Leading Introverts
This weekend we were catching up on reading the news and came across this article in The Washington Post: Meet the introverts who are dreading a return to normal by Roxanne Roberts.
In this piece, John Hackston, head of thought leadership at the Myers-Briggs Company, “not only describes himself as an introvert but studies personality types to create better fits for employers and employees. He says that before the pandemic, introverts were expected to adapt to an extroverted world: Speak up at meetings, adapt to the culture of the workplace, be team players.”
He goes on to say “all cultures, but Western culture in particular, encourages what you might call stereotypically extroverted style of behavior. Rightly or wrongly, introverts had to find ways to adapt. A lot of that mental load was taken away when the pandemic hit.”
Are you thinking about your own organization now, envisioning your team members who have thrived at home, wondering what was the key that cracked the code? It could be that you had introverts working in a culture that didn’t set them up to thrive.
Hackston goes on to share that “remote work is already a bargaining chip in job recruiting and negotiations. And job crafting — the idea that you don’t have to do that job in the same way as somebody else to be effective — is gaining popularity.”
Has your organization done an assessment to study what has worked for your teams while working from home? Do you have a plan to re-open your office that considers overall culture, leadership models, teams, and individuals?
Hackston continued by saying “self-awareness is really key, not just for introverts but managers as well. We take the scales off people’s eyes so that they realize that there are people who are different from them in the world, and there might be better ways to communicate and better ways to manage. So if one of the things that the pandemic has done is to give some extroverts insight into some aspects of what it’s like to be introverted, that probably is a good thing.”
It is critical to have a plan for your post-COVID office culture that plays to leadership, team, and individual strengths, grounded in data, understanding, and a commitment to making the shifts necessary for all the types of thriving you need to see. At Rise Above Strategies, we are known not just for coming in and doing the research and assessments, but digging into the findings and doing exactly this: moving the right people into the right roles, restructuring roles and teams to support the overall growth of individuals, teams, and the organization’s goals and bottom line.
Picture it with us: a group of healthy, fulfilled people working in relationship with one another toward a desired team goal. The culture we’ve built empowers them to listen to one another. People feel safe enough to talk through issues as they arise, so there is no baggage holding them back. Because everyone works together and has a voice that is valued, your organization becomes a well oiled machine, exceeding desired results and boosting your bottom line.
Let’s chat about how we can do this, for you. Write me chapek@riseabovestrategies.co to start a conversation. And read more on our case studies here and background here.