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The Agency Edge: Constructive Feedback Training

Agency managers must get better at difficult conversations

Plus try our new Constructive Feedback AI avatars for free

Agency people are usually good with people.

It’s one of the reasons they do well. They build relationships. They read the room. They keep clients happy.

But being good with people doesn’t automatically make someone good at managing people.

In fact, sometimes it can make the job harder.

Because agency people are often natural people pleasers. They want to be liked. They want the team to feel supported. They don’t want to sound harsh, formal or heavy-handed.

So, when a difficult conversation needs to happen, they can hesitate. Or turn what should be a clear piece of constructive feedback into a vague, friendly chat that leaves everyone smiling, but nothing actually changing. The team member leaves the conversation not even realising they have been asked to change their behaviour.

And in busy agencies, unclear feedback has a cost. Small issues can soon become frustrations that affect clients, teams, quality and performance.

Good feedback needs structure

Constructive feedback should not be brutal. But it does need to be clear.

That is where our AEIOU model comes in.

It gives managers a simple structure for feedback conversations that are clear, fair and practical.


A is for Area. Be specific about the issue. What happened? Where did it happen? What example can you point to?
E is for Evaluation. Ask for their view. What did they think happened? How do they feel it went?
I is for Implication. Ask them to consider the impact. What does this mean for the client, the team, the work or their own development?
O is for Options. Look at what could be done differently next time. This should feel like coaching, not a lecture.
U is for Undertake. Mutually agree what they will do and by when. Feedback only becomes useful when it turns into action.

It sounds simple but these are some of the most difficult conversations that a manager has to have with their team and it takes practise.

Why practise matters

Most managers do not get enough safe practise before they have to do the real thing. They learn on the job. Usually under pressure.

But what if agency managers could practise realistic feedback conversations before they have them for real?

That’s why we have developed our new AI-powered Constructive Feedback avatars to support our training…and we’re inviting you to give them a try for free.

The scenarios are built around typical agency management moments, including weak contribution in a client meeting, an abrupt response to a client due to pressure and a missed opportunity to delegate to a junior team member.

In other words, the kinds of conversations agency leaders and team managers recognise immediately.

You can sit opposite the AI avatar and try out the conversation and it responds in the moment, so the conversation feels live. That makes the practise far more useful than simply reading a model or discussing what you would do in theory.

The feedback on your feedback

The real added value then comes after the conversation.

Once you end the conversation, the tool gives instant, detailed feedback on how the conversation was managed.

It looks at the overall quality of the conversation, but also breaks the performance down into specific areas, including clarity of issue framing, empathy and tone, curiosity and listening, coaching quality, conversation structure and confidence in handling a difficult conversation.

That means people do not just get a score. They get practical insight into what worked, what was missed and what they could do better next time.

It is a powerful way to turn feedback training into a repeatable skill.

And, importantly, it is also fun!

There is something engaging about trying the conversation, seeing how the avatar responds and then receiving immediate feedback on your own performance. It makes the learning feel active, practical and memorable.

Constructive Feedback report
Feedback report

Try the avatars for free

We will now be using these avatars in our Constructive Feedback training to help bring the AEIOU model to life and give people more opportunity to practise.

But you can also try them for yourself now.

They are free to use to newsletter subscribers for the next few days. Just open the link from a desktop or laptop, choose a scenario and have a go.

Try the avatars for free: https://amber-avatar.onrender.com

I hope you give it a try, we would really welcome your feedback. Plus, if you think your people could benefit from our Constructive Feedback or any wider people management training, just drop me a line at paul@ambergroup.net

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