Cedar Feedback Model - Image of a cedar treeIn a recent article I looked at the BOOST framework for giving feedback. In that article, the B was for Balance.That is a balance of time the feedback giver spends talking and the person receiving the feedback gets to give input.. Whilst developing the article I came across this post in Training Zone that mentioned another excellent acronym for setting out and framing feedback. The acronym is Cedar was was developed by Anna Wildman in 2003. The CEDAR feedback model allows for a balanced conversation.

Cedar Feedback model

Context: This is about setting up the conversation and would include framing the need for the feedback session and the importance or impact the issue or opportunity is having.

Examples: Clear, specific illustrations of what happened along with a clear indication of when it happened and where it happened.

Diagnosis: An exploration of the situation. This would include asking the person for their view of the situation and jointly working together to explore what happened and  why it went well / not so well.

Actions: Again a conversation where the ideas should start from the person who is receiving the feedback. They should explore action to resolve a situation if the feedback was around poor performance or if the performance was good, how they can embed and replicate it. The tendency here is to jump in. Let them resolve it themselves.

Review: The final part of the conversation is around ensuring that the ideas or actions get put in practice. Review covers two areas: Asking the person to review the conversation and feedback given AND jointly setting up a date within 2 to 3 weeks to review the situation and performance.

Cedar Feedback modelOverall as you can seem the cedar feedback model is a simple and effective feedback model that builds well on the AID model that I described previously.

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 CEDAR? 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 CEDAR 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!

Regards, Andi Roberts

[Image Credit: Sxc.hu User:BugDog]