The three triggers
Why feedback is hard to receive. Truth triggers fire when it seems wrong, relationship triggers when the problem is who it comes from, and identity triggers when it threatens the receiver's sense of who they are. The giver can use this to anticipate the trigger, and the receiver to notice it firing.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Shaping a hard message; receiving one.
Where it stops working
It is a practitioner synthesis. Knowing the trigger does not defuse it; it only makes the reaction visible.
Where the standard uses it
- PL-2Feedback and difficult conversationsTimely, specific, behaviour-anchored, in both directions.
Sources
- Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well. Viking, 2014. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Feedback as a system practice
- Radical candour practice
- Situation, behaviour, impact practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). The three triggers. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.three-triggers). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/three-triggers