Tell Me More: 4 High-Impact Phrases Leaders Need to Use (Part 1)

Thank you for listening to The Champion Forum Podcast with Jeff Hancher! Leaders often have bad habits, including rushing to respond, diagnosing before they understand, and giving advice before asking questions. Today, I’m teaching you the first of four high-impact leadership phrases to help you break this habit and start having deeper conversations. We’ll cover why saying “Tell me more” is one of the most powerful things you can do, when to use this statement, and how to practice getting comfortable with it. As you implement this technique, you will drive trust, collaboration, and a stronger culture.

Why should leaders learn these simple phrases?

Your words can create trust or destroy it, set the tone for a meeting, and create culture. You can have the right strategy, a great vision, and a talented team, but if your communication falls flat, you’ll stall progress and create disengagement and turnover.

On the other hand, just one well-placed phrase can de-escalate tension, create clarity, model accountability, or rally a team around what really matters.

The #1 phrase leaders need to know: “Tell me more about that.”

These five words can unlock honesty, deepen trust, and turn surface-level chatter into meaningful dialogue.

Q: Have you ever had a leader use this phrase? How did you respond to it? What was the ultimate outcome? What else did the leader do to prove that they truly wanted to listen?

This phrase does three powerful things:

1. It shows genuine curiosity. You're rushing to move on to the next thing. You’re treating your teams' comments as an on-ramp to a deeper conversation.

2. It buys you time to listen. You don’t have to feel rushed into making a decision or coming up with a solution.

3. It builds trust. When people feel safe and like you really care, they will tell you what’s really going on.

Inviting additional comments is especially helpful when:

• A team member gives vague feedback.

• Someone seems frustrated but isn’t saying why.

• A direct report shrugs something off that clearly matters.

Roleplay Example:

You have been trying to help empower a leader to take more initiative and speak up more at meetings. You were recently in a budget meeting where you were hoping to see the Team Member share some of the ideas they shared with you. You were happy with the outcome of the meeting, but you decided to ask for their perspective in their weekly one-on-one.

Leader: How did the meeting go?

Team Member: Yeah, I mean… I guess the meeting went fine.

Leader: Tell me more about that.

Team member responds with how they feel and what they observed. Ex. “Well, honestly, I felt like my opinion didn’t matter. I kept getting cut off.”

Leader responds with additional questions or clarifying statements. Ex. “What happened that made you feel that way?” “What points do you think we missed?” “How can I help create an environment where that doesn’t happen?”

Application Activities

1. Practice the roleplaying scenario above with a fellow leader. Invite the person to develop a scenario relevant to your work environment. Then, switch places. How did you feel during the conversation? Did you feel the way you thought you would? Then, commit to saying, “Tell me more about that,” the next time someone shares something, and then be quiet. Let them talk. You might be surprised at what you hear. Write down some reflections after trying this for a few days.

2. Practice the power of silence. People often stop talking because the leader jumped in too soon. When having conversations this week, practice letting a few moments pass before you jump in with a comment or question or just move on to the next topic. Silence isn’t an enemy; it’s a tool. For more on this strategy and how to implement it, check out this past episode of The Champion Forum Podcast: Leveraging Silence In Your Leadership Strategy