Why Leaders Should Hold Ask Me Anything (AMA) Sessions for Employees
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Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions are an opportunity for team members to ask questions and get their opinions heard, so they can get answers and feel valued. However, Q&A is not always the easiest option. Some leaders may shy away from it because they may feel embarrassed by the difficult questions. But if you give people within your organization the opportunity to have these two-way conversations, it will lead to deeper levels of trust and transparency in the long run. And as trust increases, happier, more productive teams are created. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that employees in high-trust companies are 50 percent more productive, 75 percent more engaged, and 106 percent more energized than those in low-trust companies. In this blog, we will explore how hosting a leadership AMA session can benefit your organization and improve your corporate culture. We'll also give you some insider tips on how Slido leaders handle AMAs, as well as how to prepare for and conduct an AMA session at Slido.
We will cover the following:
What does AMA mean?
Why Leaders Should Conduct AMAs
How AMA Helps Build Trust
How Leaders Prepare for Ask Me Anything Questions
What to do if you can't answer all the questions during an AMA
How to conduct an AMA session in Slido
What does AMA mean?
If you've seen Ask Me Anything sessions happening on social media, it's a designated time for the public to ask their favorite creators the questions they have on their mind. But AMAs aren't just a way for the public to ask influencers or celebrities questions on Instagram or TikTok. They're also a powerful and versatile leadership tool, one that you can and should use in your workplace. You can host an AMA session for specific events where employees want to ask a lot of questions, such as a team restructuring.
At Slido, we have an open questions section every month during our general meetings.
Why Leaders Should Conduct AMAs AMA sessions provide an opportunity for employees to connect with senior leaders. In a hybrid company, AMAs help employees feel connected even when they aren’t in the office together every day, which is important for maintaining a sense of unity. That's why it's important to allow distributed team members to contribute in advance by submitting questions via the Q&A tool (see Tips section), regardless of time zone differences.
In uncertain times, AMAs provide a great opportunity for leaders to address any rumors or gossip head-on. It’s okay to be nervous. Showing vulnerability makes you seem more human and allows employees to better understand and connect with you. Read more: Here’s Why Leaders Are Afraid of Q&A… But They Should Do It Anyway
How AMA Helps Build Trust
Many leaders use surveys to gather feedback from their employees. Surveys have their place, but they are not as impactful as a real-time, interactive leadership AMA session. In fact, recent research shows that leaders who use real-time Q&A tools are perceived as more caring and approachable than those who rely solely on surveys. You can read more about this in our new eBook, Great Meetings, Great Culture. When you host an AMA, you can have an open conversation with your team and understand their thinking. The conversation allows for real-time, two-way communication. “The real beauty of Q&A is that it has a much shorter feedback loop,” says Slido’s GM Pali Dudrik. “You can get to the heart of what’s going on in your business without having to wait for an annual survey or barometer. At Slido, we’ve started a lot of initiatives based on the AMA section of our general meetings.” Employees will feel psychologically safe if they can ask questions anonymously. Anonymous questions may feel challenging to leaders, but they will also shed light on issues that need to be addressed. By talking directly about these core issues, your team will see you as a more authentic and human leader.
You can always moderate your AMA, which helps with quality control, but keep in mind that the more moderated your session is, the less chance you have of building trust with your staff. If you're nervous, keep in mind that the more AMA sessions you do, the more confident you'll become. When employees feel they have a voice, trust will grow. A culture that encourages them to speak up without fear will be fostered.
How Leaders Prepare for Ask Me Anything Questions
Pali says AMAs are “a learning experience. It’s about committing to transparency, empowering employees to be open about important topics, and creating a safe space.” Preparation is key, and leaders have the opportunity to think about what they will say when they collect questions via Slido before the meeting. “We release the AMA questions four days before the full meeting,” says Pali. “During those four days, I monitor the questions, rehearse them, review the questions in advance, and write my answers.” While tough questions can be scary, Pali says avoiding Q&A creates a kind of company culture in itself. “People fill in the blanks themselves, and that can lead to rumors and speculation.” He believes that even tough questions have value. “I can’t help but acknowledge the question itself and the concerns behind it. I try to think from the perspective of the person asking the question, and use the question as a learning opportunity.”
What to do if you can't answer all the questions during an AMA
It's important to answer as honestly as possible, and if you don't know the answer, promise to find out after the AMA. “We had a Q&A session about Slido being acquired by Cisco in 2021,” says Kati Gabova, Slido’s head of human resources. “There were hundreds of great questions from people at the time. We didn’t have the answers for most of them, but we felt it was time to provide a space for people to ask questions and share their concerns.” Kati says she wasn't able to give employees as much information as they wanted, but "getting out in front of people" during a time of great change was key. “This has helped us stay connected with our team.” You can build further trust by promising to follow up on any unanswered questions after the meeting. These answers can be shared via email, Slack, or your company intranet. Employees will appreciate leaders who follow through on their promises and provide solutions to all their questions.
How to conduct an AMA session in Slido
Sabine Brossart, Customer Education Manager at Slido, often serves as a moderator for all-hands meetings. Here are her tips for conducting AMAs from a moderator’s perspective: Ask questions in advance “We consciously choose to open Q&A in advance using Slido to maximize engagement,” says Sabine. “Our team is distributed around the world, and not everyone can participate in an AMA session live. But that shouldn’t preclude them from asking questions and making their voices heard.” There is another advantage to taking questions before the meeting. “As a moderator, I can watch the questions coming in from the beginning and properly prepare the speakers. We get a sense of what’s coming up and what the most pressing topics are going to be.”
Be sure to monitor questions during the AMA Sabine says, “We regularly monitor incoming questions during live sessions. We always allow anonymous questions and do not use moderation, so any questions posted are immediately made public.” "If there is a question that is inappropriate and needs to be addressed, we will add a moderator's answer through Slido." When Sabine is asked a difficult question, she usually “reframes the question” by reading it out loud. “I soften the tone but still try to keep the core message true to the person asking the question.”
How to structure and group questions for leaders to answer
“At Slido, we rely on likes to find ‘hot topics,’” Sabine explains. “By liking, the audience picks the question they like the most. This helps me find good opening questions and create structure. We remind everyone to like the most relevant questions multiple times.”
To create structure in an AMA, Sabine recommends grouping similar questions into blocks and asking them all at once. "I usually start my Q&A with the question that got the most likes, and then create a block of about 3 questions if there are more questions on the same topic. We continue to mix in the most liked questions and relevance. If a topic has a reasonable number of likes and is more relevant to the current situation, we can prioritize it over a popular but less relevant question." To stay organized, Sabine recommends labeling your questions in Slido. “Labels help you keep an overview of your questions and allow you to filter them, making it easier to create groups of questions and find them later. We label our questions by topic or speaker name.”
Final thoughts... Building trust within an organization takes time, but taking the time to implement AMAs can pay big dividends in the long run. Your team members will be more engaged with your leadership, and you will be seen as a genuine human being who values their questions, not just a leader. Slido is here to help you on your journey. Contact us below and we'll help you set up a smooth AMA session.
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