Ask This. Not That.

After all the presenters finished marching through their many slides (too many slides by the way) they transitioned into a time of Q&A.

The CEO of that major energy company looked out at all of the people gathered for the town hall and said “Are there any questions?” Awkward silence followed. No one was sure the leader really wanted questions. And no one wanted to be the first to ask a question. People nervously shifted in their seats. The CEO, feeling deflated, wasted no time in saying “Ok, since there are no questions we’ll conclude the town hall. Thanks for coming, everyone.”

The CEO went straight to his office and called me. He was clearly agitated and frustrated. He said, “Sally, I know people have questions, but they don’t ask any! They just sit in the room like statues. I don’t know what to do!”

I explained that the question he asked “Do you have any questions?” was the problem. When people hear that closed-ended question, what they are thinking is: ‘He doesn’t really want anyone to ask questions. He just wants to end the meeting and get out of here.’

I shared that he needed to ask a different question instead and to stand there and wait until the first brave person raised their hand. So at his next town hall he asked: 

“What are your questions about the information presented or about the project in general?” 

The CEO couldn’t believe it. Someone raised their hand and asked a really good question. Then another person and another. By the end of the Q&A segment, he had gotten a couple dozen questions. 

But we didn’t stop there. We also implemented another Q&A strategy to get written questions from team members who might not be comfortable asking the CEO a question in a room with close to 500 people. It’s important to recognize that many people don’t ask questions because they’re thinking:

1. What if I ask a stupid question? 
2. What if the presenter has already answered my question and I missed it somehow? 
3. What if I’m already supposed to know the answer to my question?

And that strategy of getting written questions resulted in over 200 questions. There were so many questions, the CEO couldn't answer them all during the town hall. But he followed up after the meeting and that was powerful.

Just imagine the kind of insight you would gain if your team asked you over 200 questions! You’d find out what your team is frustrated about, what mis-information they have that you need to clarify and what they’re excited about that you can build on.

The Q&A segment should be the most engaging and exciting part of a presentation or town hall. And it will be when you ask the right question.

Visit www.sallyloveinspires.com.