Can you hear me now?

If you are an introvert, that is a compelling question.  If you are an extrovert – we know your answer (or you will tell us).   We were honored to have Susan Cain (Author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts.) join us in a company-wide presentation sponsored by our Next Gen Forward employee resource group – focusing on the millennial workforce while encouraging cross-generational collaboration. Susan shared her thoughts on how organizations can “leverage all leadership styles to maximize the team’s full potential.”  For me, as an ambivert, having a balance of extrovert and introvert, leaning more toward the extrovert side – it was a very eye opening discussion and truly caused me to rethink: how our function communicates, how we operate together and how our work environment is physically set up. 

As Ben Dattner, of Dattner Consulting, and author of The Blame Game—a book on how organizations can harness the strengths of their introverted employees stated,  “The fantastic success of Susan Cain’s Quiet demonstrates that she has tapped into something very important in our culture and our society at this moment in history.  Inevitably, corporations and many other kinds of organizations will realize the implications of Susan Cain’s work for their practices and cultures. Here are some very preliminary suggestions of what organizations might do to better ‘hear’ introverts who may be ‘quiet’ but still have tremendous value that they bring to the workplace each day:

– Examine ‘competency models’ and performance appraisal systems criteria to ascertain whether there is a bias towards evaluating and rewarding extroverted behaviors over introverted behaviors.

– Write comprehensive job descriptions that inform people how much interaction, networking, collaboration, and advocacy is required in positions before candidates take the jobs. This will enable introverts to self-select out of jobs that they might not thrive in. ‘Realistic job previews’ in general are very useful.

– Utilize feedback mechanisms, such as online surveys or other kinds of anonymous ‘suggestion’ boxes, wherein introverts can feel comfortable sharing feedback and suggestions that they might not feel comfortable sharing in a public forum.

– Employ ‘polling’ or similar strategies to solicit, and consider the perspectives of all members of the team or organization so everyone has a voice, even if they are reluctant to fight for attention in a public setting.

– Ask members of a team if they would like time on a meeting agenda in advance of the meeting so that more introverted team members can influence the agenda in advance without feeling like they have to be ‘the squeaky wheel’ in a meeting or to compete for airtime.

– Structure debates so that members of a team have an opportunity to argue ‘pro’ or ‘con’ of any given issue or strategy in sub teams. While an introvert may not feel comfortable soliciting support and loudly advocating a point of view, he or she might be comfortable participating in a discussion in a smaller team.

The above suggestions are meant to be a point of departure, and not a point of arrival. Corporations and other kinds of organizations, of any size and in the US and abroad, can benefit from thoughtful consideration of Susan’s book and how much it is resonates with so many people.”

I walked away from my two hours with Susan Cain with a greater appreciation for a “hidden” diversity issue within our work environments AND a more open mind toward the issues facing introverts (30-50% of your work force Susan stated) each and every day in corporate America. 

In her talk and her book, Susan argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and she explains how much we lose in doing so. She discusses the rise of the “Extrovert Ideal” throughout the last century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture.

In our session, Susan spoke about successful introverted CEOs and how they adapted to achieve success.  One of the CEOs noted was John Lilly, the former CEO of Mozilla, “…I started noticing my interactions in the hallway. I’m an engineer by background and a bit of an introvert naturally. When I walk between meetings, I think about things. A lot of times I’ll be looking down [at] my phone or looking down at the floor while I think things through. It’s sort of a natural engineer behavior, but it’s pretty off-putting if your CEO walks by you and doesn’t look up and notice you. And so I forced myself to do things that aren’t natural for me.”

So where does this lead us?  I have spent the last few weeks trying to better understand the life of an introvert (My wife and two of my three boys are introverts).   They, in addition to at least one out of three people in Corporate America prefer to avoid the limelight, they tend to listen more than they speak, I know they can often feel alone in large groups, and they (especially my wife) require private time to restore their energy. They're introverts who seem to always be adapting strategies for successfully living in an extrovert world.

As introverts, they are hardwired from birth to focus inward, so outside stimulation, idle chitchat, phone calls, parties, office meetings – all can easily become "too much."  Introverts come in different stripes. One of the most fundamental aspects of introversion, I learned, is being recharged by alone time (or sometimes one-on-one time with someone you're very close to).

Another fundamental aspect is often that your natural tendency is to want to digest information before responding back. For example, an extrovert might read a blog article and want to leave a comment straight away, whereas an introvert likely wants to go away and process – and may come back with the better answer to your challenge (which, btw, they often do).

There is nothing “wrong” with them – we (the collective non-introverts) need to recognize their inner strength: their analytical skills, their ability to think outside the box, and their strong powers of concentration. As leaders, who are inclusive, we need to better understand how to take advantage of the introvert's special qualities to create a life that's just right for the introvert temperament, to discover new ways to expand their energy reserves, and even how, when necessary, to confidently help them shine in and amongst a team of extroverts.

As leaders, this is another diversity issue on our teams.  And, as I discovered, a bigger issue than I was aware of.  To get the best from everyone and to be more inclusive, we need to understand introversion is a gift for our teams filled with extroverts.  Whether you are an introvert, extrovert or ambivert, we all need to be flexible and understanding of others.  Sometimes, this may feel like going straight against our very nature, and it contradicts everything we stand for, but as Susan stated, a “little social chameleon-ism can, in fact, bring us all greater benefits in the office”.  In order to do this, we don’t need to change who we are or betray our principles.  We just need to show different parts of our personality to different people so that we can better relate to them.

The easiest way to think about this is to engage with others about things you know they are interested in. And that is really what adaptability in action is.  Being an introvert in an extrovert-dominated world is still, by no means, easy.  Striving for a successful career in such an environment built and maintained by extroverts is even more challenging.

The good news?  Public opinions and awareness are changing.  Research reinforces that introverts generally perform better and are more reliable and creative than their extroverted counterparts.  

Read that line again. 

Research reinforces that introverts generally perform better and are more reliable and creative than their extroverted counterparts.  So… can we hear them now?

 Watch Susan Cain's Ted Talk on the Power of Introverts Here

 Together.  We.  Win.

Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr

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