? — “Engineering didn’t accurately scope out the work”.
There was likely one product manager that drove the experiment, and there was likely a single engineer assigned a SPIKE ticket to break down the work.
TLDR; we know who was responsible for the failure.
We place blame on the function to preserve team dynamics, to prevent ostracization, to promote the notion of fallibility in the workplace, and because, sometimes, shit happens and it’s not that big of a deal. We also assume that the person who failed knows they did and probably feels really awful about it.
Sometimes, feedback isn’t warranted because it may do more harm than good.
Other times, when there’s an absence of accountability, there’s often a broken or absent culture of feedback.
Here are a couple more reasons why we may avoid giving feedback:
- Framing the feedback is challenging
- Direct feedback can be intimidating to give and receive
- There’s an inability to separate the person from the behavior
- Giving feedback effectively is a skill that companies don’t teach employees
- The relationship could be fractured after
- Fear of retaliation on review
- Leadership isn’t modeling the behavior, so we don’t feel responsible for it either
If reasons 1–6 help explain why you’ve chosen to avoid providing feedback, then this evolved framework should provide you relief.
Existing Model: SBI
Situation — Behavior — Impact
Note: The SBI model was developed by the Center for Creative Leadership and is widely used by companies and people globally. I’ve used this model, but have found that it is incomplete. Below I’ve included my modifications to this model that have dramatically improved the effectiveness of my feedback.
Modified Model: SABINS
Situation — Acknowledgement — Behavior — Impact — Next Steps — Secure the Relationship
Before scheduling time with the individual you’d like to provide feedback to, ensure you:
- Give them a heads up that you’d like to give them feedback
- Share the feedback model you’ll be using up front,
- Learn what time of day they prefer receiving feedback, and learn what format they’re most comfortable receiving it in.
Situation: When you’re giving feedback, first define the where and when of the situation you’re referring to. This puts the feedback into context and gives the other person a specific setting as a reference.
Acknowledgment: Often times the issue isn’t what someone did; it’s HOW they did it. So, your feedback ends up being about to improve from the observed baseline — a difference between good and better (but never best). Acknowledge the actions the individual did take and the things they did do. Addressing the situation is likely to conjure up thoughts and feelings in the person receiving the feedback, and a natural human response is to be defensive. To convey that you have awareness of positive actions related to the situation outlined above, speak to them. Acknowledging the “what” in this way helps open the recipient up to learn “how” and “what else” they could have done better.
Behavior: Describe the observable actions that you’d like to address. If you didn’t observe it yourself, then you should avoid mentioning it. Focus on actions, not personality traits. Tip: Aim to use measurable information in your description of the behavior. This helps to ensure that your comments are objective.
Impact: State the consequences of their actions or behavior. The impact should be framed around you; therefore, you should leverage “I” statements to describe how the other person’s action has affected you, the team, progress toward goals, or the environment.
If you are providing feedback on behalf of someone else, then do not generalize and, if possible, don’t reference the other person unless you have permission to mention them by name and the individual is willing to speak directly with them too. Injecting ambiguity by referencing “other people or team members” will elicit feelings of insecurity in a situation that should ideally be empowering.
Next Steps: Provide a clear path forward. State or describe the single thing that this person can do to improve.
This step is critical and should not be left out. Ensure that the next step is tied directly to the problem, and do not pile on solutions. Keep the insight simple and actionable. If you don’t yet know how they can move forward, then you may not be ready to provide the feedback.
Secure the Relationship: Always ask if they have any feedback for you. Let them know that they can follow up with any questions. Inquire if they’d be open to you following up with them to see if they’ve felt any changes in their working relationships since the feedback was given. The point of this step is to display that there’s humility on both sides and that you, as the feedback provider, care about the relationship and their future.
