Madina S.
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Kenneth Blanchard
The ‘compliment sandwich,’ also known as the ‘feedback sandwich,’ is a recognized management and feedback culture strategy when a negative piece of feedback or constructive criticism is sandwiched between two layers of positive feedback.
What is a feedback sandwich?
Feedback sandwich gives helpful criticism by placing it between compliments, explicitly focusing on delivering constructive feedback that fosters improvement and growth. This method, often utilized by managers during performance reviews and workload planning begins with positive feedback for something the employee excelled at, then carefully offers constructive feedback, and concludes with additional positive feedback.
This approach not only keeps the conversation positive but also helps soften the impact of the criticism, ensuring it is received constructively. Thus, it’s akin to making a sandwich: you start with an upbeat slice of positive feedback, add constructive feedback as the filling, and end with another joyous slice of positive feedback.
Does the feedback sandwich work?
Some managers refrain from providing unfavorable criticism because it may sour employee relationships. But when needed criticism is held back, the supervisor-employee relationship remains surface-level and lacks the depth needed to address sensitive issues. By avoiding authentic interactions, supervisors miss out on building trust and can build up frustration until even a tiny mistake triggers a flood of pent-up criticism. For example – at some point, you will notice a decrease in the quality of the team memeber’s work when checking the task tracker and will not be able to point out mistakes to the person or give advice on increasing productivity. This avoidance often stems from being uncomfortable giving negative feedback, emphasizing the need for a good feedback method.
On the other hand, supervisors who only speak up to criticize also harm their relationships with employees. They might assume that excellence is expected and that praise isn’t necessary. However, praise isn’t just about boosting egos – it’s about encouraging desired behaviors to continue. Changing and maintaining behavior requires acknowledgment and encouragement. So, feedback is a part of your management style.
Now, let’s talk about the feedback sandwich with pros and cons.
Pros:
- Softens negative input: It might occasionally be easier for the recipient to absorb negative feedback when it is placed amid nice comments.
- Eases the process for the giver: Giving negative feedback is tough, and the sandwich method can help the giver ease into it.
- It ends on a positive note: It ensures the conversation concludes with praise, leaving the recipients feeling proud of themselves. All of that motivates the team to set goals and achieve them faster.
Cons:
- Can cause confusion and tension: Sandwiched feedback might leave the recipient unsure of where they stand and create tension. This ambiguity can reduce the impact of good feedback, make corrective feedback less effective, and create a lack of accountability.
- Increases anxiety: It can make recipients anxious, especially if they sense indirect communication or evasion.
- Encourages bad listening habits: Recipients might focus only on the positive or ignore the negative, leading to ineffective communication. This approach also fails to provide clear and direct critical feedback, essential for personal and professional development.
Making a good feedback sandwich: step-by-step
Making a good feedback sandwich step-by-step is a handy tool for new and existing supervisor-employee relationships, especially when providing feedback to direct reports. It helps new employees learn and grow by mixing this to guide their development for new supervisors. As skills improve, supervisors can step back – balance the workload, and delegate more. This technique builds trust for new supervisors by offering helpful feedback that supports employee success.
But remember, not every piece of feedback needs to be sandwiched. In healthy work relationships, praise and criticism can be given separately. Using any technique too rigidly can feel fake over time.
The meat of the sandwich: criticism
You start making your sandwich as you analyze workflow in team management software and find some issues. Constructive criticism is the main ingredient, helping staff grow and stay motivated when delivered thoughtfully and promptly. The role of the feedback giver is crucial in delivering this feedback effectively, ensuring it is both direct and specific to foster improvement and trust. The sandwich example shows how to use specific praise and criticism together. For instance, praising good patient communication skills while suggesting improvements.
Timely criticism should be given explicitly after an issue arises and when the employee is ready to listen. Well-targeted criticism focuses on specific skills or ideas, avoiding overwhelming the employee. Well-said criticism is clear and behavior-focused, avoiding generalizations or personal attacks. For example, if you are unhappy with an employee’s work and want to improve it by implementing new project management methodologies or work tools, focus on what your employees need to do when giving feedback.
The bread: praise
Just like criticism, praise should be timely, targeted, and transparent. It reinforces desired behavior and encourages growth. When giving feedback sandwiches, supervisors can be assertive like chefs or passive/aggressive like cooks. Assertive communication means expressing thoughts clearly and respectfully. It involves being explicitly prepared and offering solutions.
How to become the Chef?
When it comes to giving feedback sandwiches, supervisors become chefs. They should express their thoughts directly, respect the person, and focus on behavior. How to become a pro chef in making feedback sandwiches:
- Be prepared: Take time to gather your thoughts before giving feedback. It’s easy to give aggressive, vague feedback, but it’s more effective to identify the problem behavior and offer a clear solution. Analyze the input from project management tools and prepare your advice and complaints.
- Be specific: Identify specific behaviors to praise or correct.
- Offer corrections: Don’t just point out problems – offer solutions or alternatives. Whether brainstorming ideas together or suggesting one directly, provide actionable steps for improvement.
- Own your opinions: Use “I” statements to express your thoughts. It shows ownership of the feedback and avoids speculation or hearsay.
- Know your boundaries: Ensure your feedback is relevant to the work relationship and within your authority. Please avoid commenting on personal attributes unless they directly impact job performance.
- Be aware of yourself: Recognize any personal biases or emotions you may project onto the feedback. Understanding the impact of personal feelings on the feedback process is crucial. It’s essential to manage these emotions to ensure they don’t hinder the employee’s development or the effectiveness of the feedback. Stay focused on the employee’s performance and avoid overreacting or underplaying issues.
- Be expressive: Non-verbal cues like eye contact, posture, and tone can enhance your feedback’s impact. Use these cues to convey the importance of your message and engage the employee’s attention.
Incorporating the feedback sandwich model is designed to make the feedback-giver feel more comfortable, signal good intent, analyze collaboration tools, and have a strategy for giving feedback to promote trust and improvement.
How Bordio can help provide feedback
Bordio is a powerful collaboration and time management tool that can significantly simplify the feedback process. Here’s how Bordio, as a team project planner, can help you effectively provide feedback:
Transparent task and progress tracking
Bordio, as a work task manager, allows for clear tracking of tasks and the progress of each team member. This means you can create a to-do list and easily see who is responsible for what, which tasks are completed, and which are still in progress. This transparency allows for specific and justified feedback based on actual data about completed tasks and achieved results.
Calendar system and planning
With Bordio’s calendar system, you can assign tasks with clear deadlines and track their completion. This helps provide timely feedback on completed tasks and adjust plans as needed. You can remind employees of deadlines and help them manage their time more effectively, leading to more productive work and improved team outcomes.
Comment and chat features
Bordio task planner includes comment and chat features that allow you to provide feedback directly in the context of specific tasks. You can comment on completed tasks, give improvement tips, discuss issues, and suggest solutions. This creates a continuous flow of communication and allows for real-time feedback.
Customizable notifications
Bordio allows you to set up notifications to remind team members of important tasks and deadlines. You can also use these notifications to provide timely feedback at key project stages, which helps avoid delays and increases employee engagement.
Workload analysis
Bordio provides tools, like a project management task tracker, for analyzing employees’ workloads. These allow you to see who has too many or too few tasks and adjust the distribution of work accordingly. Based on this information, you can give feedback on work efficiency and suggest ways to improve productivity. Furthermore Bordio is good for remote work as it can be used anywhere from phone or computer.
Example of using Bordio to provide feedback
Suppose you have a project that includes several tasks with different deadlines. You notice that one team member successfully completed a complex task ahead of schedule. Using Bordio, you can:
1. Leave positive comments directly on the task, praising the employee for excellent work and quick execution.
2. Schedule a meeting with the employee through Bordio’s calendar to discuss what specifically helped them complete the task so efficiently and how this experience can be applied to other projects.
3. Set up notifications to remind yourself to check progress on other tasks and provide timely feedback.
4. Analyze workload and offer additional tasks to the employee if they are managing faster than others, or redistribute tasks to balance the workload in the team.
Using Bordio to provide feedback makes this process more organized, transparent, and effective. It helps improve the work of each team member and increase the overall productivity and engagement of the entire team.
Difference between destructive criticism and constructive feedback
Destructive criticism is intended to undermine or denigrate the work or persona of another without providing constructive advice on how to do better. It frequently concentrates on defects and shortfalls, which can depress and harm someone’s self-esteem and drive.
On the contrary, constructive criticism provides feedback that aids improvement. It targets specific areas of work or behavior for enhancement and offers suggestions for how to do so. When given politely and encouragingly, constructive criticism encourages personal development rather than depresss the recipient. Clear, actionable, and growth-oriented constructive criticism is known as effective feedback. It emphasizes the importance of clear, actionable insight and cultivates a feedback culture to help the workforce thrive.
In comparing the two, constructive criticism provides tangible information for improvement, emphasizes results, and discusses specific problem areas without attacking the person as a whole. It sticks to facts, addresses changeable behaviors, and encourages discussion about the benefits of change.
On the other hand, destructive criticism tends to make accusations, often assumes negativity about the person or their intentions, and lacks specificity. It can be unrestrained, discussing unchangeable aspects, and may involve yelling or condescension, limiting discussion with employees.
Ultimately, constructive criticism promotes self-reflection, while destructive criticism tends to lead to unproductive blame. Understanding these different approaches to criticism is essential for business leaders in fostering a constructive work environment.
Alternative strategies to the feedback sandwich
In some situations, you will need to use other strategies to give feedback, so let’s look at alternative options together right now without wasting time!
360-degree feedback
This approach gathers input on an individual’s performance from various sources, such as peers, managers, subordinates, and external stakeholders, to provide a complete picture. It presents a comprehensive viewpoint that integrates knowledge from multiple angles.
This strategy can help people see their strengths and opportunities for development by encouraging openness and self-awareness. However, it might not be appropriate in all circumstances, particularly if trust or confidentiality are at risk.
Real-time feedback
Rather than waiting for planned performance assessments, real-time feedback focuses on giving continuous, rapid feedback. This strategy encourages agility and ongoing progress by enabling prompt course corrections and modifications.
Informal methods of providing real-time feedback include brief chats, frequent check-ins, and digital platforms that allow feedback sharing. It helps in work settings when receiving prompt feedback is crucial to staying on course.
Upward feedback
Upward feedback flips the conventional feedback loop by enabling subordinates to give feedback to their bosses or supervisors. This strategy fosters accountability at all organizational levels, permits employees to voice their opinions, and encourages open communication.
When it comes to recognizing leadership blind spots and cultivating an environment of openness and trust, upward feedback may be quite helpful. Nevertheless, managers who are not used to getting input from their staff members or who feel that it challenges their authority may oppose it. Furthermore, upward feedback might not be appropriate in authoritarian or hierarchical corporate cultures where power disparities are substantial.
SBI (Situation/Behavior/Impact)
A structured feedback model called SBI explains certain circumstances, observable behaviors, and how they affect other people. It is simpler for both the provider and the recipient to comprehend and effectively handle the feedback when it is delivered within this clear framework for constructive and objective feedback-giving.
Because SBI avoids generalizations and concentrates on practical insights, it is especially helpful when addressing specific situations or habits that require modification. However, SBI may not be suitable for addressing broader or more complex performance issues that require a deeper understanding of underlying patterns or root causes. Additionally, it may feel overly formal or rigid in situations where a more flexible or conversational approach to feedback is desired.
Final thoughts on the Feedback Sandwich method
Effective supervisors excel at providing valuable employee feedback. Utilizing the feedback sandwich technique is a method to structure your feedback to ensure balance and facilitate easier delivery, making it easier to give feedback effectively.
By combining praise for positive behaviors with constructive criticism for areas needing improvement and wrapping with positive comments, supervisors convey to employees that they recognize both strengths and areas for growth in performance. This approach allows supervisors to highlight specific behaviors they wish to reinforce and those they aim to modify or eliminate. While potentially modifying behaviors may necessitate additional feedback strategies, the feedback sandwich, despite its drawbacks, such as potentially misconstrued feedback and undermining communication, is suitable for most developmental feedback scenarios. With practice, supervisors can master this technique and become adept at providing impactful feedback, understanding both the benefits and limitations of the sandwich approach. So, let’s start making sandwiches!
