PED Method - Providing critical feedback

Subject

Leadership

Participants

Managers (mandatory), leaders (mandatory), agile teams (optional)everyone (optional)

Facilitator

Agile Coach / Agile Master, each individual

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Summary

The acronym "PED" stays for Perception, Effect and Desire and is a method on how to provide critical feedback.

Definition

Feedback has a lot to do with the motivation of employees. If expressed incorrectly, it can even become a motivation killer. This model is not about withholding critical feedback, but on the contrary: giving critical feedback is an essential task of a manager. When someone has destructive/inappropriate behavior, they expect their boss to report it back to them.

Motivation

If conflicts are not addressed and solved they may become critical for your entire team.

Results

Open communication avoiding smouldering conflicts.

Benefit

These feedback rules may be difficult to follow at first, but over the time they will act intuitively. The leader's feedback appears more professional and is less offensive to the other person. It does not trigger a defensive stance but stimulates reflection and is highly appreciated.

Procedure

Perception: First, the leader describes in a neutral way the situation in which he/she observed a specific behavior, only on a factual and very specific level. Examples: Instead of "You are always so late" better say "I have observed several times that you arrive at a meeting a few minutes later". Instead of "You behave arrogantly towards the other team members." better say "I noticed that you interrupted some colleagues' contributions today".
Effect: At this point, the leader expresses his/her own, subjective opinion. Examples: Perception: "I have observed several times that you arrive at a meeting a few minutes later." Effect: Instead of "Our meetings are probably not important enough to you." better say "It gives me the impression that the meetings are less important to you."
Desire: Feedback is only useful if it shows what the desired alternative is. At this point, it is decided whether the feedback is really constructive. It is best to show what exactly one expects. If the PED feedback is not sufficient, it can be used as a PEQ feedback (Perception, Effect, Question). For example, the question could be: "How can we avoid such an impression in the future? What could you do differently so that this does not happen?" Back to the first example. Perception: "I have observed several times that you arrive at a meeting a few minutes later." Effect: "It gives me the impression that the meetings are less important to you." Desire: "Is it possible to be more punctual in the future? That would be important to me".

Tools

Flipchart / whiteboard or an open discussion about this topic

Hints

Think about location, time and situation before giving your critical feedback as these paramters affect the communication (sender and receiver!).
Appreciative communication is fundamental for this method.

See also

Stefanie Puckett, Rainer M.Neubauer 'Agiles Führen - Führungskompetenzen für die agile Transformation'