417 | How great leaders handle questions they can’t answer
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Why does getting asked a question you don’t know feel like needing to freeze time?
You're in a meeting, a stakeholder turns to you and asks you a question that you don't know the answer to. In that moment, if you could have one wish, it would be to snap your fingers and freeze time so that you can think of how to respond to the question. In today's episode, I am granting you that wish. Today I'm going to teach you something called time-stopping techniques. Time-stopping techniques are communication tactics that you can use to buy yourself time and slow down the conversation when you get asked a tough question so that you have a minute to collect your thoughts and answer with confidence. By the end of this episode, you're going to have a toolkit that you can lean on anytime you get put on the spot and asked a tough question.
If you're new to the show, by the way, welcome. I'm Jessica Guzzick. I'm a prior McKinsey consultant and a current New York Times featured podcast host. I'm also a coach for professional women. I help working women find their voices as leaders and build deep confidence so they can take up more space at work. The first of the four times stopping tests. techniques that I'm going to be teaching you is validation. This is the easiest one and it's the one that you're going to use most often because you can pretty much use it for any type of question that you get asked. Validation is where you tell the stakeholder that the question they asked you is a good question. So let's say you presented a slide, and then Bob, your coworker, turns to you and says, I appreciate you walking us through this project plan, but what would be the investment required to speed up the execution of the plan by four to six weeks?
In that moment, you might panic and you might think to yourself, Oh my God, I don't know. I haven't looked at that.
How does the Validation technique let you buy time and look strategic?
I don't have the answer. This is the perfect moment to stop time by validating Bob's question. So you might say something like, That's a great question, Bob. Executing quickly is definitely a priority right now. So it makes sense for us to take a closer look at the timeline. and the investment that would be required to speed it up. Now, noticed how I haven't actually shared any new information. However, this response will make you look good as a leader. Because when you validate Bob's question, you're showing Bob and everyone in the room that you are a big picture strategic thinker. You're showing them that you understand how this question plugs into the bigger problems. Priorities of the business. So even though you're not coming back to Bob with the answer that he asked you for, you're coming back to him with a response that increases your credibility.
And Bob is going to like it when you share this because you're praising Bob's intellect. You're saying, Great question, Bob. That was really smart of you, Bob. So Bob isn't going to be thinking, oh my gosh, why is Taking so long to answer my question, Bob is going to be thinking, Yes, I am very smart. Thank you for reminding me of that.
When should you stack the Validation technique with another tactic?
Now you might be thinking, this validation tool sounds great, but it doesn't sound like it stops time for that long. It only buys me a few extra seconds when I stop and tell the stakeholder that I think they asked a Mm-hmm. Now, the good news and the really fun thing about time-stopping techniques is you can stack them on top of one another. Just because you validated doesn't mean you're done stopping time. You can now layer on another time-stopping technique to buy yourself even more time. And that brings us to technique number two, which is called open ended probe. The open-ended probe is one of the most powerful time-stopping techniques in that it gives you the most amount of time. This is when you ask the stakeholder an open-ended probing question about their question.
So they asked you a question, and now you come back to them with another question. About their question. So here's what this would look like. Let's stick with the same example of Bob saying what would be the investment required to speed up this project by four to six weeks. So first I'd validate and I'd say, that's a great question, Bob.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does getting asked a question you don’t know feel like needing to freeze time?
0:00–1:55
2
How does the Validation technique let you buy time and look strategic?
1:55–3:16
3
When should you stack the Validation technique with another tactic?
3:16–4:58
4
What is the Open‑Ended Probe and how does it give you the most time?
4:58–6:33
5
How can the Closed‑Ended Probe help you give high‑level or detailed answers quickly?
6:33–8:11
6
Why do senior stakeholders often prefer a high‑level answer over details?
8:11–9:49
7
How does the Future Over‑Deliver technique turn a delayed answer into credibility?
9:49–11:37
8
What are the four time‑stopping techniques leaders use to handle tough questions?
11:37–13:17
Speakers
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