The Sandwich Technique

You’ve heard of this technique. When giving corrective feedback, sandwich one bad point between two good points. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line of time this concept kept its general intent, but lost its meaningfulness and power.

The following quote is from S. Goodeve from ezinearticles.com and is a common definition of the intent of the technique: “Use this "feedback sandwich" technique for giving feedback that is more palatable….”

I’m not saying that Goodeve’s intended use for the sandwich technique is wrong. I’m saying that “palatable” is an extremely low expectation of what this technique can offer – when done correctly.

WikiHow.com offers a few reasons why the technique works:

• To relax the other person and help create a situation or a state-of-mind where they will be more open to receiving the criticism or advice.
• To reduce the possibility that the other person will get angry with you for pointing out their faults.
• To let the other person know that you are “on their side.” Rather than being antagonistic, you are showing that you recognize their good points, too.
• By closing with a positive statement, you remind the person of their strengths, their worth and their value. They are more likely to be motivated to accept the negative if they are reminded that they are “not all bad.”

Here again, I don’t believe these reasons are wrong, it’s just they are skewed to make you, the feedback giver, feel better. Instead of the potentially powerful results being the focus of the interaction, everybody feeling good is the focus. How unfortunate.

The biggest mistake I see in this technique is in the third layer and I’ll get to that later. First, let’s consider the purpose of each layer from the feedback giver and receive perspective.

Layer One – Positive Recognition

The Giver. The behavior I want corrected is rarely an isolated behavior. Most often what is wrong is part of a bigger picture, the beginning, middle, or end of an event, or a piece of something else. If I focus on just the offending part, I miss the opportunity to coach this person and support their development.

The Receiver. The behavior you want corrected is rarely an isolated behavior (sound familiar?). You must earn the right to expose my failure and the way you do that is by exposing or recognizing my success. By acknowledging my success (especially when it’s true and relevant to the issue), I know that I can more readily honor your judgment on my failures. Take the time to see the bigger picture and give credit (good and bad) where it’s due.

Layer Two – Corrective Feedback

The Giver. Give corrective feedback in three steps.

1. Objectively identify the wrong or inappropriate behavior.
2. Remind them of the goal of the correct behavior.
3. Ask for and agree upon the correct or different behavior.

The Receiver. When you follow these steps, I’ll still try to make excuses, find fault, or even blame you. Hold to the steps. If my issues are legitimate, give them credit. I may not admit it, but if I can get you derailed or distracted with other issues, I miss the opportunity for you to coach me and support my development and we both lose out in the end.

Layer Three – Empowerment

The Giver. To get the best from people, they need to feel empowered. This part is often mistaken as a verbal “pat-on-the-back” and it is, but that’s not all it is. This is the time I need to offer encouragement, choice, hope, direction, confirmation, affirmation, or expected success. I need to leave this person feeling empowered. If they’re happy too? Bonus! But I must remember to look at the bigger picture in this situation, too. I have to decide what is more important in any given situation, their immediate happiness or their ultimate success. For me, it’s usually their ultimate success because therein lies the issue of worth and value that WikiHow references.

The Receiver. I need to feel as though there is light at the end of the tunnel, that I can improve the good work I already do, and that I can trust your coaching and guidance. By offering me empowerment, I am able to contribute to my own development.

Remember the sandwich technique, but not as the palatable good point-bad point-good point.

The meaningful and powerful sandwich technique is:

• positive recognition
• corrective feedback
• empowerment.

Give it a try. If some part of it is not successful, walk through the technique for yourself – feel empowered to use it again to develop success. I believe it’s call practice what you preach. ;)

Roxanne