Feedback is the most powerful tool for professional development — and the most commonly avoided conversation at work. When it fails, it is rarely for lack of information but for lack of delivery skill: timing, framing and follow-through. This one-day course equips you with practical frameworks to give feedback that lands, receive it without defensiveness and build the habit in your team.
Principles of effective feedback, structured delivery frameworks, handling emotional reactions and defensiveness, embedding feedback as a routine team practice.
Every session runs in a small, boardroom-format group — typically six to eight senior professionals. Your trainer tailors content to the specific industries, organisations and challenges each participant brings, so you work on real situations, not generic examples. The learning combines evidence-based best practice briefings with structured discussions, practical workshops and peer learning. This is training with a coaching and consulting flavour — focused on building skills and producing outputs you can apply in your work immediately.
- Deliver feedback that is specific, timely and directly actionable
- Apply structured frameworks to plan and frame feedback conversations
- Manage emotional reactions — your own and the other person’s — with composure
- Request feedback clearly and receive it without defensiveness
- Give developmental feedback upward and to senior colleagues
- Distinguish between feedback, criticism and evaluation — and use each appropriately
- Create follow-up commitments that lead to sustained behaviour change
- Build open feedback habits that strengthen team communication and performance
- Psychology of feedback, trust and safety
- Common errors and escalation triggers; feedback vs criticism
- Structured models (SBI, DESC, Feed-Forward)
- Developmental feedback vs performance accountability
- Preparing and timing the conversation; using a feedback matrix
- Balancing candour and care; saving face
- Managing emotions and staying regulated under pressure
- Securing clear next steps and standards
- Asking for and clarifying feedback; upward feedback
- The SARA response pattern and typical blockers
- Defusing defensiveness and keeping perspective
- Turning insight into action plans and practice
- Lightweight feedback rituals and cadences (verbal and written)
- Choosing the right channel and moment
- Closing the loop and follow-up that sticks
- Measuring habits and modelling a feedback culture
Managers, team leaders and HR professionals responsible for performance conversations, development discussions and team communication. Also relevant for anyone who wants to improve the quality and reception of the feedback they give in peer or cross-functional settings.
The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.
A great deal. The small-group format and intensive, practical approach mean every participant leaves with specific, applicable skills and techniques.
Nothing specific is required. If you have a current project or challenge relevant to the course topic, bring it along — the practical exercises can incorporate real-world contexts.
A feedback conversation is a specific, planned communication — usually about performance or development. Mastering Critical Conversations covers the broader range of emotionally charged discussions, not all of which involve feedback. The skills overlap but the focus is distinct.
Yes. Upward feedback is one of the hardest and most avoided skills. The course addresses it directly, with specific approaches for different power dynamics and levels of seniority.
