Avoid Giving Bad Answers That Result in Bad Outcomes ... Like Ruining Your Reputation
Brief 16: Communication and consequences
“I need information on this...” “What is the answer to…” When will this be ready?”
Sound familiar? Sometimes answers might elude you. You are asked a question and you don’t know the answer. We’ve all been there. We’ve been witness to this workplace thriller when this has happened to other people.
What to do? Can there be a graceful exit? Will someone’s career implode in front of our eyes? Will it be yours?
Risks and tensions rise when that person asking questions is an apex leader. This is someone who is at or near the top of an organization and accountable to relatively few people. These people typically have the power and/or influence to spend money, withhold funds, hire new employees, and fire people. This person can be in your company, a client, or with a partner/vendor. They hold roles that are usually director level and above, sit on boards, or are business owners.
If you are talent (an employee, advisor, consultant, etc.), adopting these practices will help you become a trusted resource to apex leaders. You will outperform peers and rivals. Apex leaders who share these practices with their talent will get better quality information that enables them to make better and more timely decisions.
When I coach clients and do hiring interviews for organizations, this is a reaction I probe for with people. My question may be related to their job. It may be about something completely unrelated to their profession. Such as topics including food, movies, or travel…some obscure question likely to expose a knowledge gap.
How do people respond? This is a high-stakes question. It’s often related to a pass-fail situation (especially during interviews). It reveals how people are likely to act in a real-world situation. When under stress, most people fall back on what they know and do. Rarely do they have the knowledge that can save their job and improve their reputation.
Why is there so much drama with this situation? There is a compulsion that people must always have “the” answer. That something has to be given or you “look bad”. Even when it’s not only a wrong answer, but a wrong answer with potentially severe consequences.
People often panic into making a bad decision when they lack a course of action. There is no road map or check list of sorts. Until now. Here are four steps that will help you perform at higher level when you are asked for an answer you do not have by an apex leader (or anyone). This requires personal courage and discipline. Practice them (with other people if possible). No hacks here. No shortcuts. Do the work.
Checklist: How to respond when you don’t know an answer
Buy some time. Pull out your journal and pen and write out the question. Seeing it on paper can help focus your thought. Get additional clarity and/or context on the question if appropriate.
Evaluate the stakes of your answer? Embarrassment? Financial loss? Death? This can help temper a “need” to give any answer. Especially a bad one that may yield negative consequences. Jot down these thoughts and notes. These risks become more real when seen on paper.
Think through how you can get the requested information to your apex leader. More note taking can help you think through any challenges.
Determine your response (select option “a'“ or “b”). Jot down your notes on whichever path you choose to follow. You may need to refer to them at a later time.
State you don’t know and that you will get the information. If pressed as to how and when, give you best and accurate response.
Get the answer. Provide it when promised or required to your apex leader.
There are situations that require accepting risk and providing incomplete or uncertain answers. A good advisor to apex leaders discloses anticipated risks with their advice/answer.
A quick piece of advice on note taking in this situation. Taking notes can also help you stay calm. Calm is professional. This is a thinking tactic, not a stalling tactic. You are slowing down the interaction just enough to gain seconds for thought and reflection. Be interactive and purposeful. Ask appropriate questions. Jot down notes. Move forward through these steps to a resolution.
You might find yourself in a situation where you can’t take notes. Or you don’t have your journal with you (which is not cool). Write down your thoughts and decisions as soon as you can to preserve their accuracy. Dictate them on your smartphone then write them down. But write them down!
What if you are in a situation where you should know the answer? One in which you are expected to be the authority. But you don’t?
If so, then you could well be in peril of losing your job or some other negative consequence. While this is not an ideal situation, it’s better than providing bad information. There is a significant difference between someone who lacks knowledge versus one that makes poor decisions.
If a person intentionally provides inaccurate information, focus will probably change to how bad will any results be and who will be impacted? That apex leader might lose their job or experiencing severe damage to their reputation. A company could go out of business. People may lose their jobs. There could even be physical harm or death.
Then a very bright and unwelcome spotlight will shine on you. This can be a reputation killer. It can even lead to legal and criminal consequences depending on your level of liability.
A person can likely recover from a gap in knowledge or lack of skills. True, this will likely result in some sort of a career setback including the consequences that come with it. With that said, it is by far a more responsible and professional course of action to acknowledge not having an answer.
How can you avoid getting into this situation? Here are four traits for creating, maintaining, and projecting situational awareness of your work and expertise. They are simple, yet often hard to do. You have to invest time, resources, and energy. Being prepared for questions is the best way to avoid the temptation take the “easy” route of intentionally leading people astray (otherwise known as lying).
Four situational awareness traits of trusted professionals
Be a true expert who continually improves in your technical and professional knowledge and takes opportunities to teach them to people. Stay current with best practices, technology, and state of your art. Sharing these with other people is a great way to learn and retain them.
Keep pace with your work (projects, tasks, etc.). Falling behind can create knowledge gaps and other professional issues.
No one likes surprises. Keep relevant people up to date with progress, news, and other information. This may provide an opportunity to address unknown and uncertain elements of your work before getting queried about them.
Build and nurture a network you can fall back onto for help (and provide same in kind assistance to others).
You are still likely to find yourself in conditions where you don’t know an answer. Our world is complex with more information than ever before in history. How do you persevere in these scenarios? Accept that there will be information you don’t have and don’t know you need. If you are a respected professional that adopts these practices, you are more likely to be given an opportunity to get the right answers while strengthening your reputation.