Category: Feedback

  • One-on-Ones That Actually Matter

    A one-on-one is the report's meeting, not the manager's status update. If you find yourself asking for progress on tasks, move that to a written update and give the time back.

    A simple agenda

    1. What is on your mind this week?
    2. What is getting in your way?
    3. What would you like more or less of from me?
    4. Anything we agreed last time that we should revisit?

    Write commitments in a shared document so both of you can see what was promised.

  • The Feedback Sandwich Is Stale

    Wrapping criticism between two compliments teaches people to ignore your compliments. After a few rounds, every piece of praise sounds like the warm-up to bad news.

    Give positive and corrective feedback separately and specifically. Describe the situation, the behaviour you saw and the impact it had, then ask what the other person saw. The question matters more than the delivery: it turns a verdict into a conversation.

    Feedback is a gift only when the person giving it is genuinely curious about the answer.

    Aim for a ratio of roughly three specific acknowledgements to every correction over a month, not within a single conversation.