As Managers, we are required to provide our observations of our direct reports, & record this on a regular basis. We offer them feedback to help them improve their behaviours & performance. For some staff members, they must change their behaviours, or practice, or suffer serious consequences (such as being served an official warning, or possibly even being fired). We dress up our approach as being ‘strengths based. This often isn’t the experience of the recipient of the well intentioned feedback. I would like to offer you a tried & tested alternative approach, which only requires a minor tweak to standard practice.

1. Pluses & Deltas – The Art of Feedback for Managers
Alex Clapson – Independent Trainer, Social Worker & Consultant
As a Manager, how often have you sensitively offered a direct report your observations, or
feedback, ensuring that you offer a balanced “what worked well” & “what didn’t work well” appraisal
of their actions, only for them to fixate on where they went wrong? Temporarily (we hope) they
may be in a worse place than before we offered them feedback – even if they asked us for our
‘warts & all’ observations. What therefore goes wrong? Our intentions are honourable – we have
their best interests at heart & offer our feedback to help them identify what needs to change in
order for them to improve. But what if they don’t recognise your observations of their behaviours,
or are unable to process the feedback?
Maybe you’ve been the recipient of feedback in the past – asking a manager or colleague to give
you ‘the gift of feedback’ requesting ‘the good, the bad & the ugly’ as you prefer straight talk. You

2. solicited the feedback; you felt that you were in a position of strength to be able to handle whatever
came your way, & to sift out the ‘wheat from the chaff’. Maybe it worked for you & helped you to
improve. But what if you are in a position where there is a power imbalance between you & the
person you’re sharing your feedback with? Might there be risks in you applying a similar approach
in such situations?
Elite athletes rely upon coaches utilising diagnostics to focus upon tiny details, such as the angle &
position of limbs throughout a 100 metre sprint. They’re looking for any wasted energy so that they
can maximise their forward thrust, thereby shaving off another 10th
of a second. They’re motivated
to win & will go to extraordinary lengths to achieve their goals – they crave feedback. Most of us
aren’t top-flight sportspersons (despite my outward appearance & racing snake physique)…! So, if
many mere mortals find ‘balanced’ feedback unhelpful, or even debilitating, (especially if it’s
unwanted, due to our tendency as human beings to zone-in on the negatives whilst putting to one
side the positives), what can we do about it?
As Managers, we are required to provide our observations of our direct reports, & record this on a
regular basis. We offer them feedback to help them improve their behaviours & performance. For
some staff members, they must change their behaviours, or practice, or suffer serious
consequences (such as being served an official warning, or possibly even being fired). We dress
up our approach as being ‘strengths based. This often isn’t the experience of the recipient of the
well intentioned feedback.
I would like to offer you a tried & tested alternative approach, which only requires a minor tweak to
standard practice.
When offering a ‘balanced diet’ of positives & negatives, the direct report often gorges themselves
on the negatives, leaving them in a rather unhealthy state. It’s easy to transfer responsibility over
to them “well if you choose not to listen to everything I said” etc. but is there a better way?
Let us consider reframing our approach. Instead of hiding the negatives in a feedback sandwich
Positives – Negatives – Positives where the recipient only tastes the filling, try this: take a sheet
of paper, & divide it down the middle into two columns. Head one column +’s (Pluses = what they
did well) & the other column Δ’s (Deltas = what they might do differently next time). N.B. we are
no longer capturing positives & negatives, but pluses & deltas. Now populate the +’s column with
all that they did well (be specific). For the Δ’s column, identify what they might do differently next

3. time (be specific). This can also be used as a self-reflection tool to increase their buy-in &
ownership – ask them to identify their own pluses & deltas. You can also compare their self-
assessment with your feedback to identify gaps in perceptions / understanding / evidence etc.
This subtle shift in wording requires of us as the provider of the feedback, to suggest what they
might (or what we’d like them to) do to achieve a different result. For as Albert Einstein famously
stated: “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got”.
Our feedback has now provided a steer & offered the direct report a way forward. Now ask them to
choose one area (to begin with) for an improvement that they believe is achievable (with support) –
guide them through the choices if they require prompts. Devise a plan with them to achieve the
stated goal – you could use a robust planning tool such as SMART or similar to structure the
specific & detailed steps required to bring about the required change.
This reframing of our feedback helps direst reports to move away from wallowing in what they did
wrong, feeling swamped by the weight of negativity (after a point, information becomes noise).
Deltas offer a clear way forward which we can support, monitor & evaluate. As a result, we will
hopefully be celebrating their achievements with them & enjoying improved working relationships
too.
© Alex Clapson info@talkworks.org.uk 07855 636535 03rd December 2017