Hate getting interrupted?
Or seeing your colleagues get interrupted?
While interruptions can be benign, they can also claim power and influence who’s heard and who’s not.
In the Stanford MBA program, I’ve studied and role-played different ways to deal with interrupters.
Here’s what you should know:
1. Check Your Status Relative to That of the Interrupter
If a peer interrupts you, it can lower your perceived status in the group, wrote Harrison Monarth in the Harvard Business Review.
That requires a well-crafted response.
But if your manager interrupts you, then let it be. It won’t count against you. Besides, your manager might be interrupting to help.
2. Use One of These Responses
Imagine you’re talking and Jack jumps in while you’re mid-sentence.
What do you do?
Wait, then loop back. Wait until he finishes talking. Then, claim the word and say: “I want to circle back to what I was saying,” as you return to your point.
Raise a finger to signal stop or wait. Deborah Gruenfeld recommends this in her book Acting With Power. “Just moving the arms away from the body seems to indicate a willingness to fight back, and that finger seems to work like a weapon,” she writes.
Interrupt back. Try saying: “I can see you’re excited! Let me finish this thought.“ Or more curtly:“I’m almost done.”
Hold the floor. Just keep talking. See how Hillary Clinton does that here, after she had permitted an interruption moments earlier.