Facing The Music- How to Handle Objections in a Q&A Session

Objections are always there, no matter what the situation is, sighting for a little window, and then jumping right in font of you. I believe our life is not full of objections and rebuttals. In fact, the life spans around the O&R's. As a trainer, we frequently come across a situation, where we have to face (read reply) some questions that are not meant to be asked for knowledge or understanding, rather they are asked for other (known) reasons and hijacking the session is one of them.

So, what if I come across such a trainee who asks me questions (for the sake of questions) or if someone challenges my stance in Q&A session, how do I handle the situation. The answer is quite easy. It is almost a routine thing now and I handle it the same way as I tend to handle any other objection in the life.

There is a universal rebuttal consisting of 3 steps. I always use this approach as a Rule of Thumb. The three steps to follow are:

Step 1 Listen Actively

Step 2 Acknowledge

Step 3 Dig into it

Step 1- Active Listening:

Active Listening means listening with a purpose and the main purpose is to understand someone's point of view. They say it is either you are listening or you are just leaving. As a trainer/ facilitator, it is our responsibility to listen. My first step would be listening with full focus and without being biased. Emotional Intelligence plays a very important role here. Once you have successfully listened someone's stance, without being biased, believe me you have conquered half of the battlefield. My suggestion is to give the trainee enough time to present his view clearly and even when he/she finishes, hold on for a brief moment, letting him say, if he has to say anything else.

Step 2- Acknowledge:

Agreeing to Disagreement is a key. But first of all, we must accept that respecting others views are important, in fact mandatory. Give your trainees some motivation by agreeing and acknowledging their point of views. Thank them for adding value to the ongoing discussion by presenting another perspective.

Step 3 Dig into it:

This is the final step and I believe, this one is the real game changer. As a trainer, you know that we have to keep control of the session at our hands. So, we should start a constructive debate by adding a simple question that can lead towards some positive discussion. Instead of straight away embedding whatever knowledge or understanding you have regarding the subject matter, just take a moment to relax and start by asking a leading question. Believe me, this will definitely hit the right chord, as you can easily control the talk and lead the conversation.

This is the formula that I have been using since long and believe me, this is a proven formula.

Author: Shahbaz Ali Naqvi (Certified Professional Trainer)