Be Your Own Cheerleader Video Tip: Deploy Your Interruption Shield
In this quick clip from Neelu’s LinkedIn Live with Kelly from Equipt Women, Neelu shares how to prepare for being interrupted in a meeting so you can take back control and continue to make your point.
Transcript
Kelly: Talking about an interruption shield, the method of your interruption shield. I think women would benefit because many of us feel that there are moments where maybe we've been talked over, we haven't been heard, or maybe it's too scary to speak up. So can you, can you share what your method is with the interruption shield?
Neelu: Yeah. These are pocket phrases that we just have in our back pocket. If you're getting interrupted, how do you jump back in the conversation? One of the shields I use is, “If I may?” and sometimes that sounds a little formal, right? You'd have to look at the organization you're in, but there are phrases like, “Hold on, I just have to get my thought in here,” or…
“Can we pause?”
“Can we hit reset?”
“I have something to share”
…whatever feels comfortable for you. The idea is that you have interruption shields that feel comfortable in your environment and you use them frequently so you just get more comfortable speaking up.
The more we practice, the easier it becomes. So when we have these catch phrases, um, and again, every environment is different, right? So if it sounds too formal, we'll figure out the language that works for you. But there's different phrases that we all use and we maybe just don't know that that's what it actually is. It's like sort of a shield to help us. It's like armor we wear to get us back into the conversation.
Kelly: Have you ever had it backfire?
Neelu: Have I ever had it backfire? Not really. I mean, the worst thing that can happen is they still keep moving on. But then ultimately you use those shields enough to where you get your point across.
Or, in the worst case scenario, if it doesn't happen in that live meeting, you send an email and say, these are my additional thoughts that I'd like to share. You make sure that your name is attached to those thoughts, those ideas, so other people don't take credit for your work.
