How To Deal With People Who Interrupt You

Are you constantly being interrupted in work meetings?

This is what you need to do in order to keep people focused on what you're saying and prevent being interrupted.

By simply framing the conversation like how I say it in this video, you'll find that people will respect you because now you've created rules of engagement.

Try this and let me know how it went!

[MissNandita]

My boss had a tactic where he would say anyone who is speaking to raise their pen. No one is supposed to interrupt while the pen is up because that means the person is not done talking. After the person is finished, the pen is passed to each member of the team to express their views or opinion. Sometimes the manager of the team would be asked to leave the room for last 10 minutes so the team members can more candidly express their views without being concerned about what the manager will think about what they had to say.

He also advised to have a diary with you so you can note down what you want to say in relation to what he was currently saying so you don't have to interrupt him now and don't have to worry about forgetting what you wanted to say.
It helps towards having a more efficient and cohesive conversation. Everybody feels heard and had a chance to express their idea or opinion in a respectful manner.

[syedahmedyoutube]

Just say, "shut up, man! Can't you see? I didn't finish yet", and continue talking. Works all the time.

[Dargonhuman]

This technique assumes the serial interrupter respects you enough to not interrupt the framing request. Which never happens with the interrupters I know.
My technique is to pause for a moment while they're talking, then go right back to what I was saying as if they never interjected. It does several things at once, subtly rejects whatever they said by ignoring it, gets me back on track to the original topic, and reminds them that I wasn't done talking.

[NotoriousWhistler]

Whenever someone jumps on something I say with a point while I'm talking I say "hey, if you liked the first half of that sentence, wait until you hear the rest!" works every time.

[dragonofspades]

That "maybe we should talk about this another time" portion is something I 100% need to use on my dad and step mom next time they won't let me speak for more than one sentence 😂😂

[nathanb]

I usually say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Go ahead.” They usually think for a moment, realize they just interrupted, and go silent.

[JinX]

"I"m so sorry for speaking while you were interrupting. No, really, please - go ahead."

[cita_m]

I was well into my adulthood before a coworker snarkely but effectively showed me that I interrupt people when they talk. I wondered how I could have had this issue without knowing it, and then realized that my mom was just the same way. When you do it so long and it's done to you, you really don't realize that you do it.

Sorry to everyone Ive ever talked to, because I've interrupted all of them dozens of times over.

[brandonfredenburg]

I carry a few blank index cards with me. If someone interrupts, I keep talking, walk to them, hand them a card, quickly tell them, "Write it down while I finish my turn, " and get back to my task. If someone else interrupts, I pull out a blank card and ask "Do you need a card also?" from where I'm standing. I've never needed to hand out a second card.

When I'm done, I reinforce manners by saying, "Thank you for waiting. Did you need me to clarify or correct something?"

Doing this shows
1. I care what they have to say.
2. I control interruptions quickly and respectfully.
3. They must wait their turn.
4. Others how to avoid the same treatment.
5. Others how to handle similar situations.

[Avelithe]

I tend to pause, let the interrupter talk while I just stare into their soul, and then I immediately jump back to what I was talking about without skipping a beat. It tends to work; they stop doing it after that.

[madamepaka]

A quick and firm "Hold up. Please, let me finish." should suffice.

[CallMeAlDente]

I just had a talk with my friends about them being late for my birthday dinner (not a rant or venting or anything) and using excuses instead of their reasons a couple of hours ago, and my friends mother tried to jump in and cut me off, and I merely motioned to her "in a moment" with my hand and it worked really well. They all listened and were respectful and it really helped clear things up and let me have a good birthday. Thanks Vihn!

[RGBReact]

This is perfect!!

It's not about controlling them even if they are ignoring your wishes. Rather, it's "clearly not a good time." Brilliant.

[edthelazyboy]

This only works for meetings if you are presenting. You can always asking people to hold questions till the end of the slide and ask people for questions before you move to the next slide.

In a casual conversion especialy a group conversion, no....
I can't use a timer to enforce a no interruption period. Most people will think you are weird and still interrupt.

[stevecarter]

I have a related pattern where you are facilitating a group and you leave a pregnant pause to cause the room to engage with the problem, but someone feels the discomfort of silence more strongly than the others and "solves" the problem, shutting down everyone else's potential solutions. Framing needs me to be more aware and more intentional as facilitator, but thanks for giving it a name and showing an example. I think this will help many of our scrum masters

[Tikolico]

"Would you kindly STFU for just a second?, I'm effing talking here!"... works like a charm.😂😂😂

[KekoKasane]

This is really good. Love that he gave an option for someone who won't stop interrupting. Boundaries are good. I love them.

[pedroferreira]

If it's a situation where i can walk away, that's what i do.
The person clearly doesn't respect me, and i don't feel the need to make them respect me.
Whenever i catch myself interrupting people, i cover my mouth with my hand, it defuses the situation by showing that i know I'm wrong and makes people laugh, which is always a plus.

[TheTibetyak]

Once I have determined I will be repeatedly interrupted, I acquiesce telling them, "You're absolutely right" and stop conversing altogether. If they continue to push it, I tell them my opinion has no value, it was wrong of me to engage in the topic and I agree with everything they said.
If it is a work setting, I just have to decide if the topic has a predetermined outcome. If so, I know the administrators have zero interest in our thoughts. They just want to say they asked for feedback.

[askvinh]

If you're new to my content check out my FREE 3 part series to kickstart your communication skills journey: gifts.vinhgiang.com/youtube