The Questions Nobody Asks at an All-Hands
The classic all-hands meeting.
You know the type, senior management sets up the meeting, and if you wish to keep working you’d better attend. No matter that you have work to do, at the allotted hour everyone signs into the Zoom link.
Since we’ve just experienced one of the many re-orgs this Q&A session had the opportunity to be more impactful than usual. Needless to say, we had a meeting full of awkward silences and limited value.
No change from usual then.
Ask Me Anything, Ask Me Nothing
Apparently, not much was on our minds as a single person submitted a question beforehand (I mean when would we have time to do that?).
Despite the fact they had a question to answer, they decided to ask for any “live” questions. None came. We had a disturbing silence as nobody volunteered a question.
“Engineers are shy”
They said, providing context and expectation where it was needed least.
Our leader finally looked at the question that had been prepared for them. They answered it, giving some clear corporate speak to answer the question. They then waited for more questions.
Silence.
They waited.
More silence.
Eventually, they told us they were comfortable with silence and were quite happy to wait for somebody to ask something. I think they were hazing us into asking some questions that they would enjoy answering.
I admire the commitment to the bit, but this isn’t how to do it. It’s simply not how it is done.
Psychological safety
I’ve always found corporate Q&A sessions a little strange, and suspect that’s because they actually aren’t a place where we can (or should) feel comfortable.
That’s because there aren’t any questions you can sensibly ask, particularly when in the middle of a reorg. You aren’t safe to ask the question that everyone wants to ask.
“how is my job role impacted”
Because that’s not a question for a rather large audience.
It’s the same problem with my question (that I’d actually like an answer to).
“Where does the power actually live?”
As managers are changing, reporting lines changed and the organization is re-orged.
How can I possibly ask this? Imagine unmuting yourself during an all-hands and saying:
“Which group is actually in charge?”
Suddenly the silence doesn’t seem so bad.
Which is what everyone in the room ultimately thinks, and acts accordingly.
The Questions We Don’t Ask
Once I started thinking about this, I realized the interesting questions weren’t the ones being asked. They were the ones that we could never, ever ask.
There are a ton of useful questions, but they’re also potentially terrible questions to ask at an all-hands.
“I’m an underperformer, should I worry?”
“When there are changes will they be to make us work more?”
“Can I hide my work quality somehow”
You get the idea.
Even if management genuinely wants openness, there is very little upside for an individual employee standing up in front of the company and asking something that might be interpreted as confrontational or revealing your weaknesses.
You can ask where the Christmas party is being held.
You can ask whether we’re getting a new coffee machine.
You can probably ask about the roadmap.
“Am I working in the less important half of this organization?” is a little more difficult.
The answer to this isn’t to say that you are comfortable with silence.
Employees were saying:
“I’m perfectly happy not telling you what I’m thinking”
That’s quite a communication problem.
I’m not sure this leadership team really gets that.
About The Author
Professional Software Developer “The Secret Developer” can be found on Twitter @TheSDeveloper and regularly publishes articles through Medium.com.
The Secret Developer has attended enough all-hands meetings to know that they are an opportunity to raise another PR.