This post continues Listen Like a Lawyer’s end-of-the-week tradition of sharing short links, images, and other concise content about listening.

In the college textbook Listening: Process, Functions, and Competency, authors Debra Worthington and Margaret Fitch-Hauser present brief advice from a trial consultant about listening. “For attorneys, one of the key principles to listening well begins with setting up an atmosphere conducive to the clients’ believing they are listened to,” says Diane Wyzga, trial consultant and founder of Lightning Rod Communications.

To do the job of listening to what clients want or need to say, one phrase is particularly helpful:

“Tell me more.”

This, Wyzga says, is the “most invaluable statement you can ever use to encourage someone to speak.” There is no need to craft strategic questions, she says, and using this simple phrase “allows the client’s narrative story to emerge.”