A BRIDGE TOO FAR

The concept of a bridge is to get you from where you are to where you want to be. This can work well in the corporate world, especially when doing a media interview, but you need to use it skillfully and strategically.

Remember, all bridges are not created equally and when it comes to any engagement with a journalist, be careful what bridge you choose.

There are occasional times when you might need to employ the bridging technique. It might be because you’re not at liberty to disclose sensitive information, it might be that you’re not the right person to be talking about this topic, or worse, it might be that you don’t have the information and you just can’t answer the question. 

Whatever the scenario, you need to bid farewell to that outdated bridging technique of “now that’s a good question.” Followed by that’s an interesting or excellent question or the humble, thanks I’m glad you asked me that question. 

It’s irritating, it’s weak and it’s the lazy way out. 

The absolute worst one I ever encountered in my days as a journalist was a CEO actually responding by saying; “a better question to ask me would be ……..  “ 

I obliged, told him that’s what I would do and then instantly returned to my more obvious question with more focus. So his ploy totally backfired. 

Now the ABC of how to answer a tough question is a tried and tested process and it usually works. Acknowledge, bridge and communicate. Don’t ignore the question, especially when it’s a tough one, but be sure to acknowledge the question.

The journalist usually gives you lots of language to choose from as they craft and deliver their excellent questions. They may talk about the downturn in the economy and the devastating effect on your business. So pick on the economy and the wider business environment and don’t focus too much on the downturn in your opening response. This helps to form the bridge to your stronger message and then deliver concrete examples of what you are doing to turn things around. 

If you look back on early public relations and media training books and papers, the idea of a bridge was to help you avoid the question you didn’t want to answer. Politicians and CEOs became experts at this, but it also became irritating to the viewer and more so to the journalist. It’s still irritating and annoying and senior leaders of countries, governments and companies still do it.  Please stop. 

So work on building better bridges with stronger foundations. Remember, you don’t always have to answer the question, but you must always acknowledge and address the topic. You all have great teams of intelligent people around you who can surely come up with better opening statements that “that’s an excellent question.” Let’s get to work on delivering excellent responses and make it a win-win for everyone.