The introverts on your team have a wealth of ideas that can move your organization forward. You just need to know how to best ask for them.
Episode Transcript:
Introverts can feel overwhelmed in freewheeling brainstorming sessions, but passing them over isn’t the answer. By finding the ideal way to engage the quieter members of your team, you’ll uncover a gold mine of well-thought-out and creative ideas. Here are four tips:
Give them specifics. Introverts like details—the more information, the better. They want to know as much as you can tell them about the problem, its roots or causes, and its impact on the business, as well as when and where you want them to share their ideas.
Give them time. As deep thinkers, the introverts on your team typically enjoy additional time to process and analyze a problem. If you have the luxury of giving them more time, always make sure to do it. If that’s not possible, ask them to follow up with their ideas a few days after instead, rather than putting them on the spot during a meeting.
Give them options. Check in with the introverts in your group and ask them individually how they prefer to communicate. By creating a psychologically safe workspace for the members of your team to share their ideas, you’ll likely see a big difference in your introverted team members’ eagerness to bring ideas to the table.
Finally, give them updates. Many workers with introverted tendencies may not follow up on their idea after they’ve shared it, simply because that’s outside of their comfort zone. However, following up with them on how their idea is moving forward or influencing other ideas will give them the confidence to continue sharing new ideas.
Header Photo by Ketut Subiyanto via Pexels.
