Impromptu Guidance Method (SBI + HHIPP)
Give humble, helpful, immediate, in-person feedback in two to three minutes
This method transforms feedback from a dreaded formal event into a daily micro-habit. The core principles can be summarized as HHIPP: Humble, Helpful, Immediate, In Person, and not Personalizing. The Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) model from the Center for Creative Leadership provides the structure for keeping feedback specific and non-judgmental.
The revolutionary insight is that effective guidance takes two to three minutes, not an hour. It happens between meetings, not in scheduled sessions. Scott argues that saving feedback for formal 1:1s or performance reviews is like saving dental hygiene for biannual cleanings: by the time you get there, the problems are far worse and the treatment far more painful.
The method applies equally to praise and criticism. Vague praise ('great job') is just as useless as vague criticism. Both need to be specific about the situation, the behavior, and the impact. And both must avoid the fundamental attribution error of making judgments about who someone is rather than what they did.
- Guidance has a short half-life. If you wait weeks, the incident is too far in the past for the person to fix or build on.
- Think of feedback like brushing your teeth, not a root canal. Daily micro-doses prevent the need for painful interventions.
- Use Situation-Behavior-Impact to stay specific and avoid the fundamental attribution error of judging character.
- Say 'I think that is wrong' not 'you are wrong.' The two extra words make the difference between humility and arrogance.
- Praise in public to amplify learning, criticize in private to preserve dignity, but never let the rule prevent timely delivery.
- Catch It in Real TimeNotice praiseworthy or problematic behavior as it happens. Do not file it away for a future meeting. The freshness of the observation is what makes the feedback actionable and credible.Pro tipKeep slack time in your calendar by using 25-minute and 50-minute meetings with hard stops so you have transition time for impromptu feedback.WarningIf you are hungry, angry, or tired, it is better to wait. But this is the exception, not the rule. Do not use it as a perpetual excuse to avoid uncomfortable conversations.
- Use Situation-Behavior-ImpactDescribe the specific situation you observed, the specific behavior the person exhibited (not a character judgment), and the specific impact it had. This keeps you humble and specific, avoiding the arrogance of blanket judgments.Pro tipInstead of 'You are a genius,' say 'In your presentation this morning (situation), the way you explained our diversification decision (behavior) was persuasive because you showed you had heard the opposing view (impact).'WarningRetreating to abstractions is Ruinous Empathy in disguise. The more painful the details, the more important it is to be specific about them.
- State Your Intention to Be HelpfulLower defensiveness by making your intention explicit. Say something like 'I am going to describe a problem I see. I may be wrong, and if I am, I hope you will tell me. If I am not, I hope my bringing it up will help you fix it.'Pro tipFinding help is better than offering it yourself. When Sandberg could not coach Scott personally on public speaking, she offered to pay for a speech coach. Sometimes the most helpful thing is an introduction.
- Deliver In Person When PossibleDeliver face-to-face so you can see the other person's reaction and adjust. If in-person is not possible, use video call, then phone. Avoid email and text for anything beyond simple factual corrections. The hierarchy of modes matters enormously.Pro tipIf you must use email, never Reply All with criticism. Reply only to the person and ask them to correct the record with the group if needed.WarningEmail feels faster, but the time spent cleaning up misunderstandings from written feedback far exceeds the time a quick conversation would have taken.
- Follow Up Without PersonalizingAfter delivering feedback, do not use 'don't take it personally,' which dismisses valid emotions. Instead, acknowledge that work is personal and show that you care about the person's feelings while maintaining your honest assessment.Pro tipIf someone becomes upset, focus on moving up the Care Personally axis rather than retreating from the Challenge Directly axis.WarningThe phrase 'don't take it personally' is worse than useless. It negates the person's feelings and signals that you do not understand the emotional stakes of their work.
When Russ Laraway told Scott she interrupted people too much, she knew she could not fix the habit overnight. Instead of dismissing the feedback, she put a fat blue rubber band on her wrist and asked everyone to snap it when she interrupted. She wore it to staff meetings and mentioned it at all-hands.
Instead of yelling 'You jerk!' when someone takes your parking spot, the SBI approach has you say: 'I have been waiting for that spot for five minutes (situation), you zipped in front of me (behavior), and now I am going to be late (impact).' This gives the person a chance to respond with 'I am sorry, I did not realize, let me move.'
Scott synthesized this method from multiple sources during her time coaching managers at Google and Apple. The SBI model came from the Center for Creative Leadership. The emphasis on immediacy came from observing how Sheryl Sandberg gave feedback in two-minute walks between meetings. The humility principles came from Fred Kofman's concept of Ontological Humility and Chris Argyris's Left-Hand Column exercise. The 'not mean, clear' mantra came from a stranger at a crosswalk who taught Scott's unruly dog to sit.