Managers interrupt more often and why it's not bad listening

With over 33,000 people responding to the listening quiz, we can discover some fascinating insights into how people notice what they struggle with when it comes to their listening at work.

The most significant variation between people who responded as managers versus the non-manager population was about Interruption and why managers do it significantly more than others.

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They used a variety of language to explain Interruption; some examples include;

When you dig deeper, Interruption is about productivity and time savings from the manager’s point of view. The paradox is that their Interruption slows down the discussion and the other person rather than speeding it up.

If the manager asked any of these questions, it would speed up the conversation.

1. “What would make this a good conversation?” or
2. “How long have you been thinking about this?” or
3. “What else have you explored?”

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A word of caution – Not all interrupting is the same, and neither is poor or unproductive listening when done well.

Here are some additional resources to help you understand the difference between productive and unproductive Interruptions.

1. How to elegantly, professionally, and skilfully interrupt a conversation
2. The best time to interrupt and how
3. How to effectively interrupt a monologue when listening?
4. The surprising importance of impatience and great listening with David Clutterbuck 4 minutes. This excerpt is from the 42-minute discussion – on the Deep Listening Podcast Episode 075

If you want to join our course about “how to listen” in the workplace and discover how to use these evidence-based tips, techniques, and practices, add the word course to the comments below.

Sushant (Sonny) Sethi , Debbie Wine , Elizabeth Geor , Mark Klose Kim Jeanneret GAICD CPA , Alena Bennett Silke Barlow Carly Chant Lisa May GAICD Jo Hands, CA, MAICD 张思齐 Edith Pfister Tim Ebbeck Caroline Rawlinson