When you interrupt a convo

You interrupt because you’re excited. But your team feels it differently.

This may be difficult to hear, especially when you know that interrupting a conversation doesn’t come from a bad place.

I know this isn't easy to receive. But because I see how much you care about your team, I want to help you close the gap between your enthusiasm and their experience.

You may have thoughts that come in very non-linear ways that you’re afraid you’ll forget the thought.

You may be processing out loud, or genuinely excited and want to contribute.

None of that makes you disrespectful.
But your intention isn’t the whole story.

As you download your thoughts like popcorn from a machine, your team is trying to hold it all together:

They’re sorting which “popcorn” belong to which project.
They’re connecting them to earlier conversations.
They’re assessing if priorities have shifted.

AND, while they do that….

They’re also managing their confusion.
Wondering if they’re allowed to speak.
Holding onto their own lost thought.

They’re becoming fatigued.

Across an hour, that isn't just a meeting.
It’s a cognitive marathon!

By the time you’re ready to hear them, they’d probably rather you end the meeting than to hear them.

This is where the gap between intention and impact matters.

Your intention may be to engage, but the unintended impact may be that someone stops contributing.

Your enthusiasm may feel like collaboration to you, but it may feel like being talked over to someone else.

That doesn’t make it a character flaw, but it does make it your leadership responsibility.

So help your team help you.

🆗 Give them permission to respectfully name the interruption: “May I finish this bit?”

Firm. Calm. Not apologetic.

And have the courage to take it in without taking it personally.

↪️ Make conversational turn-taking explicit. Let them say: “I’ve finished. What do you think?” to signal that it’s your turn to speak.

And seriously, if it helps, use a physical object as an external cue - something that makes the handover visible.

⌛️Assign a timekeeper to call a ‘time-out’ in between - deliberate spaces for quick clarification, rather than waiting till you’ve finished your download.

📝 Give your own thoughts somewhere to go. A parking spot that reassures your brain: I won’t lose this.

I’m not asking you to fight your brain, or to slow down and tone down.

I’m inviting you to understand what your wiring does in relationship with other brains around you.

And to learn how to work with it - AND with these other brains compassionately for one, and all.

Compassion. Partnership. Relational impact.