How can a leader recognize and unravel the team’s ‘hidden feedback’?

Despite numerous books, articles and training that encourages people to provide feedback Directly, speaking frankly or “telling the truth,” extremely important feedback often remain unique or, at best, are indirectly delivered, masked in routine exchanges, apparently lower questions or suggestions.

When feedback remains hidden, the leaders get dark. Key concerns are not said, warning signs are ignored and valuable perceptions never come to them. When problems become impossible to ignore, leaders wonders: Why no one told me that before?

Leaders can take practical measures to discover hidden feedback and ensure that they are listening to what really matters. If you want to make sure you are receiving the necessary feedback, try these four strategies:

Look for signs of hidden feedback

Like the ripples created by a chain under standing water, hidden feedback leaves subtle patterns-if you know how to identify them. By training your curiosity to recognize these signs, you can find out not expressed concerns before they get worse. Here are three key indicators to observe:

• Repeated questions or suggestions on seemingly small details – When stakeholders repeatedly return to apparently lower suggestions or questions, this may mask broader and unhealthy concerns about capacity, readiness or performance.
• Increased involvement in tactical decisions – When people suddenly get involved (or send representatives to get involved in) in decisions that would not normally involve them, or when they request more revisions than usual, this may indicate erosion of confidence.
• Unexpected decreases in involvement – When people decrease their involvement or participation without explaining why, this may be a sign that they do not want to get involved or prioritize work less. If you notice these standards, don’t ignore them – be curious. What is being said in silence? What concerns can be hidden under the surface? The sooner you investigate the real message, the sooner you can approach it.

Make it safe for others to tell you the truth

Whether you notice or not, people are always assessing the risk of telling you the whole truth. The safer they feel, the more willing they will be sharing the feedback you need-and the less you will need to gather the courage to do so.

One way to make them more comfortable sharing frankly is to normalize feedback, framing it as a natural part of your continuous learning. This may sound like:

• “As I look for the future, I’m trying to develop my lead and value your perspective. What blind spots I should be aware that I may not see?”
• “I would value your perspective on how my message was received at today’s meeting. What signs or reactions did you notice? And how did it sound for you?”
• “Given your function, you can see things I’m losing. What patterns or worries should I be aware?”

Even when asked, however, sometimes others are reluctant to give direct feedback. In such cases, it can help request strategic advice and guidelines. This type of reformulation decreases barriers, takes advantage of people’s natural desire to be useful and often leads to richer perceptions of performance gaps and development opportunities. This could sound like:

• “As part of my professional development, I’m always looking to improve. What do you think I could do differently to raise my performance?”
• “Based on your experience and point of view, how would you address this challenge differently from what I’m doing?”
• “If you were guiding someone facing similar circumstances, what guidance would you offer?”

In some cases, it may be necessary to articulate the pattern you are seeing and ask more explicitly if there may be something important that you should be listening to. This direct recognition often makes room for stakeholders to reveal concerns that were hesitant to explicitly address. This could sound like:

• “I noticed this topic coming up in several conversations. Is there a broader concern that we should be arguing?”
• “This seems to be a recurring theme in our interactions. What underlying questions could we be addressing?”
• “I see a pattern here that can signal something important. Could you help me understand if there is more to explore?”

Listen to learn

Whatever the question you end up asking, the discovery of hidden feedback depends completely how well you hear. Listening to learn means to seek deeply and intentionally understanding the most essential messages that someone is conveying to you. Here is how to do this:

• Give time – When you ask for feedback to someone who has not given it, it can get it by surprise. If the person is quiet, do not hurry to fill the silence-let them gather their thoughts. You may also need to return to the conversation when it is ready.
• Pull the wire – Once the person starts to share, he does not assume that the first thing he says is the only one or even the most important feedback he has for you. Especially if they are reluctant to feedback, they can start with an insignificant suggestion or surround the subject to see how you react. As soon as they start sharing something, encourage them to deepen the conversation by pulling the wire with follow-up questions, such as: “This is interesting. Can you talk more about it?” or “very useful. Can you share an example?” or “Great to know that. What else?”
• Repeat and Test – Finally, make sure you really understand feedback before answering prematurely. To avoid this trap, paraphrase what you heard and make sure you got it right.
• Reward the risk that the person has ran – After listening to feedback, it is essential that you provide a positive reinforcement to those who gave it. If the person was not consistently giving feedback, it is likely that some level of discomfort has been felt when manifesting. Recognize and reward the effort. Thank you for devoting time-and possibly the risk-to share your perspective. Now it’s up to you to process the contribution and decide how you want to act on it. Share how you understood feedback and what you plan to do about it.

The gap between the feedback that leaders need and the feedback they really hear represents one of the most significant barriers to the effectiveness of leadership. By developing skills to detect hidden feedback signs, create psychological security for honest dialogue, listening with genuine curiosity, and rewarding frankness, leaders can turn these seemingly ordinary exchanges into extraordinary growth opportunities.