I recently read the following quote online from an ex-teacher, Carol Fertig, who wrote a blog on The Gifted Introvert:
"Many teachers (and parents) are extroverts. It is very difficult for an extrovert to understand an introvert. Therefore, an adult may see the introverted student as someone with a problem, not as simply someone with a different personality type. This may lead to attempts to get the young person to be “friendlier,” to work in large groups, to talk more often and more spontaneously, and to be more outgoing and interactive.
There is nothing wrong with being an introvert. It does not need to be cured. It simply needs to be understood and accepted."
There is nothing wrong with being an introvert. It does not need to be cured. It simply needs to be understood and accepted."
It made me think, does this apply to organizations as well? The workplace is dominated by extroverts (according to her sources extroverts outweigh introverts 3 to 1) and research will tell you that extroverts are more successful and make more money. Could it be that we simply don't understand and accept introverts? Even for an extrovert like myself, a recurring "developmental area" for me has always been to walk around and talk to people more. Make conversation, build relationships. Seems I wasn't extroverted enough.
Maybe we can learn from this teacher. There is nothing wrong with being an introvert (or in my case not as much of an extrovert as they wanted me to be). It does not need to be cured. It simply needs to be understood and accepted. Anyone up for a team workshop on personality?
2 comments:
I agree with the comments you posted above. Working well in organizations as well as with individuals includes understanding communication approaches. A large part of understanding that approach is what works well for them as well as what doesn't. Additionally, for introverts and extroverts, reinforcement and recognition systems will be different. This difference is certainly something to keep in mind when working closely with individuals or with teams. Great post!
Ah, a topic close to my heart. I'm one of those secret introverts who acts like an extravert at work (and I'm borderline). It can be exhausting sometimes and I really do appreciate when people understand that I may operate different than many others.
I do think it is becoming a lot more understood - one of the advantages of pop personality tests infiltrating the office. Just yesterday, after an 11 hour streak of conference calls, I had to tell my client I needed to "introvert" to process everything before giving her all my thoughts on what had transpired. I've turned it into a verb! She laughed and totally understood. And today I turned OFF my phone at 8 AM and am taking 4 hours straight free of both email and phone. Its like crack. :)
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