Questions to Ask CEO During Town Hall
Questions for a live all-hands, aimed at what is happening now: this quarter's priorities, decisions that were just announced, where the company is behind, and what has been dropped to make room for new work.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are the two or three things you most want us to get right this quarter?
Why ask it
Compression is the point of the question. If the answer runs to seven items, that explains why teams below feel pulled in different directions, and it is fair to say so gently.
Which number are you watching most closely at the moment?
Why ask it
A single metric shows what leadership is anxious about. If the answer is a dashboard rather than a number, priorities are probably still being argued about above your level.
What's changed in the plan since the last all-hands, and why?
Why ask it
Plans shift constantly and the reasons rarely reach everyone. Asking for both the change and the cause makes it harder to answer with the same slides as last quarter.
What was the hardest decision you made this quarter?
Why ask it
Specific and personal without being intrusive. Which decision gets named, and whether the tradeoff or only the outcome is explained, shows how choices actually get made here.
What are we hearing from customers that we don't like?
Why ask it
Every company has a persistent complaint. A CEO who can state it plainly is closer to the ground than one who answers with a satisfaction score.
Which team is under the most pressure right now, and what's being done about it?
Why ask it
Turns a vague conversation about workload into something answerable. If leadership cannot name where the strain is, that is itself a gap in what reaches the top.
How was that decision made, and who was consulted?
Why ask it
Useful after any announcement that took people by surprise. Asking about process rather than trying to reverse the outcome keeps it constructive and tells you how to be included next time.
What should we be telling our teams about this week's announcement?
Why ask it
Managers leave these sessions needing words they can repeat. Asking for those words on everyone's behalf is one of the more useful things you can do with a live question.
Where are we behind, and what's the plan to catch up?
Why ask it
Most all-hands sessions lead with wins. Naming the shortfall invites a fuller picture, and a leader who answers it directly earns credibility for the good news as well.
What are we stopping to make room for the new priorities?
Why ask it
New initiatives usually arrive without anything being removed. If nothing has been stopped, the honest answer is that capacity comes out of existing work or out of people's evenings.
How do you decide when to change course rather than stay with a plan?
Why ask it
Shows whether the company treats consistency or responsiveness as the greater virtue. The examples offered matter more than the principle stated.
What are you hearing from people who don't report to you?
Why ask it
Tests whether channels below the executive layer actually work. Skip-level meetings, support queues and customer calls are real answers, and an open-door policy is not one.
What did we learn from the thing that didn't work?
Why ask it
Every company has a recent visible failure. Whether leadership discusses it plainly in public sets the standard for whether anyone else will admit to one.
What skills do you think we're short of internally?
Why ask it
Frames development as a company gap rather than a personal request. The answer is practical career information, and it often differs from the official training catalog.
How does someone in a role like mine take on more responsibility here?
Why ask it
Asked plainly, this helps the whole room. Listen for whether the path involves specific work and named sponsors, or only general advice about visibility.
What's a common misconception about the strategy?
Why ask it
Gives the CEO room to correct something they may have been trying to fix all quarter. The correction is usually more concrete than the original explanation was.
How much of the plan depends on things outside our control?
Why ask it
A candid answer names the customer, market condition or regulation the plan rests on. That dependency is what will explain any sudden change of direction later.
What's your honest read on how the last year went?
Why ask it
Placed late, once the tone has settled, this often gets a more measured answer than an opening question would. Compare it with the version given to investors.
What would you like more of from us in these sessions?
Why ask it
Turns the format itself into the subject. If questions are routinely pre-screened and softened, this is a polite way to open that up.
What's the one thing you don't want us to lose as the company changes?
Why ask it
A closing question that tends to get a real answer rather than a strategic one. Whatever a CEO names as worth protecting is usually what they think is already at risk.
Getting a Question Answered at an All-Hands
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How these sessions actually run
Questions are usually collected in advance
Most companies use a submission tool with upvoting, and the moderator picks from the top. Submitting early and clearly matters more than raising your hand on the day.
Upvotes decide the agenda
A well-worded question that others recognize as their own will rise. One phrased as a personal grievance will not, even if the underlying issue is widely shared.
Anonymous is a real option
Use it for anything about workload, pay bands or a decision you disagree with. Attach your name when the question is straightforwardly about strategy, where it costs you nothing.
Writing a question that gets picked
- 1Keep it to one sentence and one subject.
- 2Ask for something specific: a number, a date, a name, an example.
- 3Leave out the preamble and any hint of accusation.
- 4Phrase it so a hundred colleagues would want it answered, not just you.
- 5Submit it as soon as the session is announced, not the hour before.
If you get the microphone
- Say your name and team, then ask. No setup.
- Ask the question you submitted, not a longer version of it.
- If the answer misses the point, one polite follow-up is acceptable. Two is not.
- Do not use the time to praise the answer or to make a statement of your own.
- Accept a partial answer in public and take the detail offline.
Afterward
- Write down the numbers and dates that were given, since these are useful later.
- Note anything promised and by when, and check back when the date passes.
- If your question was skipped, send it to your manager or the leader it concerns.
- Compare what was said with what the next set of priorities looks like in practice.