Comments on: How to interrupt someone in a meeting http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-interrupt-someone-in-a-meeting/ Helping business analysts become leaders and advance their careers. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:33:53 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: steve blais http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-interrupt-someone-in-a-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-3644 steve blais Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:09:30 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=1777#comment-3644 Everyone in a meeting is an adult and in a business situation. It is embarrassing to call attention to the interruption because you are essentially reminding a participant in front of their peers that they have exhibited bad behavior in the meeting, a social faux pa. I have always considered a valid interruption - one that is on point rather than one which is off topic or disruptive of the meeting's purpose - as a demonstration that the interrupter is so excited about the topic of discussion or with the idea that they want to present that they can't contain it. I'll take that interruption any day. It certainly is better than the opposite: no reaction from anyone or universal agreement with everything just to get the meeting over. Everyone in a meeting is an adult and in a business situation. It is embarrassing to call attention to the interruption because you are essentially reminding a participant in front of their peers that they have exhibited bad behavior in the meeting, a social faux pa. I have always considered a valid interruption – one that is on point rather than one which is off topic or disruptive of the meeting’s purpose – as a demonstration that the interrupter is so excited about the topic of discussion or with the idea that they want to present that they can’t contain it. I’ll take that interruption any day. It certainly is better than the opposite: no reaction from anyone or universal agreement with everything just to get the meeting over.

]]> By: Laura Brandau http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-interrupt-someone-in-a-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-3626 Laura Brandau Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:13:44 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=1777#comment-3626 Hi Caroline, Thanks for your comment and ideas! I like the Talky Bear. That keeps things fun and light while also focused on productive meetings. Laura Hi Caroline,

Thanks for your comment and ideas! I like the Talky Bear. That keeps things fun and light while also focused on productive meetings.

Laura

]]> By: Caroline http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-interrupt-someone-in-a-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-3577 Caroline Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:32:04 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=1777#comment-3577 Hi Laura, I've found most people don't mind the interruption if done as nicely as you and Doug suggest and I've found that the techniques you describe above work very well for me too. However, when a person is dominating the meeting with their agenda aka the sales executive they are likely to resent the interruption no matter how nicely made. So I've tried the following technique - I make a comment on the person' s last point and in the same breath I ask one of the other stakeholders how they would like to address the next topic of the meeting. This usually stops the flow because the dominating person has to think for a minute - what is she talking about? She agreed with me but now I'm not quite sure? Usually that moment of confusion is enough for the other meeting participants to breathe a sigh of relief and they are ready to jump into the next topic to push the meeting forward. Its a little awkward, but in some situations I've found it a non-confrontational way to get things going again. I would follow up with the person after the meeting, ask them what their issue was and then reiterate the meeting rules. On one team I worked on there was very good rapport within the team but our lead SME (who was very nice) tended to take over the meetings by bringing up related issues that we were getting to in another session. We rarely got through our meeting agendas as a result. So I bought a small stuffed bear whom we christened "Talky" and only the person who held Talky could talk. This helped no end. Talky left messages for people thanking them for their input and he brought coffee to our meetings, so he was a well loved bear! Hi Laura,

I’ve found most people don’t mind the interruption if done as nicely as you and Doug suggest and I’ve found that the techniques you describe above work very well for me too. However, when a person is dominating the meeting with their agenda aka the sales executive they are likely to resent the interruption no matter how nicely made. So I’ve tried the following technique – I make a comment on the person’ s last point and in the same breath I ask one of the other stakeholders how they would like to address the next topic of the meeting. This usually stops the flow because the dominating person has to think for a minute – what is she talking about? She agreed with me but now I’m not quite sure? Usually that moment of confusion is enough for the other meeting participants to breathe a sigh of relief and they are ready to jump into the next topic to push the meeting forward. Its a little awkward, but in some situations I’ve found it a non-confrontational way to get things going again. I would follow up with the person after the meeting, ask them what their issue was and then reiterate the meeting rules.

On one team I worked on there was very good rapport within the team but our lead SME (who was very nice) tended to take over the meetings by bringing up related issues that we were getting to in another session. We rarely got through our meeting agendas as a result. So I bought a small stuffed bear whom we christened “Talky” and only the person who held Talky could talk. This helped no end. Talky left messages for people thanking them for their input and he brought coffee to our meetings, so he was a well loved bear!

]]> By: Laura Brandau http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-interrupt-someone-in-a-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-3555 Laura Brandau Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:45:25 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=1777#comment-3555 Doug. That's a great two cents. I like your approach and will have to try that out in my next long-winded discussion! Doug. That’s a great two cents. I like your approach and will have to try that out in my next long-winded discussion!

]]> By: DougGtheBA http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/how-to-interrupt-someone-in-a-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-3549 DougGtheBA Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:03:13 +0000 http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/?p=1777#comment-3549 When interrupting speakers, no matter the type, I try to combine four things. 1. Humility 2. A reason for the interruption 3. An out for the speaker 4. An apology for the interruption. It typically goes something like this..."Excuse me for the interruption, and I apologize now if you were on your way to getting to this, but I'm having some trouble understanding [blah blah blah]. Can you elaborate a little?" There are of course several variations of this, but basically this approach shows respect for the speaker, gives a subtle red flag if he or she HAS strayed from the point OR shows he or she that the audience is drifting, and shows that I am no better than anyone else and need some help understanding the message. It also allows me to gently, yet assertively, get what I need from the speech sooner. This is important, because my question might have a context that is important to understand in order to get the most out of the rest of the speech. Waiting until the end destroys the ability to acquire context, and therefore might affect the ability for me to retain important knowledge. My two cents When interrupting speakers, no matter the type, I try to combine four things.
1. Humility
2. A reason for the interruption
3. An out for the speaker
4. An apology for the interruption.

It typically goes something like this…”Excuse me for the interruption, and I apologize now if you were on your way to getting to this, but I’m having some trouble understanding [blah blah blah]. Can you elaborate a little?”
There are of course several variations of this, but basically this approach shows respect for the speaker, gives a subtle red flag if he or she HAS strayed from the point OR shows he or she that the audience is drifting, and shows that I am no better than anyone else and need some help understanding the message.

It also allows me to gently, yet assertively, get what I need from the speech sooner. This is important, because my question might have a context that is important to understand in order to get the most out of the rest of the speech. Waiting until the end destroys the ability to acquire context, and therefore might affect the ability for me to retain important knowledge.

My two cents

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