Life is easier for extroverts. I have heard it before. As the mom of one extroverted son and one introverted son – I see it. I know about the innate strengths of an introvert. At the same time, I don’t want to ignore the innate challenges — especially around leadership.
Get out of your head!
My key piece of advice for introverts is to get out of your own head, literally. Introverts tend to process internally, and they think through everything very thoroughly in their brain before communicating outwardly. As a result, they don’t always communicate their thinking to the team.
Help people read you.
Introverts can also be difficult to read, which leaves extroverts and employees often uncertain and uncomfortable, questioning what you think and where they stand.
How to overcome.
Can you overcome this challenge and increase clear communication with your team, while still maintaining your preference to internally process and think deeply about things? Yes. Try providing your team with information in multiple ways. If your usual mode of communication is email, try and have conversations in-person as well. It’s better to over-communicate than to have unsure employees! Make your team feel like they’re in the loop; it’s okay to process by yourself, but make sure your team feels heard and verbally validated during meetings and decision-making times.
If you’re an introverted leader, providing information in multiple ways will let your employees know where you stand, increase their confidence, make them feel listened to, secure and part of a team – and that always makes productivity soar!