Giving and Receiving Feedback Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Line Managers, Team Leaders and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-IS-022

Before you join: Participants should have experience working with colleagues, customers, suppliers or stakeholders and should expect to take part in professional conversations where performance, behaviour or working relationships matter.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Feedback conversations affect performance, service quality, risk management, working relationships and retention. Yet many professionals delay difficult messages, soften them until the point is lost, or deliver criticism that prompts defensiveness rather than change. Receiving feedback can be equally difficult when it challenges identity, competence or intentions. The result is repeated errors, unresolved friction, inconsistent standards and missed development opportunities.

This five-day course develops the practical judgement and communication discipline needed to give, request and receive feedback productively. Participants prepare evidence-based messages, use the Situation-Behaviour-Impact model, ask questions that surface context, and agree clear next actions. They also learn to handle emotional reactions, challenge repeated conduct, recognise strong performance precisely, and adapt their approach for peers, managers, direct reports, clients and remote colleagues.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic workplace cases, structured group work, feedback simulations and individual reflection. Participants practise conversations involving underperformance, missed handovers, conduct concerns, conflicting accounts, upward feedback and developmental requests. They leave with a personal feedback toolkit containing conversation-planning templates, question prompts, a trigger-management plan and an application plan linked to current workplace relationships.

The course suits managers, team leaders, specialists and project professionals who need to address performance and working relationships directly while preserving dignity, clarity and accountability. It is particularly relevant where work depends on cross-functional delivery, regulated decisions, customer commitments or geographically distributed teams.

What you will be able to do

  • Prepare evidence-based feedback conversations using the Situation-Behaviour-Impact method
  • Deliver clear developmental, corrective and recognition feedback linked to observable behaviour
  • Use active listening and reflective questioning to understand another person's perspective
  • Receive difficult feedback constructively and convert it into behavioural commitments
  • Manage emotional reactions using de-escalation techniques and structured conversation responses
  • Address repeated performance or conduct concerns using the DESC script
  • Adapt feedback approaches for peers, senior colleagues, remote teams and written communication
  • Create a personal feedback habit plan with measurable actions and review points

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence raising concerns before they become formal issues
  • Clearer language for discussing behaviour without personal attack
  • Improved ability to stay composed when feedback feels unfair
  • Stronger working relationships through timely recognition and direct requests
  • A repeatable method for preparing high-stakes conversations

For your organisation

  • Earlier correction of quality, conduct and delivery problems
  • More consistent performance conversations between managers and staff
  • Reduced escalation caused by vague, delayed or poorly handled feedback
  • Better knowledge sharing through constructive peer challenge
  • Clearer documented agreements, support actions and follow-up expectations

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish feedback types and establish the conditions for constructive two-way conversations.

  • Feedback as observable information, interpretation, impact and agreed next action
  • Distinguishing coaching, performance management, recognition and corrective feedback conversations
  • Separating intent from impact when messages create unintended consequences
  • Johari Window used to identify blind spots and disclosure boundaries
  • Feedback loops linked to service quality, risk control and team delivery
  • Psychological safety conditions that make candid exchange possible

Participants can plan feedback conversations using relevant evidence, a clear purpose and a focused request.

  • Purpose statements framed around standards, outcomes and future behaviour
  • Fact gathering distinguishes direct observation, evidence, hearsay and assumptions
  • SBI method structures situation, behaviour and observable impact
  • Selecting private, timely and proportionate settings for feedback conversations
  • Bias checks test attribution, recency, halo and similarity effects
  • Conversation planning worksheet defines request, questions and follow-through

Participants can deliver direct, respectful feedback that links behaviour to consequences and next actions.

  • Opening with consent, purpose and shared commitment to improvement
  • Using neutral language to describe behaviour without judging character
  • Specific examples connect actions to customer, control or team consequences
  • Feedforward requests identify alternative actions for the next occurrence
  • Pauses and concise phrasing preserve attention during difficult messages
  • Closing with agreements, support required and review dates

Participants can listen for context and use questions that improve mutual understanding before deciding action.

  • Active listening combines attending, paraphrasing, summarising and accurate questioning
  • Open, probing and reflective questions reveal context behind behaviour
  • Listening for facts, feelings, needs and unspoken concerns
  • Nonviolent Communication separates observations, feelings, needs and requests
  • Checking understanding before responding to disagreement or explanation
  • Silence used deliberately to allow reflection and fuller responses

Participants can respond constructively to difficult feedback and determine appropriate behavioural changes.

  • Receiving feedback without defensiveness, counterattack, withdrawal or premature agreement
  • Three trigger types: truth, relationship and identity triggers
  • Clarifying examples, standards and consequences through curious questions
  • Separating useful data from tone, delivery and inaccurate conclusions
  • Requesting time to reflect when emotions prevent considered response
  • Converting accepted feedback into a specific behavioural commitment

Participants can manage emotionally charged feedback conversations while maintaining standards and professional respect.

  • DESC script structures description, expression, specification and consequences
  • Naming performance gaps against agreed standards and documented expectations
  • Addressing repeated behaviour through patterns, evidence and clear boundaries
  • De-escalation uses acknowledgement, slower pace and choice of next steps
  • Managing anger, tears and silence without abandoning the conversation
  • Escalation routes distinguish coaching issues from formal employee relations matters

Participants can adapt feedback communication to hierarchy, culture, accessibility needs and remote working conditions.

  • Directness preferences examined without stereotyping individuals or national cultures
  • Power distance affects timing, wording and willingness to challenge
  • Remote feedback protocols address camera use, privacy and written records
  • Written feedback uses factual language, structure and explicit requests
  • Accessibility considerations support different communication and processing needs
  • Feedback for senior colleagues balances candour, evidence and organisational awareness

Participants can build regular feedback practices into one-to-ones, performance reviews and team routines.

  • Regular one-to-ones create predictable opportunities for two-way feedback
  • Performance review evidence distinguishes outcomes, behaviours and development needs
  • Recognition names contribution, impact and repeatable behaviours
  • Coaching questions build ownership rather than prescribe every solution
  • Team norms define channels, frequency, confidentiality and follow-up
  • Calibration discussions reduce inconsistent standards across people managers

Participants can give feedback effectively where authority is shared, limited or absent.

  • Upward feedback prepared around shared goals, risks and requests
  • Peer feedback addresses handovers, meeting conduct and collaboration commitments
  • Stakeholder feedback manages vendor, client and cross-functional relationships
  • Repair conversations acknowledge impact, apologise appropriately and rebuild trust
  • Boundary statements challenge conduct while maintaining professional respect
  • Positive feedback avoids vagueness by naming actions and consequences

Participants can create a practical plan for applying feedback methods in current workplace situations.

  • Personal trigger map identifies situations requiring preparation or recovery
  • Feedback habit plan sets cadence, partners and measurable behaviours
  • Conversation records capture agreements, support actions and review points
  • Post-conversation reflection tests clarity, listening and emotional regulation
  • Peer accountability arrangements sustain practice after the course
  • Individual application plan links feedback goals to current work priorities

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. SBI feedback conversation planner
  2. DESC difficult-conversation script
  3. Active listening question bank
  4. Feedback receiver response checklist
  5. Personal feedback trigger map
  6. Ninety-day feedback habit plan

Who should attend

  • Line Managers — need to address performance, conduct and development consistently
  • Team Leaders — need to improve accountability, handovers and team communication
  • Project Managers — need to resolve delivery issues without formal authority
  • HR Business Partners — need to support managers with difficult people conversations
  • Technical Specialists — need to give credible peer feedback on quality and standards
  • Client Relationship Managers — need to handle service concerns and stakeholder expectations

Skills and tools covered

Feedback preparationActive listeningDifficult conversationsEmotional regulationPerformance coachingFeedforward planning

Tools and standards

Situation-Behaviour-Impact (SBI), DESC script, Nonviolent Communication, Johari Window

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce feedback models, followed by case analysis, group discussion, paired practice and facilitated simulations. Scenarios reflect common workplace situations such as missed deadlines, service failures, quality concerns, behavioural friction and upward challenge. Participants prepare messages from evidence, practise listening and response techniques, receive observations from peers, and refine their approach. Individual reflection and application planning connect the methods to real conversations participants need to hold after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working with colleagues, customers, suppliers or stakeholders and should expect to take part in professional conversations where performance, behaviour or working relationships matter. Familiarity with their organisation's appraisal, conduct or employee-relations processes is useful but not essential. No formal management qualification, coaching credential, psychology background or prior feedback training is required. Participants should bring one or two current feedback situations they can consider during planning activities, without sharing confidential personal details.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience working with colleagues, customers or stakeholders in a professional setting. No prior management training, coaching qualification or formal feedback course is required.

Bring examples of feedback conversations you need to prepare, give, request or receive. Please remove names and confidential details from any examples you share.

It is designed for managers, team leaders, project professionals, HR practitioners and specialists who need to address performance and working relationships. It also suits experienced individual contributors who give peer or upward feedback.

This course focuses on the preparation, delivery, receipt and follow-up of feedback conversations. It uses coaching and conflict-response techniques where useful, but does not teach a full coaching model or formal mediation process.

You will use structured planning tools for real conversations involving performance, quality, behaviour, service or collaboration. The course ends with an individual application plan linked to current work priorities.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, cases, group work, simulations, reflection and planning for workplace application.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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