The “Sandwich Approach” Undermines Your Feedback (2013)

This is even less honest for a simple reason: the manager keeps asking, "will this work for you?"

It's fake in the same way that the sandwich is. They're being reprimanded, and that's the fact of it.

I think the sandwich is much more honest as long as you're being honest when you execute it.

You could even merge the two and say:

"Here's what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about what's been going well lately, talk about an issue I've seen recently, and then close out with a plan to improve things. How does that sound?"