Following up on the previous post from last week around the AID feedback model, I thought I would share another acronym for feedback that was shared with me a while back by a fellow leadership development professional.

The AID model provided the flow or format for the feedback. BOOST considers how to give or prepare the feedback.

Boost feedback model

Balanced:
This can be looked at in several ways:

  • Are you ensuring there is a mixture of performance improvement feedback with praise rather than a “dump”of negative feedback?
  • Are you allowing the person you are giving the feedback to the chance to speak and have their questions answered?
  • Are you asking for feedback as well as giving it?

Observed: The feedback you give should be based on something that you have seen, rather than through hearsay or even your own opinion.

Objective: The feedback should be based on what actually happened rather than your idea or opinion of how the person is. Focus on the task or activity that was taking place. “Every day you have been more than 30 minutes late arriving” is significantly more objective than “you are lazy”.

Specific: Look to be as accurate as possible and use specific examples of what and when the behaviour occurred.

Timely: Ensure that you give the feedback as soon after the task or activity took place. The sooner it is the more likely the person will remember and this will mean that they are less likely to deflect the feedback.

As you can see, BOOST is pretty simple. Combined with the AID feedback model, they provide a solid framework for preparing and giving feedback.

Leadership reflections

As usual with my blog articles, here are some questions for you to consider:

  • Think back to the last three sets of feedback your gave,were they aligned with BOOST? What would you do differently next time?
  • Think about two people who you are going to give feedback to in the next seven days. How can you ensure you use the BOOST concept with this feedback?
  • Do you have any other feedback or performance acronyms that you would like to share – I would be keen to know!

Thanks for reading, if you have any feedback on this or other articles please let me know!