Reinventing the Feedback Sandwich

One of the most challenging parts of becoming a manager or a leader is delivering feedback. And because it can be so difficult, many of us fall back on what people have called the “sandwich” approach to giving feedback: where you sandwich negative feedback in between doses of positive feedback, with the bread representing the positive and the meat representing the negative.

This is the traditional form of sandwich feedback — and probably something many of you have heard of, or likely even done. But this got me thinking: Sure we often use a sandwich approach to giving feedback, but is there really only one way of doing this? Is there only one version of sandwich feedback out there?

Few of us love to give negative feedback, but as you see there are many different options on the menu. The key in the end is to pick one that works for you, enables you to deliver the message the other person needs to hear, and to do so with honesty and dignity.

Have you ever tried a sandwich approach for giving feedback? What’s your favorite version?