How to Deliver Meaningful Feedback

TLDR 

Annual reviews often fall short, but employees still want regular, clear input that builds trust and drives growth. Using simple tools like Situation–Behavior–Impact (SBI) and building self-awareness through Everything DiSC®, leaders can create a culture where feedback is ongoing, specific, and forward-looking—turning it into a driver of engagement and performance.

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Why Performance Reviews Miss the Mark

The phrase “performance review” can evoke fear in even the most seasoned leader or employee. But why is this the case? Despite the demand for feedback from employees worldwide, performance discussions are often misunderstood and poorly delivered.

Traditional annual reviews are still common, but many organizations are seeing their limitations. Frequent feedback has been shown to boost motivation and engagement more than yearly check-ins. Employees regularly say they want more frequent, clearer feedback rather than waiting for annual reviews.

The opportunity for leaders is clear: feedback must shift from being an annual event to being an ongoing practice that fosters trust, clarity, and growth.

Building a Feedback Culture

A feedback culture is one where feedback flows both ways, regularly and openly – not just a once-yearly, formal event.

It requires leaders to:

• Model transparency and accountability.
• Invite feedback, not just give it.
• Prioritize psychological safety, so employees feel secure in speaking up.

Research by Zenger and Folkman found that leaders who actively ask for feedback rank significantly higher in overall effectiveness. Simply put: leaders who seek feedback create teams that are more engaged and more willing to grow.

What Feedback Should Look Like

Feedback should clarify expectations, build confidence, and support future success. Done well, it is specific and forward-looking, focused on actions employees can take next. It should be balanced, recognizing strengths as well as areas for growth, and grounded in facts and tied to performance rather than personality. Most importantly, feedback should be ongoing, delivered consistently rather than deferred until an annual review. As Brené Brown reminds us, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.”

In our coaching work, we use the Everything DiSC® Work of Leaders® framework to help leaders build self-awareness around their communication and leadership behaviors. By understanding how their own style influences the way feedback is given and received, leaders can adjust their approach to create clarity, strengthen trust, and ensure their feedback lands in a way that motivates action.

Practical Tips for Leaders

• Make sure your team member understands what’s expected of them from day one. If those expectations change, make sure your team member understands what’s changed.
• Make sure you recognize the positive things and the actions that need to be corrected in addition to what needs to change – your feedback should be fair and balanced.
• Don’t defer feedback – give it regularly! Feedback should never take your team member by surprise.
• Ask for feedback from your team and model that you’re open to feedback, striving to cultivate a feedback culture. Be transparent about areas where you’ve been given feedback, and report your progress to your team.

Feedback is not about correcting personality; it’s about supporting performance and development.

Coaching Your Team to Give Better Feedback

Leaders often ask: How do I coach my team to provide good feedback? The answer lies in building both the right mindset and the right habits. Feedback should be seen as a tool for growth, not as criticism, and that shift starts with how leaders model it.

To coach your team effectively, start by reinforcing the fundamentals of good feedback: it should be specific, timely, balanced, and forward-looking. A simple and effective framework is Situation–Behavior–Impact (SBI):

• Situation – Describe the context.

• Behavior – Share what you observed (not assumed).

• Impact – Explain how it affected you, the team, or the outcome.

This gives people a clear starting point until they build confidence in having feedback conversations.

Self-awareness is equally important. Tools such as Everything DiSC® Workplace help employees build awareness of their own preferences, motivators, and stressors, which makes them more receptive to giving and receiving feedback effectively. At the leadership level, Everything DiSC® Work of Leaders® helps leaders understand how their communication and leadership style influences the way feedback is delivered and received. For example, direct communicators may need to soften their delivery, while more cautious team members may need to focus on clarity and confidence. Together, these tools create a shared language for feedback and help teams strengthen both self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness.

Above all, feedback skills grow in environments of psychological safety. Leaders should invite feedback about their own performance, model humility when receiving it, and recognize when team members practice giving feedback well. Feedback is not a once-a-year event but an ongoing conversation woven into one-on-ones, team meetings, and daily interactions.

When leaders coach their teams this way, feedback becomes habitual, safe, and effective—turning it into a driver of performance and growth.

In Conclusion

Feedback, when done well, is not a once-a-year formality. It’s an ongoing practice that builds trust, accountability, and performance. In 2025, employees expect leaders to provide clarity and growth-focused conversations, not vague reviews that look backward.

By embracing transparency, psychological safety, and forward-looking feedback, leaders can transform performance discussions into meaningful opportunities for growth. And with the support of executive coaching and tools like Everything DiSC® Work of Leaders®, leaders gain the self-awareness to understand their own style, adapt their approach, and deliver feedback that inspires action and strengthens their teams.

If you want to strengthen how your leaders give and receive feedback, connect with X5 Management to explore how coaching and our Everything DiSC courses can help.