How can I encourage my coworkers to ask questions in meetings instead of waiting until later?

Question

I'm finding myself in a position where I am the SME (Subject Matter Expert) on the area I work in. I don't mind coworkers coming to me with questions, but I would strongly prefer to answer them only once in a team context as opposed to one-on-one several times, for the following reasons

• I want to ensure that any concerns are aired in a team settings so if there is a flaw in my understanding or plan of action I want to get inputs from the most people possible.
• I want to ensure that everyone is onboard with the same plan (I don't want to revise it in one-on-one meeting 3 of 5, so two people are out of the loop)

I've tried soliciting feedback in meetings, but there are 2 possible scenarios:

1.) Either people need to dig into the problem to know what questions to ask

2.) Or they're too shy and don't want to appear ill-informed.

I get the first one, I do that regularly, but how can I get people to understand the second is a corporate anti-pattern?

If someone has a doubt, it's probable other team members do as well.

Answer 1

Some solutions:

1: Let people know that for the next meeting, you will be collecting questions, then addressing the submitted questions in the meeting itself. The downside is if it's an urgent question, there's a delay in response - but otherwise, this can work.

2: Once the Person has been given their answer, make them present the problem/solution to the group. "I had this problem, after discussing it with SME, we came up with this solution" - not only does it share the knowledge, but presenting helps solidify the understanding.

3: At the end of the meeting, do a Round Table: "What are you working on, any road blockers?" - This way, people who are normally quiet have to speak up and give an answer to the question.

4: If you have questions that are being asked more than once, then the answers need to be documented in a KB article somewhere and people need to be encouraged to use said KB.

Answer 2

I'm surprised written communication has not been suggested in the answers. Instead of presenting your plan in a group meeting, write a document and invite your team members to review it and leave comments. That way:

• People can take as much time as they need to understand the plan and ask questions.
• People hopefully feel more comfortable about asking questions in written form rather than during a multi-person meeting.
• The answers you provide are written down and can be reviewed by your teammates at a later point. If someone reaches out to you and asks the question you've already answered - simply point them to the answer.
• All the discussion is assembled in one place - the document, so you don't run into the problem of discussing something with half of the team and leaving the other half out of the loop.

You can still schedule in-person meetings to discuss, but make sure to update the document based on the outcome of those discussions.

Answer 3

The are a number of "presentation skills" techniques that could be useful here. You might want to investigate that topic anyway. But a few in specific:

You can, and should, pause at appropriate points and ask "Any questions?" That provides a window for those who are hesitant to interrupt.

You can start by explicitly saying that your preference is to have people as questions as you go rather than holding them for the end or afterwards. "If you have a question, odds are that someone else has the same question and is just too shy to ask."

This does require also learning the related art of "Great question. I think I'll get to that a bit later; if I don't, please remind me."