Self-Advocacy at Work: How to Avoid Being Talked Over
Self-advocacy at work is essential if you want to get the most out of your career. When you are frequently talked over, your self-esteem plummets, causing you to stop speaking up at all.
Rather than questioning your own worth, try the Interruption Shield technique.
Deploy your interruption shield!
An interruption shield is a prepared list of phrases that enable you to skip past interruptions and politely interject on others when you need to.
If you want to jump back into the conversation with ease, possible phrases could be:
“I’d like to circle back...”
“If I may just complete that thought...”
“I’d love to finish my thought before we move on...”
“Oh, really quick, I would like to finish my thought here...”
“Hold on, one sec, I want to finish my thought...”
“Just a sec, I’d like to finish my thought...”
“I’m excited to hear the next item, but I’d love to finish my thought here...”
“Hold on. Let me wrap this thought...”
“I’m not finished; may I continue...”
“One more thing...”
“Please allow me to finish...”
“If you don’t mind letting me finish, I’d love to hear what you have to say...”
If you need to interrupt someone else’s thought to get an important point across, some phrases could be:
“May I...”
“May I interject here...”
“If I may comment here..”
“Can we hit pause; I have a thought...” “Hold on, I need to jump in here...”
“Excuse me, I have a point to add...” “I must interject here...”
“One sec, I need to add something...” “I need to make a point here...”
“One thing we are missing is...” “Something else to consider...”
“Did we also consider...”
Choose the phrases that feel authentic to you. If you work in a formal environment, consider using more formal interruption shields. If you work in a more casual environment, find go-to phrases that are informal and comfortable for you to practice. Be mindful of your audience and find the phrase(s) that resonate with you. Practice makes progress. The more you practice, the easier it is to use interruption shields.
If you are interested in learning more about Interruption Shields, check out 'Be Your Own Cheerleader.' https://a.co/d/08uxcfGH
