Editing UNITA Agile Management Guide (section)

=== Plan to give feedback ===

In this step, we’ll look at a method for thinking about how to plan what to say when you give feedback. This is the COIN feedback method (Carroll, 2018, p. 62).  
This method helps make connections between what you want to say in your feedback and what the recipient is looking for, as well as what the organisation needs. It presents four steps to giving effective feedback, as shown in the diagram below.

'''The COIN Feedback Method'''. Adapted from Mukherjee, S. (No date) *The COIN Conversation Model. Real-life Examples of Employee Feedback for Remote Teams*. [https://www.peoplebox.ai/blog/5-examples-of-giving-employee-feedback-in-remote-teams/#COIN]

'''The elements are as follows:'''

==== C is for connection and context ====

Try to establish what the recipient’s goals are in relation to the feedback conversation – what you want to deliver may not immediately fit with their requirements. For instance, if they want to know how to master a new skill, you need to connect the feedback to situations where you have actively witnessed them trying to work towards this target.  
To give context, you might say something like, ‘We have talked about you mastering a new skill in x, and last week I noticed you were starting to apply this in situation y‘ (if you don’t have a recent example, connect it to a past situation such as an earlier project). You can then start to link this to your feedback. Without establishing connection and context, you might find people become disconnected or confused by your feedback.

==== O is for observation ====

Here you make factual observations on someone’s work behaviour based on accurate and specific observations. If your observations are vague then this can lead to the recipient feeling confused or even ‘attacked’. Try to keep the observations ‘quick, accurate and to the point’ (Carroll, 2018, p. 63).  
You might say: ‘I noticed that you have not been to the last two morning standups and the project is due to go live next week’. The statement is based on fact and doesn’t seek to express a value judgement.

==== I is for impact ====

The impact of the behaviour you are feeding back on can be positive, negative or a hybrid of the two. Stick to the facts and help your team understand when their actions have negative effects.  
For example, you might say: ‘There were payments not paid on time to vendors on the project, which caused the project to fall behind. This had a negative impact on our relationship with the client.’

==== N is for next steps ====

At this point, you should collaborate with the feedback recipient to identify what action needs to take place, or what behaviours need to change or develop.  
Thinking about the future as part of your feedback can have a positive impact and help you get support from the recipient.  
For example, if a member of your team proposes a new tool for collaboration to help solve some of their time keeping and accountability issues, then you could say: ‘The idea of a collaboration tool is great and would help out the rest of the team. This will keep us communicating regularly and tasks will not be forgotten. When do you think you could demonstrate this to the rest of the team?’ (Carroll, 2018).