Follow these steps

If you start with a clear goal and proceed through the rest of these steps, you'll gather valuable input effectively and efficiently.

1. Define your goal.
Start by clearly identifying what you want to achieve by collecting feedback. Whether it’s uncovering pain points, exploring improvement opportunities, or understanding stakeholder priorities, having a clear purpose will help you craft focused questions and gather actionable insights.

2. Choose the right method.
Select the most effective method for gathering feedback:

• Surveys work well for collecting broad data.
• Individual interviews can provide deeper understanding and allow for clarification.
• Focus groups, also known as input sessions, encourage open-ended responses and dynamic discussions. Participants interact and build on each other’s ideas.

3. Ask relevant questions.
Design questions that are concise, clear, and directly related to your goals. Focus on asking questions that will guide your improvement efforts and avoid asking out of mere curiosity. Tailor your questions to your audience to elicit the most relevant and insightful responses.

These three questions are a good starting point. Ask follow-up questions to deepen your understanding with specifics and details.

• What works well?
• What doesn’t work well?
• If you could wave a magic wand and make an immediate change, what would it be? 

4. Keep it brief.
Respect stakeholders’ time by keeping the feedback process brief and efficient. Use clear, straightforward questions to encourage thoughtful responses. Shorter, well-structured interviews or surveys will yield higher-quality feedback than lengthy, unfocused ones.

5. Act on feedback and inform stakeholders.
Once you’ve collected and analyzed the feedback, generate ideas for action based on the insights gained. Implement the actions with the greatest potential impact, and communicate these changes back to your stakeholders. This shows that you value their input and are committed to making meaningful improvements, which can foster trust and encourage ongoing engagement.