We are in the midst of what is being termed “The Great Resignation.” People are leaving their jobs at unprecedented rates, and it does have the experts baffled; hard to believe that deep into a pandemic, people are willingly leaving their jobs and, often, putting themselves into a position of economic risk.
Traditionally, people leave due to wage stagnation and increases in cost of living. Nowadays, those traditional factors are joined by an employer’s reaction to employee wellness, employee work flexibility, COVID-19 and job dissatisfaction. As one piece of research put it, the top reason that people are considering quitting is that they do not feel valued in their place of work.
On a deeper level, organisations are failing to recognise and engage introverted champions within the business. The extroverts are never the problem – they make their presence and achievements known, but finding, recognising, and celebrating introverts can be more difficult… and it’s only going to become even more challenging as remote working means that people no longer have as great a physical presence within their organisation.
There are a few things you can do to better identify and provide opportunities for introverts, and creating a more inclusive and positive working environment that saves some of this group from feeling under-valued and unwelcome.
Have an exceptional feedback system. The value of leadership surveys – including MultiRater Survey’s own products – is that they help you arrive at the true sentiment within your organisation. The authentic leadership survey tools we offer will help you find measurable data that will highlight the strengths of your introverts.
Become KPI-driven, rather than presence-driven. Extroverts thrive in the social dynamics of an organisation, but they’re often less productive than their introverted counterparts. They will want to have meetings/gatherings where introverts will want to get on with the work. By acknowledging the productivity and efficiency of work getting done, you will be able to bring introverts to the fore within the organisation.
Broaden the scope for communication. Rather than relying on face-to-face meetings, or even Zoom, where introverts can feel overwhelmed by the presence of extroverts, it would be beneficial to facilitate other forms of communication that introverts may be more comfortable with. Tools that allow for the communication and exchange of work over text, for example, and messaging systems that allow for quick notes to be sent back and forth. There are some risks involved from a project management perspective here, as work can be overlooked or underdone if it’s not properly monitored and communicated, but by giving introverts ways to work that better suit their characteristics, you will facilitate better work from them.
Finally, it’s important to make sure that you’re promoting introverts and extroverts in equal measure. With so many organisations, introverts find it more difficult to identify mentors or career paths that they can see themselves in. By leveraging the authentic leadership survey to identify introverts that should be considered for leadership roles, the quiet achievers within the organisation will see how they can flourish and succeed themselves.