What Interruptions in Meetings Reveal About Your Culture

by Pamela Coleman

June 2026

A recent HBR study (June 2026) revealed an unexpected insight: interruptions during meetings signal something about an organization’s culture. Interruptions establish behavioral patterns that become entwined with culture because they shape the experiences of leaders and others.

The study noted that many leaders view culture as a communication strategy, but the authors found that day-to-day interactions among colleagues form patterns that recur across teams and from the top down within an organization. As these experiences accumulate, an organization’s culture becomes clear and ingrained, and the outcome may differ significantly from what leaders intend. In other words, these interruptions set a behavioral standard and tell their own cultural story.

Interviewers found that interruptions not only create an undesirable cultural experience but also often leave opinions and ideas unexamined. Interrupting behavior had two consequences: fostering a workplace culture of poor listening and weakening a team’s ability to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. These diminish teamwork.  

I once helped a CEO implement a meeting model with two prongs: candor and curiosity. The executive team, like many, was high-energy, and we often found ourselves mired in unproductive or contentious conversations. The team committed to the model, which prepared every member to be direct (candor) while also developing listening and questioning skills (curiosity). It took a couple of months for our behavior to fully shift, but as it did, the team grew more tolerant, listened more deeply, and adapted their practices to ask incisive questions. Overall, we were happier and more effective, and we cascaded our meeting standards to our teams. Candor and curiosity became cultural attributes that led to better outcomes and helped individuals grow.

When a cultural challenge arises, leaders must first revisit their understanding of culture. Once aligned, the team reviews its cultural framework to ensure it addresses questions of identity and how the organization operates. While culture is nurtured through communication campaigns, it is, first and foremost, an operating code that guides the organization toward success.

Meeting behavior is one aspect of how an organization operates. There are many others. Leaders would be well-served to identify the attributes that, when fully integrated into the organization's operations, foster a culture that helps the team function, resolve conflict, and retain talent.

Does your organization have a well-articulated cultural framework? Perhaps the cultural coherence model can help. Please email me at pamela@cultural-coherence.com for further discussion.