If you’re an Internal Communications professional, you may be tasked with preparing leadership for Q&A during all-hands or town hall meetings or a stand-alone Ask Me Anything session.
The question is, how do you gear up your executives for success when you don’t know what the questions will be?
To help you brief the leaders and prepare them for what might come up during a Q&A session, here are 9 essential tips you can give them, gathered from experienced Internal Comms professionals.
1. Prepare for the Q&A in advance
- Start collecting questions before the meeting. You can do that most effectively with Q&A tools like Slido. Your employees will have time to formulate their questions and you’ll have more time to think about your responses.
- Once you’ve got some questions in, prepare the answers and key points with the comms team.
Read also: How to Prepare for a Meeting: Step by Step (With Examples)
2. Answer the most relevant questions first
- To identify the most burning issues, remind people to upvote the questions they find most important. This way, the most relevant questions will rise to the top.
- When you’re on stage, address the most popular questions first. Giving people the power to decide will make the Q&A more democratic and help employees to feel that their voices were heard.
3. Stay calm, respectful, and empathetic
- When you get a critical question, try to avoid getting defensive. Showing irritation might discourage people from asking further.
- Instead, stay calm and show empathy. Try to understand the why behind each question.
- Respond respectfully, even if you find the question irrelevant or uninteresting. It will make people feel valued and part of the conversation.
Read also: 5 Ways to Handle Negative or Irrelevant Employee Questions During Q&As
4. Ask for clarification if you don’t understand a question
- When you are not sure that you understand the question, ask for clarification. You can simply say, “I’m not sure I understand this question. Can you please elaborate on it?”
- If you allow your employees to submit questions anonymously, you can say, “Can you please clarify your question? Feel free to send it via Slido if you want to stay anonymous.”
- In case no one wants to elaborate, repeat the question in your own words and say what you think it means before responding. Echoing to the audience what you think they are saying will make them feel heard and give you time to formulate your answer.
5. Explain the context and rationale behind your answers
- Don’t just give a one-word answer to yes-no questions (“Can our product do this?” or “Are we going to hire more people this year?”). Always provide some context.
- For instance, explain the initial idea and how you got to where you are. It will give your employees a better understanding of the rationale behind important decisions and help you get their buy-in.
6. If you don’t have an answer, be straightforward about it
- When you don’t know how to answer a question, be honest about it. Your credibility will stay intact if you acknowledge your limitations. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know how to answer this right now but I will get back to you once I know more details.”
- If the question requires time to analyze because of its complexity, ask for it. Explain why you need more time and set out the steps you need to take to provide an answer.
- Alternatively, ask the person accountable for the project or area to address the matter if he or she is at the meeting. If you received the question before the meeting, give the person a heads up so that he or she can prepare the answer.
Read also: How to Host Better Q&A Sessions at All-Hands Meetings
7. Be transparent if you can’t give an answer on a confidential matter
- Sometimes, you might get questions about a confidential matter. In such cases, instead of vaguely dodging the question, explain that it is confidential and why it is so.
- If the matter has to remain confidential, e.g., due to privacy issues, you can say, “We believe in transparency but it would be against our privacy policy to share this with everyone in the company as the data is sensitive.” People will appreciate your honesty.
- In case the information has to stay unrevealed for some time before you can share it internally, be frank and say, “We can’t share this yet but we will give you all the information as soon as we can over the coming weeks.”
8. Reiterate your answers to duplicate questions instead of dismissing them
- If you get questions that seem to be repetitive, don’t simply dismiss them. They might be asking about nuances that you might have skipped before or need further clarification.
- Instead of ignoring them, read each question thoroughly and if needed, reiterate your previous answer.
- Then check if the audience is satisfied with your response and give your employees a chance to react. It will show them that you care.
9. Follow up on the unanswered questions afterward
- When you get too many questions to answer during one session, your comms team can help you follow up with answers after the meeting. It will give you a chance to provide more elaborate responses and ensure no question is left unanswered.
- Ask your team to download all the questions after the meeting and provide your answers. If needed, ask the relevant people in the company to contribute their updates.
- After the meeting, your team can share the answers with employees on Slack, the company intranet, or by email. This way, you will ensure everyone in the company can access the information, even if they were not present at the meeting.
Read also: What to Do with Unanswered Questions After Your All-Hands Meeting
Over to you
When handled well, the Q&A can be the most valuable part of your all-hands or town hall meeting for both the leadership and employees. Use these tips to gear up your executives to help them nail their next Q&A session.
