Creative Ideas for Seeking Feedback

The idea of seeking out feedback can feel overwhelming for different reasons. Maybe you are busy and feel like you don’t have enough time. Maybe you don’t even know where to start to gather feedback. Maybe you are nervous about what people will say! Let’s talk through some different options depending on time, resources, and capacity.

	Examples	Things to think about...
Surveys	Online surveys using tools like Google Forms or Microsoft Forms Paper surveys	People may not fill out surveys if they are long or confusing People may need digital literacy support to fill out e-surveys Paper surveys require work to tally and track
Focus Groups	Gatherings that bring people together to talk about a specific topic	Usually, people expect compensation (be clear about that either way) When facilitating a focus group, be careful to avoid biased or leading questions
Community Advisory Groups	A group of community members invited to participate at an organization or for a cause	Consider how to compensate people with lived experience that are essential voices. Volunteering is not always feasible or there may be costs to participate like transportation.
Listening Sessions	Open-ended meetings on a theme where people can share ideas, thoughts, and solutions	You may need a trusted community partner to help facilitate connections with communities you don’t have deep relationships with yet or need help getting the word out to.
Informal Conversations and Learnings	Additional people and resources you can learn information from such as online feedback forums or staff and other partners	For example, what do online ratings say about your agency? What common challenges or confusion points do you notice, even anecdotally?

Download the printable worksheet

Printable worksheet - Identifying ways to get feedback.pdf

Download PDF • 49KB

© 2025 Literacy Works

This resource was originally created as a companion to Cook County Department of Public Health’s toolkit, Advancing Organizational Health Literacy.

Questions? Ideas? Errors? Contact clearlanguage@litworks.org with ideas to share!