You've completed your slide show on the agile organization, and you've been looking forward to giving the presentation for the first time. The presentation is going along nicely until you notice one employee in the back of the room snickering from time to time and whispering to people next to him. You've never met this person, and you're not even sure what his position is, but he's starting to distract you. After a few more minutes of this annoying behavior, the employee begins openly laughing at some of your remarks about corporate agility. Unfortunately, your emotions get the best of you, and you lose your cool, stop the presentation, and demand to know what the employee finds so funny. You realize immediately that you've made a mistake, particularly when the employee responds, "If HP is so freakin' agile, why have you been forced to lay off thousands of employees in the past couple of years? How soon until we lose our jobs, too?" You're not prepared to respond to such a complex question (the layoffs were the result of both the merger with Compaq and the general downturn in the technology market a few years ago), nor are you authorized to speak for the company on such a sensitive subject. On the other hand, you don't want to appear weak or ill prepared. After you take a deep breath and calm down a bit, how should you respond?
a. Use humor to defuse the situation. Tell the questioner, "HP laid off other employees to make room for charming new additions like you."
b. Recognize that this is not a question you should try to handle under these circumstances, particularly since you don't know how many other people might share the questioner's anxiety; you might lose control of the situation entirely. Respond by saying, "This is not an appropriate time or place to discuss such matters, and I'd like to return to the focus of our discussion today so that those employees who would like to learn more can get the information they came for."
c. Express empathy with the questioner's anxiety and explain that the best way to avoid layoffs in the future is for everyone to contribute to the company's efforts of becoming more agile: "As a fellow employee, I certainly share your concern about job security. However, I also know that the only part I can control is my contribution to the company's efforts to become more agile. Rather than digressing into past difficulties, why don't we focus on what each of us can do to ensure profitable growth into the future?"
d. Ignore the question entirely. Count to 10 silently, look back around the room at the friendly faces you were making eye contact with earlier, and resume your presentation.