All employers have had situations where they had to deal with employees that weren't forthcoming with their feedback. It doesn’t matter if it's a team that doesn't enjoy speaking about the good and bad factors of a project, or a single employee that is reluctant to offer criticism. Without feedback, there can be no improvement. An employer, therefore, needs to use creative methods to garner feedback from these kinds of employees.
The critical element is making these feedback-shy employees or teams feel that their opinions matter. To help, 14 experts from Forbes Human Resources Council examine how an employer can seek to instill the importance of feedback in staff that isn't willing to speak about their experiences.
Members offer tips for proactively seeking feedback from your staff members.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Enable Anonymous Feedback
Asking for and acting on feedback is a powerful way to drive performance, retention and build trust. Give your employees the ability to provide anonymous feedback on their experience. I think you will find that both introverts and extroverts alike will take the opportunity to share meaningful feedback. Adopt an "always-on" feedback culture. Staying attuned to your employees’ experience is key. - Mary Ainsworth, Medallia
2. Approach With A Curiosity Mindset
Approaching with a mindset of curiosity and seeking to learn by asking questions is an effective way to check in with a quiet employee. Often, a quiet employee is thorough at thinking through things, observes a lot and has new perspectives to bring to the table. Demonstrating that you are open to listening and to feedback will help the employee come forth more with their perspectives. - Amee Parekh, Uber Technologies
3. Use Storytelling As Feedback
People love to hear stories. Managers can share their own experiences or stories from books/magazines to their team. It is an implicit way to motivate, influence and inspire employees. Storytelling is an effective leadership tool for managers to engage their team members. - Tom Zhang, SERES EV
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4. Start With A Short Survey
It can be a formidable task to ask a shy team member to spill the beans. I would use a simple three-to-five-question survey to get baseline responses on what's working, what isn't, and recommendations. Then, use the survey results to target a more meaningful and focused conversation. People tend to open up as they trust you are listening. A survey starts that ball rolling. - Tessa White, SHE Team, LLC
5. Create An Inclusive Environment
A manager's job is to create an "inclusive" environment where all types of people and personalities can thrive. It is important to understand that introverted and shy are not the same thing and so, how managers treat feedback-shy employees vs. an introvert could be different. In general, giving space, allowing multiple vehicles of communication and also practicing appreciative inquiry, might help. - Priya Priyadarshini, Microsoft
6. Keep It Simple
When meeting with team members that are quiet or shy, keep it simple. Focus on goals and how to achieve them. I always ask how I can help or what I can do to support them better. The important thing to help people out of their shell is not to push them out. Accept their answers and be consistent in your questions. This helps them learn to come prepared and eventually gets them to open up more! - Adam Mellor, ONE Gas, Inc.
7. Try Asynchronous Communication
Teams should use multiple forms of communication to target maximum participation. For shy employees, asynchronous communication can provide a comfortable medium to collaborate without feeling the social pressure to share their views in person in a team setting. It also helps employees to share a more thoughtful response than if you catch them by surprise without giving them a chance to prepare. - Jyoti Khadgawat, smule Inc
8. Adopt Agile Retrospectives
Some employees are great at giving feedback off the cuff, while others need time to process their ideas. For feedback-shy teams, agile retrospectives provide structure to feedback. They focus the team on a specific agenda: what the team did well, what it needs to improve, lessons learned and the action steps. Retrospectives also allow quiet employees to prepare any ideas ahead of the meeting. - Karen Crone, Paycor, Inc.
9. Spend More One-On-One Time
I recently took a new role leading a consulting team. As a newcomer, I was trying to engage a team that had been through a lot of change. I have a couple of quiet employees so I schedule more one-on-one time with them and encourage them to carry the conversation in terms of what they want to discuss. I learn a lot about what they value, how they think and what drives them — it takes time but it's worth it. - Yvette Kennedy, Explorance
10. Be More Direct
As a leader, it's important to be dynamic and adapt your style, but holding back on feedback or treating someone differently only exacerbates the problem and limits growth. I find it helpful to call out limitations directly. For example, start a feedback session with, "I realize this can be a bit awkward for both of us, but I want to provide some feedback, and would love for you to do the same." - Ken Kanara, ECA
11. Keep A Non-Opinionated Attitude
Creating a safe, discreet and open environment for the conversation is critical. Having one-on-one conversations on a regular basis builds trust over time. Maintaining a non-opinionated attitude allows for quiet employees and feedback-shy teams to speak up. Letting the team member drive the conversation through an open-ended agenda enables the employee to voice the most critical topics on their mind. - William Ng, Bed Bath & Beyond
12. Use The Team To Get Full Feedback
Ask the more vocal team members to do regular "listening" sessions with less vocal employees. Have them host full team meetings without managers or with individuals on a one-on-one basis, then consolidate the feedback for management to consider. Make sure that you provide the entire group with the same content you are receiving so they know what the outcome looked like. - Carol MacKinlay, UserTesting
13. Help Them Prepare In Advance
Introverts like to have questions ahead of time to think through before giving an answer. Managers can prepare shy team members by letting them know that during the next one-on-one they will discuss ways for them to feel engaged and supported and what their biggest hurdles currently are. - Polina Wilson, Unruly ®
14. Meet The Employees Where They Are
One thing a good leader does is "manage to the employee," meaning that you meet the employee where they are at. Leaders should first seek to understand what support the employee may need, recognize that certain individuals fear feedback, and may need methods of support that are vastly different than what other members of the team need. - Dana Garaventa, GPHR, PHR, Opus One Winery LLC
