Know Your Personality Styles to Better Manage Introverts
Managers, do you know enough about personality styles to recognize the introverts on your team? If not, you could be making some seriously counter-productive moves with your team.
Introverts need the right conditions to excel.
Avoiding the common misconceptions about introverts is the first step to creating the right environment for them to thrive.
The biggest myth about introverts is that they’re shy. In fact, it has nothing to do with shyness and everything to do with how they deal with input. You see, introverts like to carefully consider all their input before producing output. Another way to understand their personality styles is to think in terms of how soon they become over-stimulated…much sooner than extroverts!
Here’s how you can create the right conditions for the introverts on your team:
Tips for managing introverted personality styles.
- Allow introverts to approach teamwork on their own terms. Introverts aren’t against working on teams but they don’t contribute in the same fashion as extroverts. They prefer to mull things over before putting it all out there, so allowing more time for their contributions is a wise tactic for getting the most out of them and encouraging them towards teamwork.
- Keep the lines of communication open at all times. Introverts hold onto their thoughts more closely than others, so it’s important to offer a variety of options for them to communicate with you. Try emailing them with status update requests rather than putting them on the spot in the hallway. Alternatively, you can schedule a regular one-on-one to touch base.
- Keep praise private. Most people thrive on public recognition of their accomplishments but introverts shudder at the thought. They really don’t want all that attention so either give it in private or warn them ahead of time that you’re going to do something in public.
How to identify the introverts on your team.
Of course tips for managing introverts only go so far if you don’t know who to apply them to. Understanding personality styles is the first step in creating the right conditions for everyone to thrive, not just introverts.
Our DiSC® Personality Training workshops are great for managers who want to learn how to better manage everyone on their team. The workshops teach you how to analyze the way people communicate. Then you learn how to leverage that skill into better communication in general.
That translates into a management style that’s more effective because it draws in every team member for maximum output. In other words, knowing about personality styles makes you a better manager of introverts and a better manager all around.
