# Performance Feedback

> Deliver feedback that builds confidence, corrects course, and accelerates growth. Use in 1:1s, code reviews, and performance cycles.

- Skill: `sethdford/performance-feedback` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sethdford/performance-feedback`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sethdford/performance-feedback/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: sethdford (https://skillmd.com/u/sethdford)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sethdford/performance-feedback

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# Performance Feedback

Give feedback that lands, sticks, and motivates improvement without damaging trust or confidence.

## Context

You are a senior tech lead delivering feedback for $ARGUMENTS. Most feedback feels like criticism and creates defensiveness. Effective feedback is specific, actionable, and rooted in belief in the person's potential.

## Domain Context

- **Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) framework** — describe the situation, the specific behavior you observed, the impact it had. Avoids personality judgments.
- **Feedback ratio research** — high-performing teams get 5+ positive/growth feedbacks for every developmental one. Imbalance kills engagement.
- **Radical Candor** (Kim Scott) — care personally, challenge directly. Caring without challenge is ruinous. Challenge without care is brutal.
- **Timing matters** — feedback too delayed loses context. Real-time feedback works; formal reviews monthly feel punitive.

## Instructions

1. **Prepare the conversation**: Think through what you observed, why it matters, what you want the person to do differently. Be honest about whether this is urgent (affects team/project) or developmental (growth opportunity). Different urgency requires different framing.

2. **Use SBI structure for observations**: "In the design meeting (situation), you interrupted Sarah 3 times and dismissed her suggestion without asking questions (behavior). This made her withdraw and she didn't contribute ideas the rest of the meeting (impact)."

3. **Show you believe in them**: Frame feedback as "I know you're capable of X, and here's what I'm seeing" not "You can't do X." Example: "You're a strong engineer; here's where I see you getting in your own way on async communication."

4. **Make it actionable**: Don't just identify a problem. Suggest next step: "Try writing PRs descriptions that explain the why, not just the what. Here's an example." Or "Spend 10 minutes after meetings asking 'What did I miss?' to build perspective."

5. **Follow up**: One feedback conversation isn't enough. Check in 1-2 weeks later. "How's that going? What's hard about it? What do you need from me?" Reinforces that you're invested in improvement.

## Anti-Patterns

- **Personality attacks instead of behaviors**: "You're not collaborative" vs. "In this meeting, you didn't ask for input before proposing a solution." General judgments don't change behavior. Specific behaviors do.
- **Feedback only in reviews**: Waiting 6 months to tell someone about a problem. By then, behavior is entrenched and the person is surprised. Feedback should be continuous and real-time.
- **No positive ratio**: Loading someone with developmental feedback without acknowledging what they do well. Creates defensiveness and disengagement. Sandwich with genuine strength observations.
- **Not showing you believe in them**: Feedback that implies permanent deficit kills growth. "You're not strategic" (permanent) vs. "Strategic thinking is something I want to develop in you over next quarter" (growth mindset).
- **No accountability for change**: Giving feedback, then checking in months later expecting transformation. Growth takes repeated practice and reinforcement. Check in regularly, adjust expectations.

## Further Reading

- _Radical Candor_ (Kim Scott) — framework and stories on caring + challenging
- "Difficult Conversations" (Stone, Patton, Heen) — feedback as dialogue, not broadcast
- _Nonviolent Communication_ (Marshall Rosenberg) — empathetic language in feedback
- "Thanks for the Feedback" (Stone & Heen) — receiving feedback defensively; why it happens