You will be able to deliver praise or correction that names exactly what happened and why it mattered.
Hui Min's first solo monthly service report went to Daniel last week. It was clear, on time, and she had spotted that one client's account codes had changed, which nobody else had caught. Wei Ling sent her a two-word message on the team chat: "Great report."
Hui Min was pleased. She also had no idea which part of the report had been great, so she couldn't be sure what to do again next month.
The same week, Farid's weekly client report went out with one client's figures in the wrong currency. Wei Ling told him to "be more careful with the reports". He agreed, felt bad, and had no clearer idea of what to change than before.
The Center for Creative Leadership, a leadership research and training organisation, teaches a feedback structure called situation, behaviour, impact, or SBI. You may already know it from Communicate at work, lesson 7.1, Describe the behaviour, not the person. As a manager, you will use it far more often, and for praise as much as correction.
The structure has three parts. The situation is when and where it happened. The behaviour is what the person actually did. The impact is what that did to the work, the client or the team.
The situation anchors the feedback to a real moment, so the person can picture it. "In last week's monthly service report." "On Tuesday's call with the Changi client." "In this morning's team meeting." Avoid "always" and "never", which invite the person to think of exceptions instead of listening.
The behaviour is what a camera would have recorded. Not what you concluded about it, but what happened. "You flagged that the Tan & Co account codes had changed and adjusted the figures." "The figures for Lim Logistics were in US dollars instead of Singapore dollars." Compare those with "you were thorough" or "you were careless". The first pair could be checked and agreed with. The second pair is your judgement, and judgements invite argument.
This is the hardest part, because most of us skip from what we saw straight to our conclusion. It helps to write the behaviour sentence and ask: could the person reasonably say this didn't happen? If they could only argue with your interpretation, rewrite it.
The impact is the effect on the work, the client or the team. It answers the question "why are you telling me this?"
"Because you caught the code change, Daniel's numbers for that client were right, and he used them in his meeting with their director." "The client's finance team noticed the currency, and they've asked us to double-check the last three reports, which will take you most of Thursday."
Keep the impact about effects, not character. "This makes you look unprofessional" is a judgement of the person. "The client's finance manager has asked to check three months of reports" is an effect, and it makes the case more strongly.
Most managers save structured feedback for problems and give praise as a quick "well done". That wastes the praise. A vague compliment feels nice for a moment, then disappears. Specific praise tells the person exactly what to repeat.
Here is Wei Ling's message rewritten: "In the service report you sent Daniel last week, you noticed that Tan & Co had changed their account codes and adjusted the figures before anyone asked. Daniel used those numbers in his meeting with their director, and they were right. That's exactly the kind of checking I'd like to see in every report."
It takes thirty seconds longer to write. Hui Min now knows which part of her work mattered and why, and she is much more likely to do it again.
Using the same structure for praise and correction has another benefit. When people are used to hearing SBI from you for good work, it stops sounding like a warning sign when you use it for a problem.
For correction, add one more step after the impact: ask for their view. You are describing what you saw, not delivering a verdict, and there may be a reason you don't know about.
Wei Ling's feedback to Farid, rewritten: "In Monday's report to Lim Logistics, their figures were in US dollars rather than Singapore dollars. Their finance team spotted it and has asked us to recheck the last three reports, which will take most of Thursday. What happened there?"
Farid's answer was that the warehouse export had changed its default currency setting, and he hadn't noticed. That is a process problem with a small skill gap on top, the kind you learned to sort in lesson 1.3, Find the real problem: purpose, people or process. The fix was a one-line check added to the report process, not a talk about being careful.
Pick two real moments from the past fortnight, one that deserves praise and one that needs correcting, and write each in the three parts before you deliver it.
Write two pieces of feedback in situation, behaviour, impact form, one praise and one correction, for real people on your team.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).