The Middle of My Sentence
Have you ever earned one of these cards by “butting in” ?
Let’s pretend that you had 25 of these cards and it was your job to hand one out to everyone you observed doing it.
How long would it take you to hand out all 25?
Kirk Out
January 25th, 2012 at 8:58 am
Not very long, sadly, it is one of my pet peeves, although I have caught myself doing it a few times. Learning by observation I guess!
January 25th, 2012 at 9:07 am
I may start printing these cards. Whatever happened to listening, reflecting and then responding.
January 25th, 2012 at 9:19 am
Hahahaha. Timing is everything - in this case literally! I don’t typically do this, but this very week in a meeting I accidentally did interrupt someone who was just taking a long breath, and felt sooo bad about it. I apologized on the spot and followed up with the person I interrupted immediately after the meeting to make sure he knew I was sincere in asking for his forgiveness and letting him know I respect him too much to intentionally do something like that.
January 25th, 2012 at 9:20 am
Here’s a little trick I learned a few years back that usually allows you to finish and also teaches people that they are interrupting. It’s very hard to do because as soon as someone interrupts what do, stop talking right. So train yourself to keep talking, stay the course. It might seem rude, no worse than their interruption, and usually the person interrupting realizes their mistake and stops.
January 25th, 2012 at 11:49 am
Wow Kirk, you don’t realize how on time this T4D is! I was just in my bosses office asking him how he would handle this kind of situation (he’s usually pretty good at conflict resolution). I was thinking of addressing this issue with one of my team members by first saying that I do it as well.
I have been told by my loving partner that it is totally annoying when I interrupt him in the middle of a sentence. So since he was so kind and patient with me, I thought I’d do the same with my team member. Once I was made aware of this and recognized it myself, I made and am still making attempts to not interrupt a person when in the middle of a sentence. It takes a lot of practice and awareness!
I’ve tried what Keith says to do many times but this person happens to continue to talk right over me like I’m not talking so that hasn’t worked in my case. You would think that person would realize it’s rude but it’s like she doesn’t even hear me and I have a pretty strong voice.
So, I’m here in this discussion to ask you and everyone what is the best and most considerate way to handle this situation?
January 25th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Maybe a better question to ask: If others were handing out these cards, how long would it take me to be given 25?
January 25th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Good morning Kirk!
Hope this email finds you and your family well. I had to reply to today’s T4D because as you know I am continuing my Master’s degree and have a specialization in Leadership. My current course is “Developing Bench Strength” and lies heavily on coaching. I had to share today’s T4D with my Professor too. We are teamed up with a coaching partner and listening is a big part of coaching and it is tough to resist the urge to jump in during the middle of a sentence.
I became a member of the HDI board last year and have enjoyed getting to know everyone. What a great group of people! I’m hoping to see you at Lexis Nexis next month but have family in town from NY so may have to stay home and keep them entertained.
Have a great day!
Best regards,
Susan
January 26th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Ha! Isn’t this a very common occurance?! I need some of those cards to carry in my pocket. I would hand them out all day.