# Cut Interruptions With Clear Team Rules

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/communication-rules-that-cut-interruptions · Last updated 24 October 2026

Search-First Communication Rules are a one-page rule set Ivanka Menken builds with you inside Letting-Go Mentoring, the 6-month 1:1 program at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. If your team brings you every small problem, you have no shared rule for what counts as urgent. You write three lanes: what interrupts you now, what waits for the next email check, and what goes to a scheduled conversation. Before anyone asks, the team searches first, then asks a coworker, then escalates to you.

## Search-First Communication Rules

Search-First Communication Rules put a gate in front of every request: search, ask a coworker, then escalate, and every request that still reaches you lands in one of three written lanes.

## Three signs the rule is missing

- Your team brings you every small problem.
- You cannot get through a day without interruptions.
- You have no clear rule for what counts as urgent.

## How Search-First Communication Rules are built

Search-First Communication Rules turn the requests that reach you into three written lanes and one step the team tries before asking.

1. Start with the interruption log: who asks what, when, and what could have waited
2. Sort every request into three lanes: interrupt you now, wait for the next email check, or book a scheduled conversation
3. Write the search-first step: try to answer it, ask a coworker, then escalate to you
4. Rehearse the rule on last week's real requests, and name what you will stop answering

## One fortnight, one rule installed

The rule set is built in a mentoring session and tested for a fortnight, so the team sees the founder hold the line.

1. The interruption log: You bring the last week of requests: who asked, when, and what could have waited.
2. The three lanes: Each request is sorted into interrupt now, email by the next check, or a scheduled conversation.
3. The search-first step: You write where the team searches first, how long they try, who they ask next, and when it reaches you.
4. The written commitment: One page, in plain language, rehearsed on real examples, and the founder names what they will stop answering.

At the next session Ivanka Menken reads the interruption log with you, checks which lane each request used, and commitments kept on the monthly scorecard shows whether the team held the rule without you in every loop.

## Questions about Search-First Communication Rules

### What counts as an emergency?

An emergency is the short list you write with Ivanka Menken inside Letting-Go Mentoring. It is usually a safety issue, a live client outage, a payment that cannot wait until the next check, or a decision that loses money by tomorrow. Everything else waits for the next email check or a scheduled conversation. The list is one page in plain language, reviewed across the 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### How do we get the team to search first?

You write the step into the rule set and rehearse it on real requests. In Letting-Go Mentoring, Ivanka Menken has you name where the team searches, how long they try before asking a coworker, and who they escalate to after that. You choose the search window; Ivanka does not set it for you. The rule is reviewed each fortnight across the 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### What if a client request does not fit the rules?

Then it becomes an exception you review, not a reason to abandon the rule set. Ivanka Menken asks you to log it in Letting-Go Mentoring: what the client asked, which lane you used, and whether the rule needs another line. A repeated exception is a missing rule, so you rewrite it in the next session across the 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### How long before interruptions drop?

There is no promised number. In Letting-Go Mentoring you keep the interruption log from the first week, so you can see the count and what changed instead of guessing. Ivanka Menken reviews it with you each fortnight, and commitments kept on the monthly scorecard shows whether the team held the rule. The program runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

## What you leave with

- A one-page communication rule set the team can use without the founder in every loop.

## Start

Email ivanka@ivankamenken.com with the interruptions you want to stop.

- Part of Letting-Go Mentoring: https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring
- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka