Feedback on sprint restrospective

When a release/sprint is done.....

During the retrospective you can ask What is team feedback about this release?

What has worked well?

What has not worked beautifully?

What can be done to make things work better in the next release?

Based on the feedback we may come with action points..and these actions will be assigned to an accountable team member.

@Nisha provides the basics and they work well with new teams.  There are many exercises you can find on the web for Retrospectives that are based on @Nisha's suggestions.  Start/Stop/Continue, the Sailboat/Balloon are a couple.  Do a little research on Retrospective exercises.  After the teams start to get comfortable with the practice I often see that Retrospectives become free form open conversations.  I usually start those kind with the question "What did you do as a team during the last sprint that you considered good or bad?".  That usually is enough to get the discussions going with established teams. 

But even if you ask those questions be prepared to provide examples that you personally witnessed.  Remember that in the Retrospective you are an equal participant as a member of the Scrum Team.  You could start by providing feedback based on how you and the team interacted. 

I also spend a lot of time with my teams during the sprint just observing their interactions.  From that I can draw some conclusions and if no one will speak up at retro, I will pose open ended questions based on what I observed.  I will protect identities at first.  Then after the retro, I will speak in private with the individual and let them know that I provided anonymity once but will not be so kind next time.  Part of having a self-managed, self-organizing team in Scrum is that the team honors the Scrum Values.  

When the values of commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect are embodied and lived by the Scrum Team, the Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life and build trust for everyone

If a team member doesn't have the courage and openness to bring up difficult topics and the others don't respect them for it, then the team is going to have problems in the future.  

Start every Retrospective by stating the purpose of it.  I know a number of Scrum Masters/Agile Coaches that have put the statement from the link below on big poster and places in full view for every retrospective. 

http://retrospectivewiki.org/index.php?title=The_Prime_Directive

Is it techniques for the retro itself you are looking for, or feedback on the how effective the technique (and thus) the retrospective itself has been?