As project managers and leaders, we find ourselves in a space where we need to offer feedback. Now this feedback could be on a product, performance, or any number of things. Having a simple framework for us to fall back on so we can remain concise and consistent is extremely helpful. Below is the SBIR Framework. 

Situation – In what situation did you observe this person doing something? 

Behavior – How did you find the behavior in that situation to be?

Impact – What was the impact of this behavior, in this situation, to you?

Response – What is your response, and what questions might you have for this person?

It’s easy to give positive feedback. These are merely complements and kind words. There is certainly a time and place for this type of positive reinforcement. With the SBIR a “great job yesterday” turns into “during the marketing meeting I noticed how engaged you were. The team really fed off your enthusiasm. I enjoyed seeing our project gain momentum”

However, it’s more effective to give constructive feedback. This can be positive or negative, but it needs to offer ideas for improvements in one way or another. And if you are unable to offer a direct idea, perhaps offer an open ended perspective shifting question that can allow your team member to further analyze. It might look like “After seeing what the marketing team came back with, have you considered how to update our sponsors?” 

The trickiest type of feedback is when you have someone who has been difficult to work with on your project. This is someone who may not be bringing their all or they might be bringing everyone else down. I’ll say it time and time again, project managers have all the ability and none of the authority. Can we alert their manager for serious issues, sure. But when its related to the project we are responsible for we have every right to jump into dialogue.  

First, understand where this person may be coming from. Are there issues at work or at home? Is there something personal going on? Empathy, first and foremost. But going back to SBIR we can remove blame, we can identify the Situation, softly label the Behavior and Impact, and craft a Response that engages back and forth conversation. It may take a few attempts to gain the trust of a disengaged or disgruntled team member, but as a leader you can decide if this is going to define your work or create an opportunity for the both of you.