SBI Feedback

Give feedback about one specific thing a person did, in a form they can act on

What it is

SBI is a three-part structure for feedback from the Center for Creative Leadership. Situation anchors the feedback in a specific time and place, such as yesterday's client review. Behaviour describes what the person did in terms a camera could have recorded. Impact names the effect it had on you, the team, the client or the work.

The structure keeps the feedback on what the person did, which gives them something specific to change and leaves their character out of it. It works the same way for praise, because a specific situation, behaviour and impact tells someone exactly what to repeat. Delivered in order, the three parts usually take two or three sentences.

When to reach for it

Someone did something in a meeting that you need to raise, and you are tempted to start with "you always"
A team member did good work and you want them to know exactly what to repeat
A feedback conversation you are dreading, where you want the message written down before you start

Try it this week

Pick one piece of feedback you need to give this week, corrective or positive, and write it out before you deliver it.

Write the situation as a specific time and place, and leave out words like "always" and "lately".
Write the behaviour as a camera would have recorded it, replacing any adjective about the person with a verb about what they did.
Write the impact on you, the team, the client or the work as plainly and honestly as you can.
Deliver the three parts in order, then ask the person what they intended.
If what they intended differs from the impact, talk through the gap and agree what they will do next time.

Go deeper

Related tools

Source: Center for Creative Leadership, Use Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) to Understand Intent

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