It’s appraisal time and you brace yourself for the inevitable. “You need to be a better team player,” writes your boss while acknowledging some of your contributions and even commending you on a couple of projects. However, the coveted promotion is given to a peer, who, according to you, loves to schmooze and doesn’t really do substantial work.
You know the boss doesn’t see it this way. Because your peer is assertive during meetings, chats up colleagues and is a live wire at office parties, your boss overestimates his contribution while undermining your efforts. As introverts are often overlooked and undervalued at the workplace, what can quieter employees do to make themselves more visible? And, what can companies do to recognize the silent but significant contributions of introverts?
In an article in Harvard Business Review, Melody Wilding, a self-confessed introvert, avers that you don’t have to necessarily change your personality to make sure that your work gets noticed. She advocates a “quieter approach to visibility” that coaxes you to stretch your comfort zone. As introverts tend to deliberate over issues, they tend not to speak up in meetings. To overcome this tendency, Wilding recommends that you speak up early in the meeting, when most people are attentive. If you hold yourself back waiting for the “right moment” to state your position, you may never get a chance to speak up.
Further, don’t imagine that you have to speak only if you have a mind-blowing contribution to offer. As introverts tend to be good listeners, it’s perfectly fine to harness this strength in the interest of the group. Because chatty colleagues tend not to listen closely to one another, you may be in a good position to offer clarification when people talk over each other. Also, you may be the best person to offer a summary of the points covered so far when the discussion starts to meander. If you have read an article or heard a podcast that might throw light on a topic, feel free to mention these resources to others.
Wilding also writes that introverts tend to disparage themselves more than others. She suggests that you be mindful of your language and avoid unnecessary qualifiers or “self-deprecating” statements. Instead of prefacing your comments with a, “I’m not sure this idea is a good…,” be more assertive and say, “A different perspective might be…” Further, as introverts tend to find face-to-face conversations more stressful, harness the power of asynchronous modes to express yourself cogently. After a meeting, you may take the initiative of summarizing the key takeaways and the action points to be followed upon. Even if you weren’t very vocal during the meeting, the team and the leadership will know your worth.
While introverts have to do their bit to get noticed at the workplace, the onus cannot be entirely on them. Companies also have to make an effort to recognize the worth of quiet but dedicated employees. In a blog post in Working Knowledge, published by Harvard Business School, Ben Rand describes research by Jon Jachimowicz and his colleagues that shows that introverts often get short- changed at work because managers fail to perceive their passion and motivation. Because extroverts are more likely to communicate their passion both vocally and non-verbally, though “animated facial expressions,” they tend to receive more “resources, raises, and promotions.”
Jachimowicz avers that we have ‘stereotypical’ notions of how passion is expressed, and we thereby fail to recognize this quality in people who tend to convey it differently. In a study with his colleagues, Jachimowicz conducted a survey of 1,800 workers and their bosses to understand how extroverts and introverts “express, perceive and experience passion” at work. They found that extroverts were rated as more passionate about their job even if introverts said they had “similar levels of passion and motivation.” Further, extroverts also exhibited their passion through a broader array of behaviours that include vocal and nonverbal forms. Jachimowicz recommends that bosses observe employees behaviour and examine their quality of work and not be swayed solely by exuberant expressions of their passion for work.
About the Author
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan is a psychologist & writer. She is the author of Zero Limits: Things Every 20-Something Should Know. She blogs at www.arunasankaranarayanan.com.)