Each company or organization sets up a Vocoli "instance" to generate surveys, to build a suggestion box, and to connect with the team.
Which one of these is you?
For many extroverts, going to a meeting where we can share our opinions is nearly as good as a holiday! We love to share ideas on anything from best practices for our business to best vacation spots. This can be terrific, but have you ever just taken a minute during a vibrant meeting to quietly look around and observe the group dynamic? Notice those quiet people who may be doing a lot of listening, taking notes or working on a project on their computer (you may be one of them)? Have you noticed the folks that do a lot of early listening and wait till the end of the meeting to chip in with an observation or suggestion? Yes, those folks are your introverts and, depending on which study you believe, they make up between 20 to 50% of your organization’s braintrust.
Further, as Susan Cain, author of Quiet, The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking, points out, you may be unknowingly be sitting next to an introvert, because, in a world that seems to listen more to the socially forward, and often boisterous voices, some introverts have strained to adapt to become more social in larger groups. However, even for a less obvious introvert, you may not be getting their strongest contribution in a loud, crowded setting, because studies show, that is not where they do their best work.
At this point, you should be asking yourself some key questions. Here are the two that immediately jump to mind for us:
As a leader, it’s your job to be sure the contributions of your introverts are heard and their ideas are valued and embraced. This is important for your organization because the kinds of ideas you may be missing from these deep thinkers could be transformational to your business. In fact, your future success may depend on their critical contributions. Also, beyond the valuable, individual ideas, suggestions and strategies you may be missing, if you fail to provide appropriate coaching, leadership and environmental conditions for your introverts, you will find them becoming unhappy and either leaving the organization, or feeling marginalized and then performing at less than optimal levels.
As a leader, you have both a business responsibility to your organization and a social duty to your employees to see this doesn’t happen. So, I think we can safely say, in answer to question 1), no, you absolutely cannot afford to miss out on your introverts’ contributions.
As we think about the second question you should be asking, here are a few strategies you can use to be sure your introverts are a powerful force within your group.
For introverts, collaborative feedback technology platforms can be ideal because they provide an opportunity to thoughtfully create and communicate ideas on product development or process improvement to a wide audience, post the ideas for collaboration and interact from the comfort of their own workspace. Because they can filter and process collaborative feedback as it comes in, at timely moments for them, they can engage in the kind of “quieter, lower key environment” they may prefer.
If you’d like to discuss the benefits of a social innovation platform for your group, please reach out to the Vocoli team; we’d be happy to share our insights on what makes for a successful employee feedback experience and share some of our client stories with you as well. To learn more about how to give ALL your employees a stronger voice contact the Vocoli team at 888-919-5300 or email us at chris.schubert@vocoli.com .
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