EPISODE · Jun 8, 2026 · 22 MIN
Questions are Gold
from The Committee Room · host Kate Hartwig and Kate McPhee
A $14,362 line item in miscellaneous expenses. Budget was $2,000. No explanation. Two committee members noticed it. Nobody said a word. The reports were approved and the meeting moved on. Six months later, the organisation discovered where the money had gone — and the paper trail led straight back to that meeting.In this episode Kate H and Kate M get into why people don't ask the hard questions — and why that silence is never neutral. They cover the four forces that keep committee members quiet, the baseline questions every committee member should feel comfortable asking across finance, risk and strategy, how to frame questions that get you information rather than defensiveness, and why the quiet meeting where nothing is questioned is a warning sign, not an efficiency win. Plus the elephant in the room, the good chairperson, and a free Questions Are Gold checklist in the show notes.Show notes and free download at The Committee Room.
What this episode covers
A $14,362 line item in miscellaneous expenses. Budget was $2,000. No explanation. Two committee members noticed it. Nobody said a word. The reports were approved and the meeting moved on. Six months later, the organisation discovered where the money had gone — and the paper trail led straight back to that meeting.In this episode Kate H and Kate M get into why people don't ask the hard questions — and why that silence is never neutral. They cover the four forces that keep committee members quiet, the baseline questions every committee member should feel comfortable asking across finance, risk and strategy, how to frame questions that get you information rather than defensiveness, and why the quiet meeting where nothing is questioned is a warning sign, not an efficiency win. Plus the elephant in the room, the good chairperson, and a free Questions Are Gold checklist in the show notes.Show notes and free download at The Committee Room.
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Questions are Gold
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