How to talk about risks tip 3: Answer these 3 questions

4 May 2022 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:20

In this short instructional video, the speaker presents a concise framework for communicating risks effectively by answering three essential questions: (1) What could happen? (2) Why could it happen? and (3) Why should we care? The speaker explains that addressing these questions provides a complete picture of the risk and aligns the discussion with the audience’s concerns. He warns that omitting any of the questions can lead to focusing on low‑impact issues or failing to motivate the audience to act. The video offers practical guidance on how to incorporate the three questions, either by stating them explicitly or by mentally posing each question and then answering it aloud, and provides example phrasing for each question to illustrate how to link potential impacts to the audience’s work, schedule, or outcomes.

Chapters

How to talk about risks, tip number 3. Make sure you answer 3 key questions. What could happen? Why could it happen? And why should we care? If you answer these 3 questions, you're going to give a complete picture of the risk and you're going to focus on things that the audience cares about. Now, if you don't do these 3, 3 things, if you don't answer the question of what could happen, why could it happen, and why should we care, you're likely to talk about something that may not have a significant impact. Or if you don't highlight why someone should care about it, they're not necessarily going to understand why they might need to take action or provide input. So how do you do this? Well, it's simple. You could literally state the questions and answer them, or you could ask each question in your head and then answer it out loud. So what could happen? This is what could happen. Why could it happen? Well, the potential causes are X, Y, and Z. And then why should we care? Well, you should care Because it's going to impact your work. It's going to impact your schedule. It's going to impact a particular outcome that you care about. So that's how you can use those 3 important questions to be clear when you're talking about risks.