Pendleton’s Feedback Model

Feedback is all about helping people improve their performance, particularly where they have blind spots about their own performance or behaviour.

Most organisations know feedback matters. Far fewer are any good at giving it. Managers put it off, soften it until the message disappears, or deliver it in a way that makes people defensive.

So when it comes to learning how to give feedback well, it pays to look beyond our own organisations and learn from environments where getting it right really matters. Medical education is one of them.

Where Pendleton’s Rules Came From

In 1984, David Pendleton and three GP colleagues published The Consultation: An Approach to Learning and Teaching. Within it was a simple structure for giving feedback to trainee doctors after an observed consultation. It became known as Pendleton’s rules, and forty years on it is still one of the most widely taught feedback models in medical and healthcare training in the UK.

The thinking behind it is straightforward. People are far less likely to become defensive, and far more likely to take feedback on board, when they feel safe and when they are part of the conversation rather than on the receiving end of it.

The Steps

In its usual form, the conversation runs in this order:

1. Check the person is ready for feedback and clarify any matters of fact.
2. Ask the person what went well.
3. Add what you observed went well.
4. Ask the person what could have been done differently.
5. Add what you think could be done differently.
6. Agree an action plan.

Which Step Comes First?

This is one of the most common questions about the model, and it regularly appears in training assessments. The answer is that the person receiving feedback speaks first. After checking they are ready, you ask them what they think went well, before offering any view of your own.

It is a small detail with a big effect. Starting with their own assessment tells you how self-aware they are, shows them their view matters, and often means they raise the difficult point themselves.

Our Adapted Version for the Workplace

We have used an adapted version of Pendleton’s rules for years with managers, and it works well for performance conversations, appraisal reviews and one-to-ones as well as for feedback on a specific piece of work.

1. Ask the person what they think went well: the positives and their strengths.
2. Reinforce what they said and add further positives where appropriate.
3. Discuss the skills and approaches that led to those successful outcomes.
4. Ask what could have been done better and explore the skills that would be needed to improve.
5. Suggest alternative skills or approaches if needed.
6. Ask the person to summarise their strengths and areas for development.
7. Agree the next steps and a plan of action.
8. Agree how and when progress will be reviewed.

Step three is the one most managers skip, and it matters. Understanding why something went well makes it far more likely to happen again.

Why It Works

• It lowers defensiveness. Opening with strengths creates a safer conversation.
• It builds self-awareness. Asking before telling helps people learn to assess their own performance.
• It creates ownership. Improvements people identify for themselves are far more likely to stick than ones they are handed.
• It gives managers a structure. For anyone who finds feedback uncomfortable, a clear sequence makes the conversation much easier to start.

Where It Falls Down

Pendleton’s rules are not perfect, and it is worth being honest about their limits.

• It can feel formulaic. Once people know the pattern, they sit through the positives waiting for the “but”. Used mechanically, it can start to feel like a ritual rather than a real conversation.
• The most important issue can get buried. Working through the positives first can leave too little time, or energy, for the one thing that really needs to change.
• Self-assessment has limits. Research on self-assessment consistently finds that people are not always accurate judges of their own performance, and the least experienced are often the least accurate. Asking first is valuable, but it cannot replace an honest outside view.
• It separates the good from the bad artificially. Real performance is rarely that tidy. Strengths and development areas are often two sides of the same behaviour.

What More Recent Research Adds

Thinking about feedback has moved on since 1984, and three ideas are worth bringing into any workplace conversation.

Feedback Can Make Performance Worse

A major review of feedback research by Kluger and DeNisi (1996) found that while feedback improved performance on average, in more than a third of cases it actually made performance worse. The difference often came down to focus. Feedback about the task and how to do it better tends to help. Feedback that draws attention to the person, their ability or their worth tends to backfire.

Start with What the Person Wants Help With

A later approach from medical education, known as agenda-led outcome-based analysis (Silverman, Kurtz and Draper, 1996), begins by asking what the person themselves would most like feedback on. It keeps the self-assessment Pendleton introduced, but lets the conversation go straight to what matters to them rather than following a fixed script.

Feedback Is a Conversation, Not a Delivery

Newer models such as R2C2 (Sargeant and colleagues, 2015) put the relationship and the person’s reaction at the centre: build trust, explore how they feel about the feedback, discuss the content, then coach towards change. The common thread is that feedback works best as a two-way conversation, not a verdict.

Using It Well at Work

• Ask permission first. “Would it help to talk through how that went?” sets a very different tone from “I need to give you some feedback.”
• Let them go first, but do not let it become a performance. Treat their view as the start of a conversation, not a box to tick.
• Be specific. “You summarised the client’s concerns before offering a solution” is useful. “Good meeting” is not.
• Keep it about the work, not the person. Focus on what was done and what to do next time.
• Do not save the key point for last. If there is one thing that matters most, make sure there is time for it.
• Agree one or two actions, not ten. Then follow up. Feedback without follow-up rarely changes anything.

When Not to Use It

Pendleton’s rules are designed for developmental feedback on skills: a presentation, a client meeting, an interview, a coaching session, a new manager’s first team meeting. They are not the right tool for every situation.

Where there is a conduct issue, a serious or repeated performance problem, or a situation that needs a clear instruction, a gentle build-up can blur the message. In those conversations, clarity and fairness matter more than structure, and a formal process may be needed.

Final Thought

Pendleton’s rules have lasted forty years for a reason. Asking people for their own view first, and recognising what they did well, still makes feedback easier to give and easier to hear.

Used as a flexible guide rather than a rigid script, and combined with what we now know about focusing on the task and treating feedback as a conversation, it remains one of the most practical tools a manager can have.

If you would like to help your managers give better feedback, whether through practical workshops, coaching or 360 degree feedback, we are always happy to have a conversation. Email us at hello@whitecubeconsulting.com.

Frequently Asked Questions