Handling Interruptions During Business Discussions

Interruptions will inevitably be part of your international business calls, and many non-native speakers respond by either trailing off or speaking more loudly to override the interruption. Both ways cause a break in the flow of information and decrease overall fluency. You need to learn to recognize an interruption with a gracious word or two but also to retain enough space to complete your thoughts. A short, calm statement like “Just a minute” or “Let me finish this thought and then you can go” shows the interruptor that you respect them but also maintains the floor for yourself.

What’s more important than the words you choose is your tone and volume. Say your words calmly and evenly so the interruptor does not perceive you as being defensive. I’ve seen many non-native speakers err on the side of excessive apologies in this situation, and this essentially gives the interruptor the upper hand. Repeatedly saying, “Sorry, sorry, please go ahead” creates a pattern of submission that will be difficult to change within the conversation. To avoid this pitfall, decide on one neutral phrase that you will use to address interruptions, and commit it to memory.

When you are interrupted, pause for a moment, say your phrase once, and continue on with your original thought without rushing or adding explanation. This helps to maintain fluency and sets a precedent for others about how you will handle interruptions. After you have resumed your thoughts, use a quick link-back to remind others of what you were saying and avoid fragmentation. You could say something like, “As I was saying about the ship date…” or “To continue my thoughts about the price…” If you experience chronic interruptions from the same participant, make a mental note of this during the call but address it in a private follow up e-mail rather than confronting the issue during the meeting.

This maintains a level of professionalism during the call and also gives you time to consider how you would like to address it in the future. I recommend practicing this pattern for 10-15 minutes at a time, during a relatively quiet part of your day when you can easily concentrate. Choose a recent meeting where you were interrupted or imagine a scenario that is typical of your meetings. Audio record yourself making a complete thought that requires about 30 seconds. Then play back the recording until about halfway through. Pause it and simulate an interrupting comment by speaking over the top of your recorded voice for a second or two.

Then quickly resume your original thought by using your acknowledgement phrase and then continuing with your thought. Listen to the full sequence once to evaluate your pause, your tone consistency, and whether the transition back sounds smooth. Repeat the exercise four times, varying the placement of the interruption and/or the acknowledgement phrase so you begin to develop some flexibility in your responses. Please try to come back to this specific exercise on a regular basis. Successfully navigating an interruption is one of the ways to turn a potentially strained situation into an opportunity to showcase professionalism and authority.

And if the first interruption in a real meeting still catches you off guard, don’t worry. Simply fall back to your reliable acknowledgement phrase and immediate link-back to regain your footing until your confidence returns. With time and practice, these recoveries will become automatic, and you will find that interruptions actually become opportunities to reinforce rather than diminish your authority in an English discussion.