The value of introverts in the workplace

Posted by Anne Hamill

Here’s an interesting question – is your working environment set up to benefit introverts or extroverts? If it’s like the majority of office spaces, you may find it’s giving a great platform to your extroverted employees but actually hindering your introverted employees.

But before we look at the problem in more detail, here’s a quick look at the difference you’ll notice between the introverted and extroverted personalities in the office –

Extroverted employees like to think out loud – they develop their best ideas when talking to other people. They thrive on external stimulus (such as background chat or the radio), and they recover their energy and recharge through social activities.

On the other hand, your introverted employees are the ones who like to think before they talk. They prefer quiet environments which enable them to “go inside their heads”, find noise distracting so require less or no background noise to do their best work. They recharge by reducing their level of stimulation, seeking solo activities such as reading or going for a walk, or the company of just one other person.

When you take a moment to consider, you’ll see the two personality types need different things from their work environment. And there are a number of “standard” workplace practices which are preventing your introverted employees form reaching their potential. Examples include –

Open plan office environments. Open plan environments are great for maximizing the use of your available floor space, but offers a distracting and energy sapping environment for introverts. Cubicals helpto remove visual stimuli, but noise is still a problems for introverts trying to think.
Brain-storming in meetings. Raising a subject at team meetings, and ask for ideas and opinions will result in extraverts dominating the discussion, while introverts doodle on a pad desperately trying to ignore the rush of voices and focus on working out their own thoughts.
Assessment or development centres. By their nature assessment centres favour ‘hares’ – fast moving, quick to speak personality types. In all group work, introverts may spend more time listening and thinking, and have less air time to share their considered views. They can get lower leadership scores or be seen as less decisive.

As you can see, life in a traditional office can be tough for an introvert. But there are simple steps you can take to give them the environment and structure they need. If you want to trial a few ideas to level the playing field, consider the following.

Circulate discussion items before meetings. Your introverted employees will welcome the chance to consider their answers before the session and will take a full part in the meeting. Incidentally, you may notice your extroverted employees don’t do the pre-reading and carry on as normal!
Provide quiet zones. Think about where you can create protected “quiet space” where introverts can shut themselves off from the rest of the office when they need to think or focus their attention. Sometimes, even a small thing like an indicator can help – one part of Dell issued ‘thinking caps’ – baseball caps to wear when you are thinking and don’t want to be interrupted.
Provide a pause for reflection. When you raise a topic in a meeting and ask for feedback, state the topic and ask team members to think for a minute about what their views on the topic are. This pause gives introverts time to formulate their ideas. Then, to avoid extroverts jumping in immediately and unintentionally dominating the session, ask for responses in a round-robin around the room.
Recognise the energy drain of social events. Whether it’s Christmas Parties, drinks at the end of a long day, or socialising on training courses – lively (and typically bar focused) socialising is a drain for introverts. Watch out on ‘away days’ and residential training courses, that you don’t create an expectation that every spare moment is spent socialising. Create at least a couple of hours each day for quiet time, to let your introverts recharge.

Take Away
Introverts are an important part of any organisation. You should make sure you take steps to recognise the differences between your introverted and extroverted staff, and where you need to diversify to get the best from both types. What can you do to give both the right conditions to deliver their best work?

And as a last thought, here’s a great TED talk by Susan Cain on The Power of Introverts which you may want to share with your team to start debate!