August 14, 2025
Imagine this: You're about to head into a one-on-one with an employee who's a great individual performer, but whose communication style is starting to rub other team members the wrong way. While we all know that providing feedback is one of the most critical responsibilities for leaders, it can also be one of the most uncomfortable and challenging experiences.
What if you say the wrong thing? What do you do if the employee responds defensively?
These are fair questions that factor into how you deliver feedback. The good news? The more confidence and comfort you develop with delivering real-time feedback, the better your outcomes will be.
In this article, we'll cover a powerful framework for providing feedback and give you 10 scripts for common scenarios that you can adapt to your business and team.
Before digging into the methodology, let's discuss why giving feedback can feel so uncomfortable. Giving feedback is a skill—meaning you're likely to feel uncomfortable and out of your depth if you haven't spent enough time practicing it. Having a clear framework to lean on and practice with is critical to your success.
But why go through all this hard work? Effectively delivering feedback is a key driver of business success, as evidenced by compelling statistics:
The goal is to move away from providing feedback only as a lagging indicator in annual reviews. Instead, deliver feedback in real-time to enjoy these benefits and build a culture of continuous improvement.
The Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) method provides a clear, objective structure for delivering both positive and constructive feedback. Developed by the Center for Creative Leadership, this framework helps you stay factual and specific while avoiding the common pitfalls of vague or judgmental feedback.
Situation - Set the context by describing when and where the behavior occurred
Behavior - Describe the specific, observable actions you witnessed
Impact - Explain the consequences or effects of the behavior
To take the SBI method one step further, explore the team member's intent behind their behavior. This addition transforms feedback from a one-way critique into a two-way dialogue:
This approach helps illuminate blind spots and prevents defensive reactions, as people realize you're genuinely trying to understand their perspective rather than simply criticizing them.
Once you've delivered the SBI feedback, transition into a constructive conversation about next steps:
Situation: "In yesterday's project status meeting, we reviewed the Q4 marketing campaign timeline."
Behavior: "The social media strategy document that was due on Tuesday wasn't submitted until Friday afternoon, and I wasn't notified about the delay until I asked for an update Thursday morning."
Impact: "This pushed back our creative team's work by three days, which means we'll likely need to pay rush fees to the design vendor to stay on schedule for the campaign launch. It also meant I couldn't give the CMO the update she requested in Wednesday's leadership meeting."
Follow-up: "What obstacles did you encounter with this deadline? Let's discuss how we can prevent this going forward."
Situation: "During last week's client crisis when their entire system went down during their peak sales period..."
Behavior: "You stayed online until 2 AM coordinating with the technical team, created a detailed incident report by 8 AM, and personally called each of their department heads to explain the resolution and preventive measures we implemented."
Impact: "The client specifically mentioned your response in their renewal meeting yesterday. They said your handling of the crisis actually strengthened their confidence in us as a partner. This level of service is exactly why we retained a client that represents $2M in annual revenue."
Follow-up: "Your approach here is exactly what excellent client management looks like. What made you decide to take such comprehensive action?"
Situation: "In this morning's sprint planning meeting when Jake suggested modifying the testing protocol..."
Behavior: "You interrupted him mid-sentence saying 'That's never going to work' and then turned to address only the rest of the team for the remainder of your critique, avoiding eye contact with Jake."
Impact: "Jake shut down for the rest of the meeting and didn't contribute his other ideas. Two team members approached me separately afterward expressing discomfort with the exchange. This kind of interaction undermines the psychological safety we need for innovation and honest dialogue."
Follow-up: "I'd like to understand what prompted such a strong reaction. What's your perspective on what happened?"
Situation: "During yesterday's stakeholder presentation about the new product features..."
Behavior: "You read directly from your slides for most of the 30-minute presentation, used technical acronyms without explaining them, and when the CFO asked about ROI implications, you dove into technical specifications instead of addressing the business impact."
Impact: "I noticed three executives checking their phones during your portion, and the CFO had to ask the same question three times to get the business context she needed. We missed an opportunity to get budget approval because the business case wasn't clear."
Follow-up: "You have deep technical expertise. Let's work on translating that knowledge into business language that resonates with different audiences."
Situation: "Looking at the last three client proposals you've submitted..."
Behavior: "Each one contained multiple data errors—the March proposal had last year's revenue figures, April's had the wrong client name in two sections, and yesterday's proposal quoted prices from our old rate card."
Impact: "I've had to spend 2-3 hours reviewing and correcting each proposal before sending to clients. Yesterday, the incorrect pricing almost cost us credibility with a new prospect when they questioned why our numbers didn't match our website."
Follow-up: "Help me understand your current review process. What would help you catch these issues before submission?"
Situation: "In our quarterly planning session when I asked for your team's strategic priorities..."
Behavior: "You presented a list of 15 tactical tasks like 'update documentation' and 'fix bug in module X' but didn't connect any of these to our broader objectives of improving customer retention or reducing support tickets."
Impact: "Without strategic alignment, your team might be working hard on things that don't move our key metrics. It also made it difficult for me to justify your resource requests to the executive team because I couldn't show how your plans support our company goals."
Follow-up: "I want to help you develop this strategic lens. What do you think our top business priority should be for your team next quarter?"
Situation: "Last month we discussed improving your meeting facilitation, and you committed to sending agendas 24 hours in advance..."
Behavior: "You've sent agendas for all six of your team meetings since then, each with clear objectives and time allocations. You've also started using a parking lot for off-topic items and ending each meeting with clear action items."
Impact: "Your team mentioned in our skip-level that meetings feel more productive now. Sarah specifically said she feels more prepared to contribute. I've also noticed meetings are ending on time, giving everyone back about 3 hours per week."
Follow-up: "This is exactly the improvement I was hoping to see. How has this change felt from your perspective?"
Situation: "In the last three one-on-ones when I've brought up concerns about our team's workload..."
Behavior: "You've acknowledged the concern but immediately shifted to discussing new projects we need to take on, without addressing how we'll manage capacity or what we might need to deprioritize."
Impact: "The team is starting to burn out—I've had two people mention they're considering other opportunities. I'm struggling to keep morale up when I can't give them a clear answer about when things might improve or what support we'll receive."
Follow-up: "I need your partnership in either securing additional resources or making explicit decisions about what we stop doing. What are your thoughts?"
Situation: "During our joint customer presentation on Tuesday..."
Behavior: "When I was explaining our technical architecture, you jumped in three times to 'clarify' points I was making, which contradicted what I had just said about the implementation timeline."
Impact: "The customer looked confused and asked if we were aligned internally. It undermined both of our credibility and made us look unprepared. We almost lost the opportunity to advance to the next stage."
Follow-up: "I value your expertise and input. Can we establish a signal system for future presentations so we can support each other without creating confusion?"
Situation: "Over the past two weeks of remote team standups..."
Behavior: "You've had your camera off for all but one meeting, and when you do speak, there's significant background noise that makes it hard to hear you. Yesterday, you were clearly typing during Marcus's update, which was audible to everyone."
Impact: "Team members have privately mentioned they feel you're not fully present or engaged. It's creating a perception that remote team members are less committed, which could affect how remote work is viewed company-wide. Marcus specifically mentioned feeling disrespected when he could hear typing during his update."
Follow-up: "I want to ensure you can fully participate in our team dynamics even while remote. What would help you be more present in our virtual meetings?"
To make these scripts work in your organization:
By incorporating this type of structured feedback into your team's regular rhythm, you'll start to see real improvements in performance and trust. Remember, giving effective feedback is a skill that improves with practice. Start with lower-stakes conversations to build your confidence before tackling more challenging situations.
The SBI method provides the structure, but your genuine care for your team's development provides the foundation. When employees know that feedback comes from a place of support rather than judgment, they're more likely to embrace it as a tool for growth.
This is an important step toward building a continuous feedback organization—one where growth, learning, and open communication become part of your team's DNA rather than something that only happens during annual reviews.
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
