Employees may hold back communication for a variety of reasons:
• A lifelong habit of shyness
• Fear of assertiveness
• Overanalyzing what to say and letting opportunities to speak pass
them by
• Fear of reprisal, rejection by management or peers, or looking
foolish
• Keeping resentful or critical thoughts bottled up
• Being endowed with the rare and wonderful quality of listening,
but failing to show it by responding

Some reasons for an employee to appear shy and quiet are actually
rooted in some valuable traits. If the employee is a great listener, he or she will be an excellent contributor long term and an asset to any team. Still, the employee needs to learn to be more responsive in the short term so that others will not mistake his or her quietness for apathy or hostility. Coworkers may perceive shy employees as poor contributors to team projects, simply because they are slow to warm up and offer comments.

SHY IN MEETINGS
Employees who are shy in meetings deprive the team of ideas and expertise that could contribute to the team’s success. This problem is compounded when shy employees later confide to others that they had a better idea or that they silently disagreed with some of the ideas brought forth in the meeting. Shyness is a problem that deserves compassion, but some people have allowed themselves to avoid contributing by hiding behind that shyness. Like any other developmental need, shyness should be addressed with interventions.

Interventions
• Assign the employee a role in the meeting at first, and gradually
lead up to voluntary participation. Do you have an employee who
won’t participate in meetings? Ask the employee to break his pattern
of silence by reading the minutes of the last meeting or by
announcing a company dinner or some other noncontroversial item. At the next meeting, gradually increase the employee’s participation.
Ask him to do something interactive, such as asking for a show of hands on a topic or passing out a handout. Before another meeting, tell the employee that his only assignment is to express one opinion or make one unsolicited comment. Sometimes breaking the ice is all it takes. Once these reticent employees have the experience of speaking up, they often continue to be strong contributors without long-term prompting. They may simply need to see that their comments will be valued and listened to by their peers and by management. After a couple of successful experiences, you may not be able to stop them!

Taken From: 201 Ways to Turn Any Employee Into a STAR Performer