Can I Interrupt While You’re Interrupting

“Can I interrupt while you’re interrupting?” sounds ridiculous, but it captures something real about conversation in workplace teams.

Many teams treat interruption as though it is always the same thing. In my view it is not.

Some interruptions are unfair. They cut across, dominate, dismiss, derail, or seize control of the floor. Other interruptions are part of a fair interaction, where something important is revealed and the other person yields because the exchange is moving somewhere useful.

That is why simple interruption counts can mislead. Two people may speak over each other, but the behavioural meaning is not the same in every case.

Conversation is not a monologue competition. Nor is it just rigid turn-taking. A real conversation sits on the converse as an interaction. It allows fair movement across differences.

In soccer, not every challenge for the ball is a foul. Some are well timed and part of the game. Others involve clipping, barging, or careless contact. Conversation works much the same way, as long as one is playing the ball first and not the player.

The question is not merely, “Did someone interrupt?” The real question is, “Was it a fair challenge, or an unfair one?” And just as importantly, did the other person yield when a fair challenge was made or did they spit the dummy?

Ideally, this interaction process would be discussed and agreed to beforehand, so the team has a shared understanding of when a live challenge for the conversational ball is fair, and when yielding is appropriate.

That is where SpatzAI could be useful.

If one feels the challenge was unfair, dismissive, premature, or domineering, or, on the other hand, the other person unfairly refused to yield, Spatz gives team members a way to address unfair behaviour in real time rather than storing up resentment or lodging a complaint or incident later.

Psychological safety is not just freedom to speak. It is also a fair process for challenge, turn-taking, yielding, and repair.

In teams, free speech sometimes means speaking up.
And sometimes it means shutting up at the right moment.