How to Answer an Unanswerable Question
Curated from: hbr.org
Ideas, facts & insights covering these topics:
6 ideas
·16.1K reads
28
Explore the World's Best Ideas
Join today and uncover 100+ curated journeys from 50+ topics. Unlock access to our mobile app with extensive features.
Acknowledging Your Anxiety
When dealing with difficult conversations, if you are already anxious, any further expectations from others will intensify whatever you are feeling.
You need to address your own emotions by sharing them with your close friends and loved ones, so that you don’t get triggered while playing your role of a leader or parent, where you can transmit your negative feelings and pent-up emotions to those who look up to you.
854
3.79K reads
Listen to the Unsaid
Sometimes, people are not able to articulate well their needs. Other times, the different questions being asked by our subordinates point to a single underlying problem.
Rather than getting triggered by the repeated questions that sound similar, or deflecting them, a better approach is to acknowledge the underlying problem, and provide an honest and clear answer, while providing a genuine reassurance.
814
2.85K reads
Do not Critique The Questions
Being angry or judgemental towards a question is a sign of instability and weakness. Being defensive when you are an authority figure makes you dismiss other people's feelings and shut down their trust and engagement towards you.
Be honest, compassionate and acknowledge what you don’t know.
885
2.55K reads
Practice Your Tone and Delivery
When you are in the limelight, you are the message. Your words form a fraction of the entire message of yours, which includes your voice tone and pace, body language, and your expressions.
It’s a good idea to convey confidence and conviction if you are sure about the issue.
818
2.2K reads
Recover Fast
If you make a mistake, apologize promptly, and set towards a correction path, taking valuable feedback on the fly, and improvising without wasting precious time.
It will make you more human and likeable, and works even if your answers are not precise.
839
2.5K reads
Help Others Find Strength
One of the most empowering things leaders can do in the face of unanswerable questions is to use broader questions to draw out people's deeper concerns.
In doing so, you may end up helping others discover their own strength, which works far better than offering the answer you think they want.
806
2.28K reads
IDEAS CURATED BY
Mia 's ideas are part of this journey:
Learn more about communication with this collection
How to overcome fear of rejection
How to embrace vulnerability
Why vulnerability is important for personal growth
Related collections
Similar ideas
4 ideas
4 simple things you should include in every answer you give
fastcompany.com
3 ideas
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates