Bridging is a technique used to nudge a conversation away from a negative or unanswerable question to a more positively framed answer or message.
Note: This is not used to avoid answering questions that should be answered. Bridging should be used to help ‘cool down’ a tense conversation.
Bridging Templates
- “And what’s most important to know is…”
- “However, what is more important to look at is…”
- “However, the real issue here is…”
- “And what this all means is…”
- “And what’s most important to remember is …”
- “With this in mind, if we look at the bigger picture…”
- “With this in mind, if we take a look back…”
- “If we take a broader perspective, …”
- “If we look at the big picture…”
- “Let me put all this in perspective by saying…”
- “What all this information tells me is…”
- “Before we continue, let me take a step back and repeat that…”
- “Before we continue, let me emphasize that…”
- “This is an important point because…”
- “What this all boils down to is…”
- “The heart of the matter is…”
- “What matters most in this situation is…”
- “And as I said before, …”
- “And if we take a closer look, we would see…
- “Let me just add to this that…”
- “I think it would be more correct to say…”
- “Let me point out again that…”
- “Let me emphasize again…”
- “In this context, it is essential that I note…”
- “Another thing to remember is…”
- “Before we leave the subject, let me add that…”
- “And that reminds me…”
- “And the one thing that is important to remember is…”
- “What I’ve said comes down to this…”
- “Here’s the real issue…”
- “While…is important, it is also important to remember…”
- “It’s true that…but it is also…”