Course Highlights
This in-person employee feedback training workshop will:
- Highlight the value of feedback in fostering employee development and organizational success.
- Provide a range of feedback tools, including Quick Appreciation, the PRAISE model, the LLC framework, the Opportunity-Question structure, the Modified Sandwich, the GROWTH model, and the COIN framework.
- Share best practices for selecting the most appropriate feedback approach depending on the situation.
- Improve feedback language by strengthening clarity and reducing vague or blunt wording.
- Strengthen questioning skills so feedback becomes a dialogue that builds ownership.
- Prepare participants to manage employee reactions using the feedback reaction continuum.
- Build expectation alignment through feedback agreements.
- Address what to do when employees agree to improve performance but do not.
Course Overview
Feedback improves performance when it is clear, well-timed, and tied to observable behavior and impact. Many feedback conversations fail because managers default to one approach, delay needed conversations, or deliver messages without expectation alignment.
Engaging with Feedback provides a practical set of feedback models for recognition, coaching, and corrective conversations. Participants work through tool selection, question strategy, language discipline, and reaction management so feedback conversations lead to improvement rather than defensiveness.
The program also addresses credibility, agreements, and follow-through so managers can handle repeat issues and stalled improvement with fairness and clarity.
The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Program Objectives
At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Explain the value of feedback.
- Apply Quick Appreciation, the PRAISE model, the LLC framework, the Opportunity-Question structure, the Modified Sandwich, the GROWTH model, and COIN framework.
- Determine the most appropriate feedback model for a range of situations.
- Implement best practices for allocating time to provide feedback.
- Ask strategic questions before selecting a feedback approach.
- Improve vague or blunt language.
- Align manager and employee expectations related to feedback.
- Develop performance solutions with employee input.
- Explain the feedback reaction continuum and how to respond to each level.
- Outline the importance of questions during feedback.
- Develop effective questions.
- Make feedback agreements with employees to avoid future problems.
- Approach employees who agree to improve their performance but don’t.
Workshop Modules
Developing an Effective Feedback Model: Participant Input and Agreement
We begin by getting agreement on what effective feedback must include. In a short build-your-own exercise, the group will create a feedback model, then compare it to the course tools—Quick Appreciation, PRAISE, LLC, Opportunity-Question, Modified Sandwich, GROWTH, and COIN—to see what each tool adds, removes, or sharpens.
Fitting It In: When to Give Feedback
Feedback fails most often because it gets delayed until it feels heavy. Using practical time-allocation practices, participants will decide where feedback fits into existing routines and apply the pre-feedback question set to choose timing and approach before starting the conversation.
What Good Feedback Looks and Sounds Like: Picture Perfect
Bad wording creates most feedback resistance. Through a grade-and-improve activity, the group will evaluate sample statements and rewrite vague or blunt language into clear messages with specific observation, impact, and a workable next step.
Agreeing in Advance: How to Give and Receive Feedback
Expectations set late become conflict. During a structured planning discussion, participants will work through the alignment sequence—initiate the conversation, discuss objectives, set expectations, choose channels, establish timing—and draft a simple agreement they can use with a direct report.
I Didn’t Expect That: Managing Employee Reactions
Reactions are predictable, even when they feel surprising. Working from the reaction continuum, participants will diagnose what different responses signal and practice question-forward replies that keep the exchange productive.
Seriously, You’re the Person Telling Me This?: Credible Communication
Credibility determines whether feedback is heard as guidance or dismissed. In a focused self-review, participants will apply the Ten Ideas for Building Credibility to identify gaps that weaken feedback acceptance and choose specific behavior changes that strengthen their platform.
When Employees Agree to Improve Performance but Don’t: New Agreements
Follow-through needs structure when improvement stalls. Using the Upfront Contract, the reciprocal agreements (If you can… then I will… and If you will… then I can…), and the Accountability Meeting structure, participants will build a reset plan that clarifies expectations and next steps.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for groups that want to:
- Improve feedback skills to strengthen employee performance and development.
- Build confidence selecting the right feedback approach for different situations.
- Reduce defensiveness through clearer language, stronger questions, and expectation alignment.
- Handle reactions, credibility issues, and follow-through problems more effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this course cover multiple feedback models?
One feedback tool will not fit every situation. Quick Appreciation works for reinforcement, PRAISE works for more developed recognition, LLC works for course correction, GROWTH supports development, and COIN helps when the manager needs to ground feedback in context, observation, impact, and next steps. Participants practice choosing the model that fits the moment.
What usually goes wrong in feedback conversations?
Feedback often fails because it is too late, too vague, too blunt, too soft, or disconnected from a clear expectation. Sometimes the manager gives the message, but never confirms what the employee understood or agreed to do next. This course addresses both the message and the follow-through.
Does the course focus only on corrective feedback?
No. The program covers recognition, coaching, development, course correction, and follow-through. Participants practice reinforcing good work as well as addressing performance gaps. The point is to make feedback a normal management habit, not something saved for problems.
How does the course help managers choose the right feedback approach?
Participants use pre-feedback questions to sort the situation before they speak. They consider what happened, what the employee needs, how much ownership is already present, what reaction may appear, and what the conversation should produce.
Why include feedback agreements?
Feedback works better when expectations are not a surprise. Participants practice setting agreements about how feedback will be shared, when it should happen, what channels make sense, and what both manager and employee should do with it.
How does the course handle employee defensiveness?
The course uses a feedback reaction continuum to help managers recognize different responses, from acceptance to confusion, deflection, defensiveness, and resistance. Participants practice replies that use questions, facts, and next steps instead of arguing or retreating.
What does the course do with vague or blunt language?
Participants grade and revise feedback statements. They practice replacing unclear or harsh wording with language that names the behavior, explains the impact, and points toward a workable next step.
Does the course help with employees who agree but do not improve?
Yes. The program addresses stalled follow-through directly. Participants work with upfront contracts, reciprocal agreements, and an accountability meeting structure so “I’ll do better” becomes a clearer agreement about what will change and when it will be reviewed.
Why does credibility matter in feedback?
Employees are more likely to hear feedback from managers who are fair, specific, consistent, prepared, and willing to follow up. The course includes a credibility self-review so managers can identify habits that may make their feedback easier or harder to accept.
What should participants be ready to use after the workshop?
Participants should be able to choose a feedback model, improve feedback wording, ask better questions, handle reactions more calmly, create feedback agreements, and reset expectations when improvement does not happen.