About this course
Feedback is the single biggest differentiator between leaders who develop people and leaders who lose them. Done well, it motivates. Done poorly, it destroys trust. Most of us were never taught how to do it. We wait too long, so the conversation that should have happened in week two shows up in month nine, and we lean on folklore, like the feedback sandwich, that the research does not support.
This course replaces the folklore with practice. It starts with what actually drives performance, according to research on more than a hundred factors, and with a working definition of feedback and when to give it. Twenty-one guidelines, in three sets of seven covering logistics, substance and quality, become the operating standard for every feedback conversation. The core rule runs through all of it: describe behavior, not personality. Help, or don't bother.
Then the course turns around. Receiving feedback well is a skill too, and the course treats it as a gift, even when it does not feel like one, with ten practices for receiving it and a way to find the gold in a comment that seems off base. You learn what people actually remember from a mixed message, why negative information outweighs positive, why the sandwich fails, and how to make criticism clear and praise memorable.
Two models give you structure for the moment the right words do not come: BOFF (behavior, outcome, feelings, future) and BEER (behavior, effect, expectation, result). The course covers language that lands and language to avoid, how Motivational Interviewing helps people find their own reasons to change, the Shoe Alien exercise on how specific you really are, how to meet people where they are, and how to ask good questions, including how to turn loaded, leading questions into open ones.
Throughout, you work on two real conversations of your own: one you have to give, and one you have received.
Who it is for
- Managers and team leads who give feedback, or avoid giving it.
- Anyone who has a feedback conversation they have been putting off.
- Leaders who want feedback to change behavior, not just to be delivered.
- Anyone who wants to receive hard feedback without defending against it.
Learning objectives and outcomes
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- Prepare a feedback conversation with intention. Know why you are giving it, and apply the 21 guidelines to timing, content and quality.
- Describe behavior, not personality. Turn labels into specific, observable, forward-focused feedback.
- Receive feedback as information. Listen without defending, and find what is useful even in a comment that seems off base.
- Keep positive and negative feedback apart. Explain why the sandwich fails, and make criticism clear and praise memorable.
- Use two proven models. Structure a conversation with BOFF or BEER.
- Bring Motivational Interviewing into feedback. Help the other person find their own reasons to change.
- Ask questions that drive change. Recognize leading questions and reframe them as open ones.
What is included
The Participant Booklet is a standalone reference: the case for feedback, the guidelines, giving and receiving, why the sandwich fails, the BOFF and BEER models, Motivational Interviewing, asking good questions and reframing leading ones, with worked examples, workplace scenarios and a Quick Reference Guide. The Participant Workbook is a fillable PDF built around two real conversations, one you have to give and one you have already received. You work the first one through step by step, bring in the second as a receiver, compare the two, keep a 14-day practice log and close with your commitments. Use it alongside the workbook prompts in the videos. Nothing in either one is collected.
Chapters
19 chapters, 1 h 41 min of video.
- 00Welcome5:24
Why feedback matters, why competent people get it wrong, what you will learn, how to use these videos, and the two conversations to bring with you.
- 01What Actually Drives Performance5:43
The research on what improves and damages performance, and the top drivers.
- 02What Feedback Is, and When to Give It5:46
A working definition, and the first seven guidelines.
- 03The Rest of the Guidelines5:27
Content and quality: the other fourteen.
- 04Help, or Don't Bother7:17
Behavior, not personality.
- 05Five Tips, Before and After4:10
The same feedback delivered two ways: one works, one doesn't.
- 06Receiving Feedback Is a Gift5:24
Even when it doesn't feel like one.
- 07How to Receive Feedback Well5:44
Ten practices, and the gold in the off-base comment.
- 08What People Actually Remember4:21
Why negative information weighs more, and why the sandwich fails.
- 09Make It Land, Make It Stick4:10
Clear criticism, memorable praise, and asking first.
- 10The BOFF Principle4:05
Behavior, outcome, feelings, future.
- 11The BEER Model5:05
Behavior, effect, expectation, result.
- 12Language That Lands4:09
Phrases to use, and phrases to avoid.
- 13Motivational Interviewing7:05
Helping people find their own reasons to change.
- 14The Shoe Alien5:27
How specific are you, really?
- 15Meet People Where They Are8:13
The manager's playbook, and what employees actually want.
- 16Asking Good Questions4:38
The question you ask determines the answer you get.
- 17Reframing Leading Questions4:01
Turning loaded questions into open ones.
- 18Wrapping Up4:34
What to take with you on Monday morning, and your commitments.