Giving feedback can be challenging, especially in busy hospitality environments where clarity is crucial. SBI is a simple, effective model for giving clear, non-judgemental, and constructive feedback. It helps leaders focus on facts over feelings, clarity over criticism, and future improvement over blame.
SBI stands for:
• Situation
• Behaviour
• Impact
The aim is to describe what happened, what the person did (or didn’t do), and the effect it had – all without making it personal. This structure supports balanced, fair conversations and helps the recipient hear the message without becoming defensive.
Situation
Set the scene. Describe when and where the specific incident or performance occurred. This grounds your feedback in a clear context and avoids vagueness. The intent is that your observations are based on real, recent events – not assumptions or generalisations.
You could say: during your month-end review last Friday you told me…, or at our latest critical impact review we agreed…
Behaviour
Describe the specific actions or lack of action. This should be observable, factual, and free from judgment or interpretation. The aim is to keep it objective. Talk about what you saw or heard, not what you think they meant or how you felt about it.
You could say: you reported that there were no local sales activities put in place this month, and that no upselling targets had been set for your front-of-house team…, or you didn’t present any sales-driving actions.
Impact
Explain the effect of the behaviour – on the team, on business results, on you, or on the wider operation. This helps the GM understand why the issue matters and encourages accountability. The intent is to create awareness and help the GM connect the dots between their actions and the broader consequences.
You could say: because there’s been no local activity or upselling focus, your site missed its weekly revenue target by over £1,000 – and team engagement around sales has noticeably dropped…, or as a result your revenue is down 9%.
Putting SBI together
Situation: during our business review on Friday…
Behaviour: you shared that there were no locally driven sales initiatives in place this month, and that the team hadn’t been set any upselling targets or had any sales-focused huddles.
Impact: this has directly impacted performance – your sales are behind target by £1,200 this week, and your team doesn’t seem to have a clear focus or motivation around guest interaction and spend. It also means we’ve missed the chance to test any ideas from your site that we could be sharing with others.
How a multi-site manager can use SBI effectively:
1/ Be timely – give feedback soon after the situation
2/ Stick to one clear behaviour at a time
3/ Use SBI to open up a two-way conversation: invite the GM to reflect and respond
4/ Link the feedback to development – shift the conversation towards what they’ll do differently going forward.
SBI isn’t about catching people out. It’s about creating clarity, ownership, and a path forward. Used consistently, it helps shift the culture from blame to learning – where feedback is just part of how the business gets better every week. Using the SBI model of feedback, you can transform your feedback culture by making it constructive and focused on improvement.
