Why Introverts Are Misunderstood and Mismanaged in Workplaces?
Schools and businesses are best adapted to extrovert ideals who raise their hand and/or their voice concerns. Just like school, workplaces have made their environments perfect for extroverts with many meetings swaying towards assertive talkers who have ideas. A common perception is that loud individuals who contribute to conversations and social networks make great leaders which introverts do not possess. Today’s leaders will notice certain individuals will often contribute to conversations and others are happy to sit in the background listening. They may often find it difficult to get introverts to speak up and get their ideas/thoughts out via meetings. Introverts have their way of thinking, working, and expressing thoughts, which some leaders and colleagues misinterpret.
Are you an Introvert?
There are a few signs that may identify you as an introvert:
People Drain You
Feeling exhausted after a day of interacting with others such as company events or social events. You find yourself needing to retreat to a quiet place and have an extended amount of time all to yourself.
Solitude
You enjoy a quiet afternoon to yourself to explore your hobbies and interest.
Quiet and Reserved
Introverts are quiet and often mislabelled as shy. Introverts simply prefer to choose their words carefully and not waste time or energy on needless chitchat.
Too Much Stimulation Leaves You Feeling Distracted and Unfocused
When spending time in activities or environments that are very hectic, they will find themselves unfocused and overwhelmed. Introverts will prefer a quieter and less harried setting.
How to Manage Introverts?
Leaders in today’s workspace will find it difficult to get their introverted employees to voice their ideas within an open meeting even though they know they have great ideas. There are ways to help introverts voice their ideas and work to their traits.
Give Them Time to Think, Plan, and Prepare
Give introverts time to think and gather their thoughts. Before a meeting be sure to give a clear agenda so they can prepare and present their ideas well. Even with emergency meetings, bring the best out of your introverts by giving them enough time to think after. Ask for feedback an hour or a day after the meeting.
Respect Space
Introverts may find open-space office challenging so give introvert employees a quiet space to retreat before jumping right back into busywork. Even though teamwork is essential in business, introverts thrive best when they work independently so allow them to work without constant interruption that can be detrimental to anyone’s creative process.
Take Advantage of Virtual Communication
You can get ideas out of introverts if you use other forms of virtual communication that are a godsend to introverts. Writing out a response rather than answering right away gives introverts more time and freedom to structure answers and express ideas more clearly.
Become Their Voice When Necessary
Introverts are not big on self-promotion. They prefer their work to speak for themselves. You can become an advocate for your introverted employees by giving them time and the opportunity to speak and present their ideas without anyone cutting them off. When recruiting or hiring do not let social norms such as ‘charismatic’ and ‘outgoing’ prevent you from seriously considering quiet candidates. As introverts do not like being the centre of attention you can recognise and reward them for their efforts and contributions without making them point them out to you.
Why Introverts Make Great Leaders?
Many company leaders often feel that introverts do not make great leaders due to them being quiet and working in solitude, however, this misconception has allowed companies to let great leaders escape. Introverts do make great leaders, here are 5 reasons why:
They Are Calm
By nature, introverts are calm and collected. Extroverts tend to get more visibly emotional and upset in critical situations and therefore tend to raise their voice at the problem. Introverts do a great job at maintaining their composure. When catastrophe strikes, introvert leaders can hold it together. Introverts make great problem solvers as they thrive on working on a singular problem at a time.
They Are Great Listeners
Introverts are naturally very observant and thoughtful, they also make great listeners. Great leaders do not just talk but they listen to their employees, consumers, and anyone else around them. They will consider ideas and listen when the person in front is upset about something.
They Crave Meaningful Conversations
Introverts tire easily of small talk, however, they thrive on more in-depth and deep conversations. This emphasises the importance of listening, introverts also like to put their energy into deep meaningful conversations that focus on one topic.
My Own Experiences
Being an introvert all my life I have been a quiet individual, which family, friends, teachers, and colleagues have identified and highlighted.
Throughout my education at every parent’s teacher meeting or school report, I would get the comment ‘James is a great student but he just needs to put his hand up more and ask questions in classes’. However, some students would get comments that they are disruptive to other students’ learning by being loud. Taking in mind the average number of students in classes is around 30 pupils, raising ideas or questions was something I was never comfortable with doing. Upon research and looking back, the education system thrived on more extroverted students through group work and simple processes such as raising your hand to ask questions. In the infant years of education, I had several one to one sessions with a teacher and that enabled me to interact and ask questions. One to one sessions have allowed me to have in-depth conversations, raise concerns, or help others generate ideas.
A teacher made the whole class write a paragraph about a topic and then asked everyone to read their paragraph out. Individuals raising their hands determined who went next therefore I waited patiently for my turn. I was the only one left and then proceeded to read my paragraph. The teacher provided feedback and saying in frustration ‘why I didn’t speak first as I had a well thought out argument considering both sides.’ From my point of view was that it is respectful to allow everyone to read their arguments out and listen to their thoughts, which were taught in the early years of education. This memory has shown me the lack of understanding of different personality traits and how to best encourage introverted students to be more vocal and improve their confidence in public speaking.
In virtual meetings, I found it hard to participate in-group meetings as more assertive speakers dominated the meeting and when I tried to find a perfect time to add a point; the subject/topic changed suddenly. This was even worst with last-minute, out of the blue meetings as they don’t provide a great platform to have an in-depth thought process as they tend to sway towards making a quick decision that may not be well thought out or consider all avenues.
From my experience, schools and workplaces are built through no thought of their own for more vocal assertive speakers while introverts are increasingly forced to go against their grain to become more extroverts. The conception of ‘what you don’t ask, you don’t get’ doesn’t apply to introverts as they prefer to work in the background and not be in the centre of attention. They prefer to listen and gain everyone’s thoughts before deciding on their views.
Summary
There is a huge misconception about introverts and their traits. In every business, both introverts and extroverts are needed to bring out the best in the company. While it may feel you find it difficult to get your introverted employees to voice their ideas, you may need to consider what are you doing to provide opportunities to do so in a loud environment. Opportunities such as one to one conversations may benefit your relationship with them and your company at the same time. Being an introvert does not mean they will not excel in public speaking or will not raise ideas, they require a different approach to bring their thoughts to the surface. Introverts are misunderstood individuals in the loud and chaotic world we live in. Schools and businesses will benefit a lot more if they understand how to best bring out the introvert qualities. Individuals such as creative artists who require a quiet place for them to do their creative processes. Do watch the video below by Susan Cain on The Power of Introverts, she makes some observations and can help bring introverts into the open.
Famous Introverts
Many introverts in their workplace work prefer work to work in solitude and behind the scenes rather than in the limelight. You may think that because of this attitude, famous individuals must be extroverts to get where they are. Many successful individuals you may know are introverts and have gone to achieve many great things; here are a few successfully introverts:
Albert Einstein – Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 and best remembered for developing the theory of relativity
Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft
Elon Musk – Founder of Paypal, Space X and Tesla
Steve Wozniak – Co-Founder of Apple
Michael Jordan – One of the Greatest Basketball Players
Meryl Streep – Three-Time Academy Award Winner
Mahatma Gandhi – Led India to Independence
Barack Obama – American President (2009 – 2017)
Rosa Parks - Mother of the Civil Rights Movement
Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady to United States of America Presidents
Video - The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
A must watch to fully understand introverts and what they are capable of it. Being an introvert, I can relate to most of the points raised by Susan Cain.