5 Steps To Maintain Power When Interrupted At Work
<p>Hate getting interrupted?</p>
<p>Or seeing your colleagues get interrupted?</p>
<p>While interruptions can be benign, they can also claim power and influence who’s heard and who’s not.</p>
<p>In the Stanford MBA program, I’ve studied and role-played different ways to deal with interrupters.</p>
<p>Here’s what you should know:</p>
<h1>1. Check Your Status Relative to That of the Interrupter</h1>
<p>If a peer interrupts you, it can lower your perceived status in the group, wrote <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/06/how-to-manage-interruptions-in-meetings" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Harrison Monarth</a> in the Harvard Business Review.</p>
<p>That requires a well-crafted response.</p>
<p>But if your manager interrupts you, then let it be. It won’t count against you. Besides, your manager might be interrupting to help.</p>
<h1>2. Use One of These Responses</h1>
<p>Imagine you’re talking and Jack jumps in while you’re mid-sentence.</p>
<p>What do you do?</p>
<p><strong>Wait, then loop back. </strong>Wait until he finishes talking. Then, claim the word and say: <em>“I want to circle back to what I was saying,”</em> as you return to your point.</p>
<p><strong>Raise a finger to signal stop or wait</strong>.<strong> </strong>Deborah Gruenfeld recommends this in her book Acting With Power. “<em>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,”</em> she writes.</p>
<p><strong>Interrupt back. </strong>Try saying: <em>“I can see you’re excited! Let me finish this thought</em>.<em>“ </em>Or more curtly:<em>“I’m almost done.”</em></p>
<p><strong>Hold the floor</strong>. Just keep talking. See how Hillary Clinton does that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC0AKNQBV80&t=40s" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>, after she had permitted an interruption moments earlier.</p>
<p><a href="https://betterhumans.pub/5-steps-to-maintain-power-when-interrupted-at-work-cbfbb6f80427"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>