Think about a time at a former job or internship when a coworker’s performance didn’t meet your expectations. Imagine that you are that person’s manager and plan to give feedback.

Follow these steps:

a. Identify the issue. What are a few specific examples that illustrate that the performance isn’t up to standard? What is the impact of the performance?

b. Think about ways you can approach a meeting with the employee as a coaching conversation. What questions can you ask to get the employee’s point of view first?

c. Plan your first couple of sentences to open the meeting. You can let the employee know that you want to talk about something serious but try to leave it open so you have a good interaction. For example, “I’d like to talk with you about your interaction with the customer just now” or “Can we spend some time debriefing last night’s meeting?” Use your own, natural language.

When you’re ready, role-play this situation with another student playing the role of the employee, who is open to and appreciates the manager’s feedback. Have a third student observe the interaction, take notes, and give feedback using principles for giving and receiving feedback discussed in the chapter.