I was sitting in a training class when one of the participants asked a question. The trainer very confidently looked at her and answered the question. That is the way it is supposed to work, right? Someone asks a question and the trainer or subject matter expert provides an answer. In this case the answer was wrong. I looked over at my co-worker sitting next to me, he leaned over to me and said “I don’t think that is the right answer, it doesn’t make any sense”.
When the class was over out of curiosity we researched the answer. The trainer was blatantly wrong! Obviously he did not know the answer so he made something up. What do you think that did to his credibility with us? It destroyed his credibility.
I have taught over 300 classes and there have been times when someone asked a question that I did not know the answer. It happens to the best of us. You can be an expert in what you are teaching or presenting and a question comes out of left field and you wonder how someone could come up with such a question.
In some of the cases you can say, “In my opinion or I think” and give your answer and that is a suitable answer for the type of question being asked. Never should you make up an answer to make yourself appear to know everything. No one can know everything!
I have found the best course of action in these cases is honesty. Just say “I don’t know, but that is a great question and I will find out the answer for you”. I have never had anyone say to me you don’t know what you are talking about. People understand and are usually patient to get the correct answer, they want to know the correct answer.
Now to keep your credibility, don’t forget to let everyone know the answer. If it is a small class, you can email the answer to them if you need more time than a break to do some research. If it is in a larger setting, you can refer people to your social media accounts and tell them you will post the answer on a specific day. What a great way to also increase traffic to your social media accounts! Not only will you gain more followers, people will respect the fact you took the initiative to find the answer for a participant.
I think most of us have been in a setting where the “subject matter expert” talked around the question but did not really say anything. Sometimes you just need to say “I don’t know”.
Until the next blog, Keep Speaking!
Denise
Denise Ann Galloni, Owner & President
DG Training Solutions, Inc.
Website: https://www.DGTrainingsolutionsinc.com
Email: dgtrainingsolutionsinc@gmail.com
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