Old Dogs: Acceptable Answers

It's the start of the week. What better time to learn a new trick? "Old Dogs" is designed to make you more effective by giving you a new skill to practice throughout the week and if it works for you, keep using it! All you have to do is read the article and give it a fair trial.

Recently, I received some feedback from my colleagues about my outward responses to requests. I was told that every time I was asked to do something I perceived as 'difficult', that I would take great pains to explain the difficulties and explain how complex their requests were. This, I was told, came off as being defensive and in some cases, hostile. Whilst I am in a technical role, this is not a good behaviour to have with people outside of my department and certainly not the kind of image I'm attempting to cultivate.

Shortly afterwards, I read some research that resonated strongly with me. The research dictated that there are only three acceptable answers to any enquiry:

"Yes.", "No." and "I don't know."

And the point is?

Remembering that there are only three answers makes working interactions far more simple. Using these answers, you are able to instantly let people know your response and enable them to get on with their role more effectively.

It is important to remember that "I don't know" is not a sign of weakness. Indeed, put yourself in their shoes and think. Would you rather have someone give you an instant answer when they may not be certain of the validity or would you rather they went away for an hour and came back with the accurate and proper response. "I don't know" can also be a powerful tool. If you, like me, tend to appear defensive, it can give you the time to prepare a succinct and reasonable response to a query, and to think about your reasoning.

Finally, people can appreciate the brevity of such responses. If people don't need to know why or how, don't tell them. More often than not, I find that responses other than this (especially from IT people) are only trying to make tasks seem more impressive and complex, and the provider more powerful. In actuality this often has the reverse effect and not explaining the intricacies will often convey more professionalism, enabling everyone to get back to their role with only the information they need as soon as possible.


How do I try it?

For the rest of this week, make a real effort to only reply to queries from anyone with a succinct "Yes", "No" or "I don't know". Before adding to these responses, stop and think, does the other person actually need to know this?

Most importantly though, if you're unsure of something, make use of "I don't know" (but don't forget to tell them that you will find out!). People will find the admission refreshing. It will make you appear more at ease with the concept that you may not have all the answers and subsequently, appear more powerful.


Give it a shot, and watch your stock rise!