Feedback for a Colleague: Examples & Phrases for Every Situation

Most people know they should give colleagues more feedback. What stops them is not willingness — it’s not knowing what to actually say. “Great work” feels hollow, “you need to improve your communication” feels like an attack, and so the words go unsaid. The fix is not more courage; it’s better phrasing.

This guide gives you 80-plus feedback examples you can copy and adapt — positive and constructive, between peers, up to a manager and down to a report, sorted by the situations that come up at work. Every example is built on one framework, the SBI model, so your feedback stays specific and fair. Use them as a starting point, then swap in the real detail of what your colleague did.

What good feedback looks like (and why it matters)

Good feedback is information a person can act on. It points at a specific thing they did and tells them the effect it had — so they know exactly what to keep doing or change. Vague praise (“you’re a great team player”) teaches nothing, because the person can’t tell which of the hundred things they did earned it. Personal criticism (“you’re disorganised”) teaches nothing either — there’s no behaviour to change, only a label to resent.

Feedback is also a team-health signal. A team that exchanges honest, low-stakes feedback as a matter of course catches small problems before they harden; a team where nobody says anything until the annual review is storing up surprises. That openness rests on psychological safety — people only give and receive candid feedback when it feels safe to speak up. If feedback is rare or scary on your team, that’s usually the thing to fix first.

The SBI model: Situation, Behaviour, Impact

The single most useful tool for giving feedback is the SBI model, developed by the Center for Creative Leadership. It structures any piece of feedback into three parts, and following it almost guarantees your feedback is specific and fair rather than vague or accusatory.

Situation — when and where

Anchor the feedback to a concrete moment: “In yesterday’s sprint planning…”, “On the client call this morning…”, “In your last pull request…”. This stops the feedback drifting into a sweeping generalisation (“you always…”) that the person can instantly dismiss with a single counter-example.

Behaviour — the observable action, not the person

Describe what the person actually did — something a camera could have recorded — not your interpretation of who they are. “You restated each person’s point before we voted” is a behaviour. “You’re so considerate” is a character judgement. Behaviours can be repeated or changed; character labels just provoke defensiveness.

Impact — the effect on the team, the work, or you

Explain what the behaviour led to: “…so we reached a decision in ten minutes instead of half an hour”, “…which meant I had to redo the report the next morning”. The impact is what makes feedback worth giving — it’s the reason the behaviour matters, and it’s what motivates someone to keep it up or change it.

A quick before/after rewrite

Watch what SBI does to a flat compliment:

• Before: “You’re great at presentations.”
• After: “In today’s stakeholder review (situation), you opened with the one number they cared about and held questions to the end (behaviour) — it kept the room focused and we got sign-off without the usual back-and-forth (impact).”

Same goodwill, but now the person knows precisely what to do again. Every example below follows this shape.

Positive and recognition feedback examples

Praise is wasted when it’s generic. These name the behaviour so your colleague can repeat it. Adapt the specifics to what actually happened.

For going above and beyond

• “You stayed late to unblock the deployment when you didn’t have to — the release shipped on time because of it, and the whole team noticed.”
• “You picked up the support backlog while two people were out, and customers never felt the gap. That took real ownership.”
• “You spotted the data issue before it reached the client and quietly fixed it — you saved us a very awkward conversation.”

For collaboration and teamwork

• “You pulled in marketing early instead of waiting for sign-off, and it meant we caught the messaging problem weeks before launch.”
• “When the discussion stalled, you offered to pair on it afterwards rather than letting it drift — that’s exactly the kind of follow-through the team needs.”
• “You made space for the quieter people in the workshop by asking them directly what they thought. The ideas we landed on were better for it.”

For communication

• “Your written update was clear enough that nobody needed a follow-up call — that saved everyone half an hour.”
• “You explained the trade-off to the client in plain language, without the jargon, and you could see them relax. That built a lot of trust.”
• “You flagged the slip early and honestly instead of hoping it would resolve itself, which gave us time to replan calmly.”

For reliability and follow-through

• “You said you’d own the migration and you did — start to finish, no chasing required. That kind of dependability makes the whole team’s planning easier.”
• “Every action you took from the last retro actually got done. It’s noticeable, and it’s why people trust the commitments you make.”
• “You always come to standup prepared, which keeps ours one of the few that finishes on time.”

For taking initiative

• “You didn’t wait to be asked — you saw the onboarding doc was out of date and rewrote it. The next new starter will have a much easier first week.”
• “You proposed the change to the review process instead of just complaining about it, and it’s genuinely faster now.”
• “You took the lead on the incident without being told to, kept everyone calm, and ran a clean post-mortem afterwards.”

For problem-solving and quality

• “Your fix didn’t just patch the symptom — you traced it to the root cause, so the bug won’t come back. That’s the kind of work that pays off for months.”
• “The thoroughness of your testing caught an edge case the rest of us missed. It’s why your work so rarely comes back.”
• “You reframed the problem in the meeting and suddenly the answer was obvious. That shift in how you saw it unblocked the whole team.”

Constructive and developmental feedback examples

Constructive feedback is a gift when it’s specific, private and about behaviour. These keep the door open rather than passing judgement.

Missed deadlines or follow-through

• “The design handover came in two days after we’d agreed, and it pushed the whole sprint back. Can we look at what got in the way and how to flag it earlier next time?”
• “A couple of the actions you took from the last retro are still open. If something’s blocking them, let’s surface it — I’d rather know than wait.”
• “You committed to the review by Thursday and it landed Monday. I know things come up; a quick heads-up when a date is going to slip would help me replan.”

Communication and clarity

• “In the last two standups your update ran several minutes long, and we lost the time we needed for blockers. Could you bring just the headline and we’ll dig into detail after?”
• “Your email had the decision buried in the last paragraph, so a few people missed it and acted on the old plan. Leading with the ask would help it land.”
• “When you went quiet on the thread for a few days, the rest of us weren’t sure if it was handled. Even a one-line ‘on it’ would keep everyone aligned.”

Collaboration and conflict

• “In the planning session you talked over Sam a couple of times before he’d finished. I don’t think it was intentional, but it meant we didn’t hear his point — worth watching for next time.”
• “The decision got made in a side conversation rather than the open channel, so half the team found out late. Keeping those calls visible would help everyone trust the process.”
• “When the feedback on your draft came in, the response felt defensive and people stopped offering it. The work is stronger when the door stays open to it.”

Quality and attention to detail

• “The report had a few figures that didn’t reconcile, and the client spotted one before we did. A second pass on the numbers before it goes out would protect us.”
• “A couple of recent pull requests skipped tests and we caught regressions in staging. Adding the tests up front is slower now but saves the firefighting later.”

Framing constructive feedback so it lands

Notice the pattern in all of the above: situation, then behaviour, then impact, then an invitation to fix it together. None of them say “you’re careless” or “you’re a poor communicator.” They describe one thing that happened, the effect it had, and a way forward. Give it privately, close to the event, and assume good intent — most problems are habits or oversights, not character flaws, and people respond far better to “let’s adjust this” than to a verdict.

Peer-to-peer feedback examples

Feedback between colleagues at the same level carries no authority, so it lives or dies on trust. Keep it specific, two-way and generous.

Positive peer feedback

• “Pairing with you on that bug was the fastest I’ve debugged anything all month — you think out loud in a way that’s genuinely easy to follow.”
• “You always read the brief properly before the kick-off, which means our calls start with real questions instead of catch-up. I really value that.”
• “When I was stuck, you dropped what you were doing to help and never made me feel like a burden. That’s the kind of teammate people remember.”

Constructive peer feedback

• “I noticed in code review you’ll sometimes rewrite a whole approach in the comments. The suggestions are good — but a quick chat first would save us both the back-and- forth in the thread.”
• “When we split the work last sprint, the interface between our two pieces was a bit fuzzy and we duplicated some of it. Could we spend five minutes agreeing the seam up front next time?”
• “You’re often heads-down with headphones on, which is great for focus — but I’ve held back a couple of quick questions because I wasn’t sure if I was interrupting. A signal for when you’re open would help.”

Manager-to-report feedback examples

From a manager, feedback carries weight — so specificity and fairness matter even more. Recognition should be frequent; developmental feedback should be private and forward-looking.

Recognition

• “The way you handled that frustrated customer — staying calm, owning the problem, following up the next day — is exactly the standard I want the team known for.”
• “You’ve grown a lot this quarter. Six months ago you’d have escalated that decision; this time you made the call yourself and it was the right one.”
• “You mentored the new starter without being asked, and it shows in how quickly they’ve found their feet. That’s leadership, whatever your title says.”

Developmental

• “You’re doing strong individual work, but the team rarely sees your thinking. In the next few retros I’d like you to share more of the ‘why’ behind your decisions — others learn from it.”
• “I’ve noticed you take on everything that’s offered. That’s generous, but a few things have slipped because there’s too much on. Let’s look at what to hand off.”
• “In the last review you gave the answer before the team had finished thinking. You’re usually right — but they stop contributing when they expect you to solve it. Try holding back a beat.”

Report-to-manager (upward) feedback examples

Upward feedback is the hardest to give and the most valuable to receive. Frame it as what would help you do your best work, not as a complaint.

What’s working

• “The way you shield the team from shifting priorities makes a real difference — I can focus on the actual work instead of chasing the moving target. Thank you for that.”
• “I appreciate that you give context with the ‘what’, not just the task. Knowing why we’re doing something helps me make better calls when you’re not around.”
• “Our one-to-ones are genuinely useful — you listen more than you talk, and I leave with clarity rather than a longer to-do list.”

What you’d like more or less of

• “Decisions sometimes reach us after they’re final, so we miss the chance to flag problems. Could we be looped in a little earlier on the ones that affect our work?”
• “When feedback only comes in the review cycle, it’s hard to course-correct in time. I’d value smaller, more frequent steers — even a quick word after a meeting.”
• “I work best with the outcome and the freedom to find the path. On the last project the detail of the instructions left me less room than I’d have liked — could we agree the ‘what’ and let me own the ‘how’?”

For the trust upward feedback needs, it helps to know your manager well outside the work itself — a few minutes of team icebreakers at the start of a one-to-one or a meeting builds the rapport that makes candour possible. Our list of one-on-one meeting questions is a good source of prompts for those conversations.

Feedback examples by scenario

A cross-cutting bank sorted by theme — useful when you know the situation but not the words. These work in any direction.

Communication

• “You translate complex technical detail into language non-experts can act on — it’s why stakeholders trust your updates.”
• “In writing you’re crisp; in meetings the point sometimes gets lost in the lead-up. Try stating the conclusion first, then the reasoning.”

Teamwork and collaboration

• “You share credit instinctively and name the people who helped. It makes the whole team want to work with you.”
• “You tend to solve problems solo and then present the finished answer. Bringing the team in earlier would catch trade-offs sooner and spread the knowledge.”

Initiative and ownership

• “You see the gap and fill it without waiting to be asked — the broken build, the stale doc, the unowned task.”
• “You raise great ideas but sometimes wait for permission to act on them. On the smaller calls, I’d trust your judgement — just run with it.”

Adaptability and handling change

• “When the priorities shifted mid-sprint you re-planned calmly and kept the team steady instead of anxious. That composure is contagious.”
• “Change seems to land hard for you, and the frustration shows in the room. It’s fine to dislike it — but voicing it constructively would help the team move with you.”

Leadership and mentoring

• “You make the people around you better — your reviews teach, they don’t just gate. Newer engineers ship with more confidence because of you.”
• “You lead well in the detail but rarely step back to the bigger picture. The team would benefit from hearing where you think we’re heading, not just the next task.”

360 and peer-review feedback examples

For a formal 360 or peer review, balance one clear strength with one area to develop, each tied to a behaviour — never a bare rating.

• Strength: “Consistently writes clear, well-scoped pull requests that are quick to review and rarely come back — it speeds up the whole team.”
• Development: “Could involve others earlier on big design decisions, so we catch trade-offs before the code is written rather than after.”
• Strength: “Reliably the calm voice in an incident — keeps the channel focused on the fix rather than the blame.”
• Development: “Tends to absorb too much alone; delegating more would build the team’s depth and protect against burnout.”
• Strength: “Brings genuine curiosity to every problem and asks the question others are thinking but won’t voice.”
• Development: “Follow-through on longer tasks can slip; a visible plan with checkpoints would help the team track progress.”

How to make feedback a habit, not an event

The reason most feedback never gets given isn’t a lack of phrases — it’s a lack of a moment. When the only sanctioned time to give feedback is a once-a-year review, every piece of it arrives late, carries too much weight, and surprises someone. The answer is to make exchanging feedback a small, regular, low-stakes ritual.

A team retrospective is the most natural place to build that habit. Run regularly — every sprint, or every fortnight — it gives the team a recurring, structured moment to reflect on how they worked and say the things that would otherwise go unsaid. A start, stop, continue format is especially good for feedback: “continue” is built-in recognition, “stop” and “start” are constructive feedback with the sting taken out, because the frame makes them about the work rather than the person. Our guide to running effective retrospectives covers how to facilitate those conversations so they stay safe and actually change something.

The habit only holds if it feels safe. Keep a light pulse on whether people feel able to speak up with a regular psychological safety check — and browse the wider health check templates to track how the team is doing over time. If you want a structured board to make feedback part of your next session, generate a custom retrospective and run it with your team today.

Frequently asked questions

What are some examples of positive feedback for a colleague?

Good positive feedback names a specific behaviour and its impact, not just a trait. For example: “In yesterday’s planning call you summarised everyone’s points before we voted — it stopped us going in circles and we finished early.” That lands far better than “great job” because the person knows exactly what to keep doing.

How do I write constructive feedback for a colleague without offending them?

Describe the situation and the observable behaviour, then the impact — never the person. Say “In the last two standups the update ran long and we lost time for blockers” rather than “you talk too much.” Keep it private, time it close to the event, and offer it as something to adjust together, not a verdict. The SBI model exists precisely to keep feedback factual and low-threat.

What is the SBI feedback model?

SBI stands for Situation, Behaviour, Impact. You anchor the feedback to a specific situation (when and where), describe the observable behaviour (what the person actually did), and explain the impact (the effect on the team, the work, or you). It keeps feedback concrete and fair because it sticks to what happened rather than judging character.

What’s the difference between feedback and recognition?

Recognition celebrates a result or effort — a public thank-you for a good outcome. Feedback is information someone can act on, positive or constructive, tied to a specific behaviour so they know what to repeat or change. Recognition makes people feel valued; feedback helps them improve. The best praise does both: it recognises and tells them exactly what worked.

How often should colleagues give each other feedback?

Little and often beats a once-a-year review. The most useful feedback is given close to the event, while the detail is fresh and the stakes are low. Building a light, recurring ritual — a weekly retrospective or a regular check-in — turns feedback into a normal team habit rather than a rare, high-pressure event.

What are good peer-review or 360-feedback examples?

Strong peer-review feedback is balanced and specific: name one clear strength and one area to develop, each tied to a behaviour. For example, “Consistently writes clear, reviewable pull requests that speed up the whole team” paired with “Could involve others earlier on big design decisions so we catch trade-offs sooner.” Avoid vague ratings — give the reader something they can act on.