A bit of arrogance helps. If they're a little intimidated, it gives you the chance to be magnanimous when asking for feedback. This offends people who think the

A bit of arrogance helps. If they're a little intimidated, it gives you the chance to be magnanimous when asking for feedback. This offends people who think they're smarter than you about design, but you can head this off by prompting them by name: "John, you haven't said anything yet, what's your reaction?" This is simultaneously flattering and puts them on the spot, and makes them unlikely to undermine the legitimacy of your voice as authoritative because it boosts their reputation. One easy thing you can do is to write down people's feedback and then read it back to them, letting them know that you are writing their name down next to it. You look accommodating and they feel like their opinion counts. And also, they feel accountable, which makes them less sure of themselves. But only mention who contributed an idea on a new revision if you intend to praise it. If you generated a revision to demonstrate a bad idea, be vague about who came up with them. Say something like "Last time we came up with some ideas to explore..." This makes it easy for them to back out without losing face. Side note: I notice that a lot of programmers bitching about clueless managers and clients interfering with them doing their job, but it's suddenly different when designers do the same thing, that's when designers are told to be "team-players". Seems like a bit of a double standard.