What happens when you interrupt

Most leaders interrupt without realizing they're doing it. Someone on your team is mid-thought, and you already see where they're going, so you finish the sentence for them or pivot to what you already know. It feels efficient. It feels like you're helping them get to the point faster. That's the story you tell yourself about the move.

The problem is that your team is reading the move differently. They learned something in that moment about what you actually value. They learned that your certainty matters more than their thinking. They learned that you're not curious about where they were going with this. They learned that being right is more important than being heard. It's a small gesture with enormous weight, and they feel every ounce of it even if they never name it out loud.

After enough of these moments, they start editing themselves before they even walk into the room with you. They bring the version of their thinking that matches what they already believe you believe. The safe version. The pre-approved version. Not the one where they're actually exploring something or working through a real problem. You end up with a team that tells you what you want to hear, and then you wonder why the big surprises keep catching you off guard. Leaders are often puzzled about why their teams stop bringing them hard problems. The answer is usually sitting right there in how they listen, or more accurately, in how they don't.

When was the last time you let someone finish their sentence completely, even when you already thought you knew the answer?