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You could perhaps hire an improv coach for a team workshop. Level one improv is all about building team rapport and helping individuals feel more comfortable contributing in a supportive group.
Can't personally think of anything more likely to make an entire team quit in unison.
Ultimately they may never be the most chatty member of the team but some output is far better than none and encourages the contribution to grow.
I would suggest a combination of pair-programming, coding dojos and code reviews with NO force to participate. 1. pair programming Pair programming, if done correctly, encourages you to communicate with your partner. If he is shy, he won't be to excited about it, so I would start giving him the possibility to attend a pair-programming session of two other developers working at a pretty trivial task. 2. coding dojos P…
If the guy is just - for want of a better word - genetically shy and a sole-contributor type who likes to take tasks and bunker down and churn out code, implementing any of these suggestions will probably make them snap quit. I think the better question to ask here is, can you get the input you're looking for out of the guy through a method that best suits their style. These suggestions are very 'force the round peg…
If anyhow I ever get into such a situation, I feel better prepared.
Thank you.
If you're happy with his "good player"ness, then leave him the hell alone. People trying to crack me out of my shell "because reasons" get an opposing and forceful response from me. I hate feeling manipulated against my will, and if you want me to be some sort of performative marionette and not a coder, then we're not right for each other, and I will be leaving soon.
Weigh where you value this developer. Not everyone gives a hang about "contributing to the company's progress" in the macro, and are content with micro problems.
I say this as a Sr. who has been somehow railroaded into a Lead/Management role that I loathe, and it has ruined a great situation for me, and it will soon ruin it for my employer. And my manager doesn't understand my objections, as many times as I have told him.
$0.02. Have you bothered to ask this dev if his quietness is indicative of anything other than his shyness and reservedness that you already knew and are somehow not respecting? Maybe Email it and await his response. It might blow your hair back. The howler you'd get from me, if I respected you enough to be honest, would certainly adjust your posture. :)
We discussed it and tried a few things, but ultimately what worked for him was to write down some bullet points about what he wanted to say before a meeting. This gave him time to do the thinking up front and relaxed him greatly.
Turns out he was really quite clever and chatty. It can just be very intimidating to think and talk on the spot amongst a group of experienced peers.
You could perhaps hire an improv coach for a team workshop. Level one improv is all about building team rapport and helping individuals feel more comfortable contributing in a supportive group.
> You could perhaps hire an improv coach for a team workshop. Can't personally think of anything more likely to make an entire team quit in unison.
It isn't that the workshop was bad, or uncomfortable. They did a good job making it work for everyone. It was more of a realization of how blind the leadership was to truly understanding their people and finding ways to work together that made us all thrive.
I also had many casual discussions with my manager so that helped me open up with him. Later I had discussions with other (equally welcoming) senior devs. Now the whole team feels like friends to me and I generally don't shy in speaking up.
Some people are shy or reserved, some people are happy to follow and go with the flow.
Trying to force a shy person to be outgoing can backfire and you'll lose a valuable teammate.
You can introduce your team to various books/videos/articles around people overcoming all sorts of challenges on a day to day basis.
Such an environment motivates everyone to take on challenges: fitness, intellectual, social, and so on.
It is important not to single out anyone on a particular dimension. Acknowledge that we are all lacking in one area or the other - so make it a general team thing, something super normal within your group to work on enhancing both strengths/weaknesses.
As a practical step - share your own shortcomings, and how you have/are overcoming them. This sort of personal struggle, and your efforts to overcome will motivate others to share their own struggles and overcome them.
First, try to understand why he is shy and how exactly is his shyness preventing him from contributing to progress. Is he shy by design, even outside work? Or does he feel like he does not have the psychological safety to speak up? You can get a sense for this by spending some time with him 1:1 outside work and getting to know him as a person. Second, examine your own relationship with him. Does he trust you as a man…
Psychological safety is by far the most important requirement for group participation. You could be doing everything right for people in the middle of the bell curve and still have this person struggling because of something very specific to their childhood or personal experience.