One common topic I work on with leaders is communication effectiveness.

Leaders often express fear of being misunderstood. There is inherent pain in feeling misunderstood, and then there’s the unlikely but possible HR repercussions if an employee were to complain about a hard conversation gone awry.

To address these potential issues, it can be powerful to state your intention or preempt a defensive response, as a sort of preamble to your main message. This should be a quick half-sentence to help prime your listener to receive your message.