Following up and escalation

You've given feedback and nothing has changed. What do you do next?

Follow up on the feedback

It can be hard to change long-entrenched habits or to pick up new behaviors, and sometimes, we just fail as humans to remember to do all the things people ask of us.

If you’ve given feedback, followed-up, and things still aren’t changing, the Content, Pattern, Relationship (CPR) framework can be used.

Content, Pattern, Relationship (CPR) framework

The CPR framework is from , external,Crucial Accountability.

Content

The first (and maybe second) time you have a conversation, focus on the specific situation of concern. You can use the SBI framework, as described earlier.

Pattern

If the action or behavior keeps happening, it doesn’t help to keep hammering away at specific situations. Point out the pattern of behavior with specific examples. Engage in conversation to understand why the pattern of behavior keeps happening, and explore what barriers may exist. This might look like:

• “Hey, I mentioned at the start of the project that it’s important we start standup on time every day. You’ve been 5 minutes late to standup twice this week, and three times last week, and it interrupts the team’s focus. I’m concerned about this pattern, and I want to talk through why it keeps happening and see how we can resolve it together. What are your thoughts? How do we fix it?”

Relationship

If the “patterns of behavior” conversation has already happened and the action or behavior continues, trust and communication in the relationship can erode. Instead of hammering on specific situations or patterns, shift the conversation to discuss the relationship and the impact of the problem on trust, teamwork, and communication. This could look like:

• “We talked last month about your pattern of showing up late at standup, and I thought we’d fixed the issue by shifting standup later by 15 minutes. Things were great for a couple of weeks, and then you’ve been late to standup 3 more times this week. It concerns me, because the team relies on you to meet your commitments to be on time for standup, and having you continue to be late erodes the team’s trust in you. We need to trust each other as teammates. How do you think we can resolve this?”

Escalation

If CPR fails to resolve the situation, bring the situation to your supervisor, project lead, HR person, or someone else in the organization who can help with conflict resolution.

In TTS, our , external,TTS-only, HR Workplace Relations Specialist is a resource for working through conflict or escalating concerns.