10 pre-made Questions to Ask in your next All Hands Meeting
All hands meetings are a great opportunity to tune in and learn about the latest developments and projects in your tribe, chapter or company. Although some all hands meetings are filled with questions, others can lack interaction and most people return to their daily routine thinking, “I should have asked this today…”
Some questions can be applied to companies across many sectors, touching on important high level thinking points which are core to the way management deals with the trajectory of their set strategy. Far from abstract, these questions tend to open up the floor for discussion and surface the inner, inter-woven thinking behind execution of long term goals.
Here are 10 suggested questions to ask in your next all hands; some inspired by books, articles and manifestos, others, of my own.
But first 4 Covid-19 Addtional Questions:
- Bad companies are destroyed by a crisis, good companies survive a crisis, but great companies are defined by a crisis. Could you explain how this strategy is defining us?
- So much of the mindset of the leader becomes the psychology of the organisation. Can you explain your mindset? What should our collective consciousness be like now?
- How is the reality of Covid-19 translated into our new set of business goals or plans?
- What is your thought process when thinking about the future of XYZ given the uncertain conditions that surround us?
Back to our Original 10 Questions:
1. When at the crossroads of opposing ideas, often one prevails over the other. How do you think we can use the power of opposing ideas to achieve creative and innovative ideas?
Thinking about the importance of many voices over one after reading Roger Martin’s “The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking” and using what can also become destructive and converting it into a constructive power.
2. Are we having enough uncomfortable conversations and making choices, in search for the truth and the best decisions?
Inspired by the Netflix Culture Manifesto.
3. When it comes to performance review and feedback what are some actions to take to contextualize gratitude and reward appropriately?
Team motivation is at times overlooked and it is the no.1 reason of degrading performance. Ron Carucci’s “What Not to Do When You’re Trying to Motivate Your Team” is a great step by step guide.
4. With pressures of growing revenue and user base, are there any organisational-drifts that you have seen happen? (organisational-drifts: moving away from company principles)
Great background to the intricate as well as explicit changes over time at Goldman through the years. Steven G. Mandis’ “What Happened to Goldman Sachs: An Insider’s Story of Organizational Drift and Its Unintended Consequences”
5. High agency within an organisation is directly correlated with quality execution at scale. As humans grow linearly and companies grow exponentially, how do we ensure to find the optimum balance to maintain high performance?
A crucial part of maintaining high impact decision making is dependent on the answers to the above question. The idea behind this question is taken from both Mark Logan’s “The Mathematics of Leadership: How to overcome a Productivity Collapse” and Khalid Halim’s “Hypergrowth and the Law of Startup Physics”
6. All visionary products and services can become obsolete as markets can become obsolete and disappear. What are your thoughts about fostering visionary leaders who foresee these threats within your business and how do you do this?
This question is based on the notions of the “Best of the Best” in the book Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies. (Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I., 1997)
7. The challenge of aligning every function of the business to one goal requires timely and clear communication. What techniques do you use to ensure this is done correctly?
From small to large organisations, communication is the first pillar to trust, alignment and vision. The way things are communicated within the business tells a lot about the conditions in which it is operated.
8. How can we weave in an integrative thinking approach to building new products and managing teams? (Integrative thinking: layering two or more schools of thought)
Crucial to being able to build new things by adding 2 perhaps distinctly different elements together.
9. What are the most recent product risks we took to serve our users in a better way?
Failing fast, learning fast and pivoting. There is always more executed than what is usually presented at the meetings.
10. What helps you be productive?
I have always found it very useful to get insights about how others around me are working, whether they are at C-level or a similar position. This makes me think constantly about the way I work and how I can optimize my time and effort.
Hope these questions are useful in a way to ignite dialogue with colleagues or in a open presentation setting.
Add the questions you’ve asked in the comments below! What has worked well to open up conversations in your organization?
