High pressure
Hostile question
Stop the framing of the question from choosing your answer.
A question framed to put you on the back foot.
The shape
- Do not react
- Identify the actual question
- Answer what can be answered
- Reframe if necessary
- Return to the core message
Why that order
A hostile question usually contains a real one. Answering the real one, without accepting the frame, is what leaves you with the room.
A worked example
Why did your team completely fail?
If you are asking about the missed deadline, the main cause was the late requirement change. We have addressed that with a requirement freeze.
What usually goes wrong
Accepting the premise in order to seem reasonable, or rejecting the question in order to seem strong. Both hand over the room.
Built from
An application framework is a package. These are the reusable shapes inside it.
Practise it
Knowing the shape is about ten minutes of work. Running it while somebody senior is looking at you is a different thing, and that is what these are for.
Mostly serves Presence, and reaches into Message and Connection.
A framework tells you what shape the answer takes. It cannot tell you whether shape is what you are short of, and for most people it is not. Which one is yours, and whether a framework is the right instrument at all, is what a Discovery Call is for.
Take the AssessmentOr read the whole glossary first.