Instant Messaging: How to Politely Re-ask an Ignored Question

Question

With the current state of the workplace, many companies now run things from a 'work from home' perspective. My current workplace is similar, with everyone working from home, so there is no way to ask questions in person.

I have read the responses to a similar question, about asking for responses from coworkers for responses to emails, but our company uses Instant Messaging (IM), and many answers on the post also focus on asking in person. Thus, I have decided to post a question here.

I have been primarily using the common Slack-like IM tool of our company, but several times where I message colleagues about some questions regarding job-related concerns, they read it and either ignore it to talk about an unrelated issue, or don't answer completely. Edit: this occasionally happens in one on one direct messages as well.

I was somewhat offended by the lack of response to my questions, but I understand that this is common in workplace messaging. They are also ultimately very helpful colleagues in general. As such, I hold no hard feelings.

I am, however, asking these questions in a work environment, so I want to ask, what is a good way to bring up the question again in a polite and professional manner? I don't want to risk re-asking the question in a way that seems aggressive, but I do desire their input for these questions.

Of note, I realize that if people are ignoring my questions, a potential issue is certainly with how I phrase them. I will look into online resources on digital communication and question phrasing on my own time. However, the current question is more specifically looking for a way to re-ask them about an initial question in a polite way.

Answer 1

Reply directly to the question with "could I get an answer to this?"

This is Facebook, but Teams and Slack and most other messaging apps have the capability as well. Not many people would be offended by being this direct as it just got missed (as tends to happen when there are as many messages as there are in a group chat). It wasn't ignored deliberately.

Group chats are terrible for questions which don't follow the immediate group chain of thought simply because nobody can interject right away and stop everyone else in their thought processes.

EDIT: this is going to be a very culturally dependent answer.

Answer 2

This is a case where the rule "never assume ill will where forgetfulness explains behavior" is important. They're not refusing to answer, they're forgetting to answer.

So remind them. Just ask the question again, maybe with a word or two about why you need them to respond promptly.

Everybody is learning how to work without being face to face. It takes time to learn these things, and we all need an extra dose of patience.

Answer 3

My first thought is just be patient, especially if you're asking for a complex response. People will often postpone long responses to the beginning or end of the day, or until just before lunch, or until that awkward half hour they have between meetings later. If you bump a thread, try to aim for those times. Also, people don't check chat continually. They might not even see the message for a half hour or more.

It feels more polite if you give a reason for being pushy. "I need to start this shortly if I'm going to be able to merge it today. Does anyone know the answer to my question?"

Another idea is to narrow your audience. If your message got lost among a larger group, try asking again in a specific team's room. "Did you see my question here?" If your message got missed in a smaller team's room, try @ing a specific person. "@joe do you know?" or "@jennifer, do you have a preference?"

If you're pretty sure your message has been read and there has been ample time to respond, sometimes you just need to give people something to hang a thumbs up on. "I'm assuming since no one commented, either option is acceptable. I'm going to proceed with option A unless I hear any objections."

I keep hearing the word "over-communicate" being used to describe remote work communication, and I think if you're doing it right, it will occasionally feel like you're talking to yourself. Sometimes not getting a response is the response.