Help Me Understand
Help Me Understand facilitates open communication between employees and leadership by allowing team members to express their questions about a topic or change. This method helps reveal common concerns and enables leaders to address them directly, fostering transparency and clarity.
How to run it
- 1
Write the meeting topic and the headers 'WHO?', 'WHAT?', 'WHEN?', 'WHERE?', and 'HOW?' across a large visible space.
- 2
Distribute sticky notes and markers to all participants.
- 3
Instruct participants to write down as many questions as they can think of under each header, starting with 'WHO?'. Allow five minutes per header.
- 4
Participants post their questions under the respective headers.
- 5
Volunteers cluster similar questions together under each header.
- 6
Highlight the largest clusters and invite leadership to respond to the most common and interesting questions.
- 7
Repeat the process for each of the remaining headers.
- 8
Collect all questions at the end for further review by leadership.
Tips
Encourage participants to be candid with their questions to maximize the value of this exercise.
Consider whether to allow leadership to interject throughout or save their responses for the end, depending on the group dynamics.
Summarize themes to help highlight areas of concern.
Variations
You can conduct the process in two ways: clustering all questions first and then addressing them, or alternating between question collection and leadership responses. Choose based on the group's preference for uninterrupted question generation or ongoing interaction.
Where it fits
Frequently asked questions
When should I use Help Me Understand?â–¾
Use Help Me Understand when you want to: Preparing for organizational change; Gathering feedback on new initiatives; Addressing team concerns in a transparent way.
How long does Help Me Understand take?â–¾
Help Me Understand typically takes 30–90 minutes.
How many participants does Help Me Understand work for?â–¾
Help Me Understand works best for groups of 5–25 participants.
What materials do I need for Help Me Understand?â–¾
To run Help Me Understand you will need: sticky notes, markers, large whiteboard or wall space.
How difficult is Help Me Understand to facilitate?â–¾
Help Me Understand is rated intermediate — some facilitation experience is helpful.
Plan your next workshop with AI
Workshop Weaver helps you combine methods like Help Me Understand into a complete, timed agenda in minutes.
Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Gamestorming.