The Interrupt Diagnostic™ is a structured organizational discovery tool based on The Interrupt Framework™. Its purpose is to help organizational leaders identify where a recurring performance interruption may warrant deeper exploration before determining the appropriate solution.
This tool does not assume every performance challenge is behavioral. Potential contributing factors may include:
Unclear expectations
Communication breakdowns
Leadership practices
Skill or knowledge gaps
Processes or systems
Competing priorities
Behavioral patterns
Accountability or reinforcement
A combination of factors
The diagnostic does not independently determine the cause of an organizational performance issue.
Before You Begin
The Interrupt Diagnostic™ examines five dimensions aligned with The Interrupt Framework™:
Are the desired result, responsibilities, priorities, and expectations clear?
1. People on our team clearly understand what successful performance looks like.
2. Roles, responsibilities, and expectations are consistently communicated.
3. Team members understand who owns what and what follow-through is expected.
4. Leaders and employees generally have the same understanding of priorities and desired outcomes.
DISCOVER
Reality
Do we understand what’s actually happening?
5. Leaders have an accurate understanding of where communication and follow-through break down.
6. Employees have appropriate opportunities to identify barriers affecting their ability to perform effectively.
7. Recurring problems are examined rather than treated solely as isolated incidents.
8. We gather enough information to distinguish what we assume is happening from what employees are actually experiencing.
DIAGNOSE
Drivers
Do we understand what may be contributing to the recurring challenge?
9. When the same problem continues, we examine what may be contributing to it rather than focusing only on the visible behavior.
10. We distinguish among skill gaps, unclear expectations, leadership practices, process or system issues, competing priorities, and recurring behavioral patterns before deciding on a solution.
11. Leaders look for patterns across recurring performance issues rather than immediately attributing them to individual motivation or attitude.
12. We have a clear understanding of the factors contributing to our most persistent communication, accountability, or follow-through challenges.
DISRUPT
Response
Can leaders and teams recognize and change ineffective responses?
13. Leaders and team members can recognize recurring behaviors or practices that interfere with effective communication or follow-through.
14. Leaders address recurring problems before they escalate or become normalized.
15. People have practical strategies for responding differently when familiar workplace challenges occur.
16. Our team can adjust ineffective approaches rather than repeatedly responding to the same situation in the same way.
DEVELOP
Reinforcement
Are desired behaviors and practices consistently reinforced?
17. Leaders consistently reinforce the behaviors and expectations they want repeated.
18. Accountability continues after training, meetings, or performance conversations.
19. Progress on agreed-upon actions is reviewed consistently.
20. When a new approach works, practices exist to help reinforce it as part of how the team operates.
DEEPER DISCOVERY
A Few Open Questions
Optional, but helpful context for a discovery conversation.
LAST STEP
See Your Interrupt Profile
Enter your information to view your results.
Your Interrupt Profile
Diagnosis Before Prescription
Your Interrupt Profile is a starting point—not a final diagnosis.
The Interrupt Framework™ provides a five-phase process for exploring what may be interrupting the desired result:
DEFINE — What result are we trying to create?
DISCOVER — What’s actually happening?
DIAGNOSE — What’s contributing to the gap?
DISRUPT — What needs to change?
DEVELOP — What needs to be reinforced moving forward?
The goal isn’t to prescribe another solution before understanding the problem.
Let’s Look Deeper.
Your results identify an area that may warrant further exploration. A discovery conversation provides an opportunity to discuss what you’re experiencing, what you’ve already tried, and whether The Interrupt Framework™ is appropriate for the challenge.
The Interrupt Diagnostic™ is a structured organizational discovery tool intended to identify areas for further exploration. It is not a scientifically validated psychological or performance assessment and does not independently determine the cause of an organizational performance issue. Results should be considered alongside additional organizational context and discovery.
