Question time

Prime Minister’s Questions is a regular event held in many parliaments around the world. UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Norway (amongst others) provide an opportunity for ministers to question the prime minister in public.

Its principal focus is to make accountability visible. The executive can't just announce decisions; it has to defend them live, to their opponents, mostly without a script.

For employees this ‘Ask me anything unscripted’ often only happens once a year at a staff conference and I think this is a huge opportunity missed for many CEOs.

To be fair, some have embraced regular ‘All Hands’ (or all employee) meetings at which they take questions, however, the few that I have attended this year have been staged with leaders knowing the questions in advance.

A quarterly question time with anonymous questions would be a great way for business leaders to not only regularly engage with their employees, but also to answer the questions that may be generating discussion where work is happening. These conversations - and the uncertainty that comes with them - often gets in the way of productive work.

Of course, this means that CEOs have to listen, prepare and then be confident in their answers. But then that’s what’s expected when you reach the top of the tree.

So front up, regularly, and take questions from the people doing the real work. If a prime minister can face the room every week, a CEO can manage four times a year.