Susan DrummCEO Advisor & Executive Coach | Leadership Change Agent

The Simple Shift that Makes People Actually Hear You #shorts

3 Sept 2025 · 1 min

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Short advice from Susan Drumm on making intentions clear when you speak: explicitly state what outcome you want listeners to provide (e.g., ask for an opinion on handling team conflict) before giving context. Doing so focuses listeners and increases the chance of getting the desired support.

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It's surprisingly easy to make your intentions clear. When one of my C Suite clients starts a diatribe, I tell them to stop and say, please tell me what I'm listening for so I know what to pay attention to. It's surprisingly easy to make your intentions clear. Just share what the outcome is that you're hoping to achieve. So instead of starting with here's what happened, say I'd like to get your opinion on how I should handle conflict on my team. So I'll start with some context. Here's what happened. Do you see how much clearer that is? And you're much more likely to get the outcome and support you need. When people know what they're listening for.