Coaching practices for How to Give Better Feedback

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Give Better Feedback, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I deliver my feedback as a finished verdict and then the other person just sits there closed off
• I tell someone what went wrong but never say what I actually want instead, so they walk away knowing they messed up with no idea what "right" looks like
• When I just hand someone my assessment they go passive and defensive, like I’m doing something to them
• Feedback in my one-on-ones only ever flows one way
• No matter how carefully I word it, my feedback seems to land as me sitting in judgment over them from above

Practices that may help

1. Invite a response after delivering SBI
   Close SBI by asking what the other person makes of it — not with a verdict.
   The SBI Feedback Model, Made Practical
2. Add a forward-looking request to SBI
   Pair the impact statement with a specific, doable request for next time.
   The SBI Feedback Model, Made Practical
3. Ask what the person already knows before offering your assessment
   Ask the person to evaluate their own performance before giving yours.
   The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead
4. Make feedback flow in both directions
   Give timely, specific feedback — and ask for it on your own management.
   Effective One-on-Ones, Made Practical
5. Establish shared purpose before delivering critique
   Frame critique as help toward a shared goal, not an evaluation from above.
   The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead
6. Ask for ideas about the future, not assessments of the past
   Replace "how did I do?" with "what ideas do you have for how I could do better?"
   Feedforward: Future-Focused Feedback That Actually Changes Behavior
7. The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead
   The feedback sandwich (positive–negative–positive) is the dominant model for giving feedback in workplaces, but research and practitioner experience suggest it routinely fails: recipients either remember only the positive parts or dismiss the negative as softened insincerity. The practices below cover why it fails mechanistically and what specific alternatives are better supported.
8. Close feedback by checking understanding, not agreement
   Ask "What did you take from that?" rather than "Do you agree?"
   The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead
9. Give feedback in the moment, not stockpiled for reviews
   Feedback accumulated for a periodic review arrives late and in bulk — neither helps.
   The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead
10. Make feedback specific and behavioral, not evaluative
    Describe what you observed, not what it says about the person.
    The Feedback Sandwich: Why It Doesn’t Work and What to Do Instead

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.