Think on Your Feet (and Last Day!)

• Look directly at the questioner
  
• Observe body language as well as what is being spoken
  
• Try to interpret what is being suggested by the question or request. Is this an attack, a legitimate request for more information, or a test? Why is this person asking this and what is the intention?

3. Have the Question Repeated
If you're feeling particularly under pressure, ask for the question to be repeated. This gives you a bit more time to think about your response.

At first glance people think this will only make them look unsure. It doesn’t. It makes you look concerned that you give an appropriate response. It also gives the questioner an opportunity to rephrase and ask a question that is more on point. Remember, the questioner may well have just “thought on his or her feet” to ask the question, so when you give them a second chance, the question may well be better articulated and clearer to all.

By asking to have the question repeated you also get another opportunity to assess the intentions of the questioner. If it is more specific or better worded, chances are the person really wants to learn more. If the repeated question is more aggressive than the first one, then you know the person is more interested in making you uncomfortable than anything else. When that’s the case, the next tip comes in very handy.

4. Use Stall Tactics
Sometimes you need more time to get your thoughts straight and calm yourself down enough to make a clear reply. The last thing you want to do is blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind. Often this is a defensive comment that only makes you look insecure and anxious rather than confident and composed.

• Repeat the question yourself. This gives you time to think and you clarify exactly what is being asked. It also allows you to rephrase if necessary and put a positive spin on the request. “How have I considered the impact on customers in order to make sure they have a continued positive experience during the expansion?”
  
• Narrow the focus. Here, you ask a question of your own to not only clarify, but to bring the question down to a manageable scope. “You’re interested in hearing how I’ve considered customer impacts. What impacts are you most interested in: Product availability or in-store service? “
  
• Ask for clarification. Again, this will force the questioner to be more specific and hopefully get more to a specific point. “When you say you want to know how I’ve analyzed customer impacts, do you mean you want a detailed analysis or a list of the tools and methods I used?”
  
• Ask for a definition. Jargon and specific terminology may present a problem for you. Ask to have words and ideas clarified to ensure you are talking about the same thing.

5. Use Silence to your Advantage
We are conditioned to believe that silence is uncomfortable. However, if you use it sparingly, it communicates that you are in control of your thoughts and confident in your ability to answer expertly. When you rush to answer you also typically rush your words. Pausing to collect your thoughts tells your brain to slow everything down.

6. Stick to One Point and One Supporting Piece of Information
There’s a high risk that, under pressure, you’ll answer a question with either too much or too little information. If you give too short an answer, you risk letting the conversation slip into interrogation mode. (You’ll get another question, and the questioner will be firmly in control of how the dialogue unfolds). When your reply is too long, you risk losing people’s interest, coming across as boring, or giving away things that are better left unsaid. Remember, you aren’t being asked to give a speech on the subject. The questioner wants to know something. Respect that and give them an answer, with just enough supporting information.

This technique gives you focus. Rather than trying to tie together all the ideas that are running through your head, when you pick one main point and one supporting fact, you allow yourself to answer accurately and assuredly.

7. Prepare Some “What Ifs?”
With a bit of forethought, it’s often possible to predict the types of questions you might be asked, so you can prepare and rehearse some answers to questions that might come your way. Let’s say you are presenting the monthly sales figures to your management team. The chances are your report will cover most of the obvious questions that the management team might have, but what other questions might you predict? What’s different about this month? What new questions might be asked? How would you respond? What additional information might you need to have to hand to support more detailed questions?

In particular, spend some time brainstorming the most difficult questions that people might ask, and prepare and rehearse good answers to them.

8. Practice Clear Delivery
How you say something is almost as important as what you say. If you mumble or use “umm” or “ah” between every second word, confidence in what you are saying plummets. Whenever you are speaking with people, make a point to practice these key oration skills:

• Speak in a strong voice. (Don’t confuse strong with loud!)
  
• Use pauses strategically to emphasize a point or slow yourself down
  
• Vary your tone and pay attention to how your message will be perceived given the intonation you use
  
• Use eye contact appropriately
  
• Pay attention to your grammar
  
• Use the level of formality that is appropriate to the situation.

9. Summarize and Stop
Wrap up your response with a quick summary statement. After that, resist adding more information. There may well be silence after your summary. Don’t make the common mistake of filling the silence with more information! This is the time when other people are absorbing the information you have given. If you persist with more information, you may end up causing confusion and undoing the great work you’ve already done in delivering your response.

Use words to indicate you are summarizing (i.e. “in conclusion,” “finally”) or briefly restate the question and your answer. So - what did I do to analyze customer impacts? I reviewed the Dallas case files in detail, and prepared a “What if” analysis for our own situation.”

Key points:

No one enjoys being putting on the spot or answering questions that you aren’t fully expecting. The uncertainty can be stressful. That stress doesn’t need to be unmanageable and you can think on your feet if you remember the strategies we just discussed. Essentially, thinking on your feet means staying in control of the situation. Ask questions, buy time for yourself, and remember to stick to one point and make that one point count. When you are able to zoom in on the key areas of concern, you’ll answer like an expert and you impress your audience, and yourself, with your confidence and poise.

Career Excellence Club Spring Offer - LAST DAY!

Thinking on Your Feet is just one of the subjects covered in the Mind Tools members' area, the Career Excellence Club. In it, get the training, coaching and support you need to have a happy, successful and highly satisfying career. Solve career issues in our member-only discussion forums. Use the many powerful new tools in the Mind Tools Extended Toolkit. Learn from our MP3-based Book Insights and Expert Interviews, join in our Coaching Clinics and Bite-Sized Training lessons, and much, much more.

PLUS: LAST DAY: For today only, you'll get an extra bonus “Personal Development Plan Workbook” (worth US$19.99) when you join. This helps you think about where you want to go in your career – and plan how you’ll get there. You’ll look at your strengths and weakness, define your career objectives, assess gaps in your skills and experience, and then build a practical action plan to achieve your career goals. Here’s a great opportunity to build your plan, AND get support for it in the club! 

A Final Note From James

"Thinking on Your Feet" is something that terrifies many, many people. After all, you can practice your presentations to a point of perfection, but it's the free format time afterwards that can cause real angst and upset. Now you know how to plan to give a star performance!

Our next newsletter will be with you in 14 days time. This will feature "The Breaking Point", one of Bruna Martinuzzi's insightful articles on emotional intelligence, as well as taking a look at "Monte Carlo Analysis", an approach that can greatly improve the usefulness of forecasts.

And a final reminder that this is your last chance to get our Personal Development Planning workbook when you join our member's area, the Career Excellence Club. Click here to give it a try!

Have an excellent week!

James

James Manktelow

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