I can recall many times where I’ve been in a team meeting as an attendee, and we’ve had our leader or senior leader who’s coming in to deliver a presentation. They’re sharing information, a new product launch, whatever it is. And you’ve probably gone through this same experience, as you’re sitting there listening to all of the information, and at the end of the presentation, the leader asks, “Does anybody have any questions?”
And I’m sitting there, legitimately, I don’t have any questions. I totally understood what they said, but then nobody else in the meeting asks questions. So me, as an attendee, I am assuming that because nobody asked questions, they also understood the information just like I did. But then I’m in a conversation with them after the meeting, and they start asking me questions, and I’m thinking, why didn’t you just ask those questions when our leader said, does anybody have any questions? Right?
What is the deal? They didn’t actually understand. Their silence did not indicate that they understood, and that’s the assumption. Imagine me as the attendee, that’s what I assumed – imagine what the presenter assumes. They assume that when people are silent, when they don’t ask questions, when they leave the presentation and nobody’s saying, “Hey, what about this? What about that?” They assume that it means everybody understood, and that is a myth.
Silence does not indicate understanding.
There are so many reasons why people may remain silent. They may have some fear of judgment, especially if it’s in a large group. They may actually be embarrassed, even if it’s just one-on-one. They may be embarrassed that they didn’t get it all the first time that you delivered it to them. So please do not assume.
Instead, even if you say, do you have any questions, what could you do beyond that, even if they don’t ask? Whether it’s asking them to summarize some points, or you re-go through one or two main points and ask for some clarity on their part, think of ways that you can actually engage more of a dialogue that will help you confirm that they do understand, instead of assuming because their silence.