I met a very extroverted guy on line waiting at my local coffee shop. We started making conversation and the discussion moved to my fave topic – introverts and extroverts in the workplace Turns out he was a frustrated sales manager. ” I try to talk to these Tech (GA) grads, who are all Engineers and they just stare at me. They hide out and don’t talk. One of our introverted bosses just stands at my cube and will never take a seat. He has one foot out the door…..what is with these people!? ”
This “introvert bias” is all too common. The extrovert’s frustration is real but how about getting rid of the judgment first? My next entry will address some tips for the extrovert to better connect with introverts. But the first task is to get rid of that pointing finger, don’t you think?
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4 Responses
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I AGREE … get rid of the judgement and the internal dialogue that tells you that something is wrong with introverted individuals. We ALL want connection/relationship in life .. is that not so? Maybe the extroverted guy could engage” WITH” instead of “AT” this individual. Maybe understand that being more reserved or contemplative is a strength. This is not a defensive response but one in which I would like people to think about.
Jennifer,
Though I would agree to some extent with the point that extroverts should connect with introverts, as a minority group in workplace as well as the world, I would say that introverts should adopt to the environment. I am an introvert myself and have been actively working on the skills to adjust to the extroverted world and have seen good results so far.
Dev – I agree with David that we all want to connect. Am curious to know what specifically you have been doing to adapt.
Continuing the Discussion