If you haven’t read Part 1 of this series yet, you can do that here. Then pop back and this one will make a whole lot more sense!

So by now you are The Guru at giving positive feedback that really hits the mark. You’re getting a kick out of watching your team members blossom, and your team members are LOVING coming to work.

But we’re all human, and there WILL be times when things don’t go so well and you need to give a team member some feedback to help them improve. I know this seems trickier than positive feedback and can feel quite daunting at first, but STAR with a bit of a tweak will set you up for success.

Your mindset for providing feedback for improvement

Before we dive into that, let’s talk for a moment about your mindset for providing feedback for improvement. I’d like to challenge the way you think about providing feedback for improvement and hopefully make it easier for you to have those tricky or uncomfortable conversations.

Imagine this:

You are working in a new role, doing the best you can with your existing knowledge and skills and working hard. Unbeknown to you, you are making a really common ‘rookie mistake’ and, again unbeknown to you, you are irritating the rest of your team.

Your leader sees you repeatedly making this error but doesn’t want to bring it to your attention because they are worried they will:

dampen your enthusiasm in the new role
damage their relationship with you
upset you
cause grief between you and your fellow team members.

Time goes on and you start to feel that there is ‘an issue’ between you and the rest of the team, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. An atmosphere starts to develop and coming to work in this team seems to be losing its shine. You’re on the downward spiral to disengagement, feeling perplexed, confused, unsupported, ‘at sea’ and the list goes on.

Can you see where this is heading? Short answer: nowhere good. And it is happening because your leader in this scenario is neglecting their duty to help you to learn and develop.

So here’s the thing: when you as a leader provide feedback for improvement, you are giving your team member what they need to grow and succeed. Like giving water to a plant. You’re not providing it to make them feel bad, or to discipline them, or to put them in their place.

From another perspective, whenever you as a leader fail to provide feedback for improvement to someone that needs it, you are actually preventing their development and growth. Think about that for a moment. Would you consciously choose to prevent someone from learning and developing? Of course not.

And in the scenario above, would you have wanted your leader to pull you aside and gently point out the rookie error you’ve been making? Almost certainly, even though you may have felt awkward or embarrassed for a moment.

Hot tip: frame your feedback

Providing feedback for improvement can feel easier when you kick off the conversation by framing it as an opportunity for learning and growth. You could say something like, ‘May I provide you with some feedback to support you to learn and grow and become even better than you are now?’

This sets the scene for you and your team member to have a positive conversation and reinforces to them (and you!) that your only intent is to help them develop and support them to succeed.

The STAAR/AR model for giving feedback for improvement

As you already know, the STAR acronym stands for Situation/Task, Action and Result. This time we are adding in three more letters - an extra A and an extra AR at the end. (I find it really hard to resist the urge to put on a pirate accent when I talk about STAAR/AR… but I digress).

ST Situation or Task The context in which the action or behaviour took place.

A ASK Ask your team member for their perspective on the situation.

A Action The action/behaviour of your team member.

R Result The result this action/behaviour achieved.

A ALTERNATE ACTION What the team member could do differently.

R ALTERNATE RESULT What result the team member will achieve by taking that action.

You can use STAAR/AR in two different scenarios, both of which are feedback for improvement:

To support a team member to bounce back from a ‘fall’ (alternate action and result).
To stretch them even further when they are going well (additional action and result).

In this post we’ll cover bouncing back from a fall, and in our next post (part 3 of this series) we’ll show you how to inspire your high performers to the next level with your feedback.

Scenario: rebounding after a fall

Let’s start with a scenario in which one of your team members has had a ‘fall’.

Situation/Task:

Leader: ‘Hey Meiying, could we please have a talk about the mixed-up order issue you had with the couple on table 12?’

M: ‘Sure, I remember that one.’

Ask:

Leader: ‘What happened there?’

M: ‘Well, they couldn’t make up their mind about what they were ordering, so I had to change their order a few times before I put it through to the kitchen. Then when I came back to their table, they said that wasn’t what they wanted. And I had to do another order.’

Action:

Leader: ‘Okay. Let’s just make sure I’ve got this straight. So, you listened to their order, and they kept changing their minds and you were adjusting the order on the tablet and then when you thought you were clear you submitted the order, right?’

M: ‘Yep. That’s it.’

Result:

Leader: ‘And what was the result of that?’

M: ‘Well, I had to order another two meals from the kitchen and the two original meals were wasted. And the kitchen was pretty busy, so the re-order made it even busier and the customers had to wait longer for their meals. And they were pretty grumpy.’

Alternate Action:

Leader:’ What do you think you could do differently next time to get a better result?’

M: ‘Look, I don’t really know, they were just annoying customers, you know…’

Leader: ‘I appreciate it was a challenging situation, and I’d like to suggest that when you’re taking orders, especially with people who keep changing their minds, that at the end of their order you read the order back to them so that you are clear and they are clear on what was ordered. How does that sound?’

M: ‘Yeah, that sounds pretty straightforward.’

Alternate Result:

Leader: ‘When we read back the orders to the customers, we’ll know that they are crystal clear on what they’ve ordered, it will reduce pressure on the kitchen, the customers will be happier as we’ll get things right first time around, which will also make it a more enjoyable experience for you and we’ll reduce costs as we don’t waste any meals. What, if anything, do you need from me Meiying to support you?’

M: ‘Got it. Can you just show me how to review the whole order at once on the tablet again please so I can read it back to the customer?’

Leader: ‘Sure thing…’

Ask clarifying questions

As you read through the scenario, hopefully you noticed that we asked a few questions along the way:

What happened?
What was the result?
What do you think you could do differently next time to get a better result?
What, if anything, do you need from me to support you?

Asking clarifying questions as you work through feedback for improvement is how you bring your coaching approach to feedback. It ensures that you don’t jump to conclusions, that you understand the situation from your team member’s perspective and that you are working with your team member to help them learn and grow.

It’s also ideal if your team member can come up with alternate actions or solutions, as they will be more committed to something they have suggested.

In the example above, Meiying didn’t really have any ideas on how to improve the next time, so the leader made a suggestion. Make sure that you have some ideas of your own so that you can support them if they don’t have any idea how to move forward.

Finally, get into the habit of asking the question, ‘What support do you need from me?’ at the end of a feedback conversation. Your team member may have suggestions for what you can do, or do differently, to support them.

What if you have a team member who is going really well AND you can see an opportunity for them to stretch even more?

This can be really powerful feedback – if you’re already giving your team members this type of feedback, give yourself 10/10 for being in the Development Zone! Go you!

And if this is a new concept or something you’d like to brush up on, we have all the details right here in Part 3 of this series on nailing your feedback.

For even more on developing your team members, check out Chapter 12 of my book, ‘on your marks, get set… LEAD!’.