Handling Critical Questions

Your Task

Think of a question that you dread getting during your presentation. Let your partners ask you this question in an interrogating way.

Turn the critical question into a fruitful discussion using the three phases:

  1. Listen
  2. Reframe
  3. Envision
Listening Framing Envisioning
Make them feel heard Sum it up using their words Show them that your solution is a choice
  • Say a little more …
  • Please elaborate …
  • What do you mean by [X]
  • Please provide us with an example …
  • What's the dream here?
  • Does this mean that your dream is to … ?
  • Let's hear it from a different point of view …
  • I'd like to hear some different takes on this
  • Sarah, what's your take on this?
  • Peter, I saw you smiling and nodding, what's your take on this?
  • I hear that the key challenge is … (sum it up in one sentence)
  • I hear that the dilemma is …
  • I hear that major concern is …
  • The solution you were hoping for is … the solution we have is …
  • Could this also be about [X]?
  • Scenario 1:
  • Scenario 2:
  • Maybe Scenario 3:
  • I suggest we move forward with scenario 2, because …
  • Can you support that?

Performance directions

  • Make sure that you get away from the nose-to-nose position
  • Use hand gestures that includes everybody while answering the person who posed the question

Learn all of my tricks!

I’ve collected all of my best tricks and techniques in book form – it’s like 41 cheat codes to gaining influential power.

“Influential Power: 41 presentation tools for turning No into Yes” provides 41 practical tools that will enhance and prolong the effect of what you say.

The book introduces the principles of soft communication and explains why soft communication has such a strong impact on our decision-making systems.

book.png