Should Interruptions Be Pardoned?
Why should you avoid interrupting as if your career depends on it?
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Strong communication skills: Employers all want them. Job seekers all claim to have them. Still there’s a gap. To chip away at the problem let’s explore one of the biggest sins of conversational communication: The interruption. Why is this potentially so offensive? And, why should you avoid it as if your success depends on it? more >>
Strong verbal communication skills are staple skill requirement for nearly every job posting and in turn, included on listed resumes. Employers all want them. Job seekers all claim to have them. There must be a gap. Let’s explore one of the biggest sins of conversational communication: The interruption. Why is this potentially so offensive and why should you avoid it as if your career depends on it?
SMART Leadership 
January 21, 2011 at 11:20 am
What a great thought. All sales people should learn how to use their mouth in proportion to their ears, 2 to 1.
January 21, 2011 at 11:31 am
Might the 80-20 rule apply for sales meetings?
January 21, 2011 at 11:35 am
Are you saying I interrupt and should work on my listening skills?
January 21, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Was it something you said? No. Based on other replies, we all have our opportunities to improve.
January 21, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Back in the day, I developed interrupting as a very bad habit when I worked with an office of men in the 80’s … and a woman had to be very aggressive to be heard. I found I only got to say anything if I started talking before they finished and cut off their final word or two. It has taken me a long time to get rid of this as a habit – and it still pops up once in a while.
But I’ve found that my ability to hear my clients is probably the more important than any other capability I bring to my work.
January 22, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I see the interruption reflex as a by-product of our multi-tasking, ADHD society. We feel that we have only so much time for everything, including casual conversation. We think in bullet points and always have them ready to rip. In listening to others, we seem to think that the shortest of pauses is our opportunity to extend or embellish the exchange. I distinguish that from blatant interruption which shows complete indifference and ignorance. Good listeners may not listen to everything, but they at least have courtesy to let the speaker finish. Sharp communicators gauge the conversational flow and know when to pause to accommodate the tendencies of others.
Fair to say that for most of us when our train of thought is rolling, we don’t want to have it derailed.
January 22, 2011 at 2:23 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by J.D. Gershbein, Tom Lemanski. Tom Lemanski said: RT @JDGershbein: Great blog post by my pal, Tom Lemanski on a nagging and prevalent communication issue http://tinyurl.com/48t5fwj http: … […]
January 22, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Thank you for the reminder on basic manners and politeness first introduced to us by our mothers and first grade teachers.
This has caused me to stop and think about the consequences of my interrupting others – miss communication, poor understanding, hurt feelings, friction, resentment, etc, etc. Thanks for the wake up call.