Managing introverts

Last year, a lot of digital ink was dedicated on a newly popular term, ambiverts. On the introvert/extrovert spectrum, ambiverts are like Belgium. They are neither as exciting as Italy, nor as plain as Sweden. Ambiverts are the Michael Bloomberg of American politics. They are smacked in the middle of the spectrum: extroverts with a need to be alone to recharge. I recognize myself as an ambivert after reading many of articles on the topic.

As an engineering manager, it is no surprise that my group counts a few introverts. And yes, there are also extroverts on the team. Yet, I suspect that more and more would put themselves in the middle bucket.

Here are three tips to create a work environment which supports a wide range of personality traits.

Your office needs a mix of work environments

I worked at Sun Microsystems, where originally everybody had a nice private office, with a sliding door. To save on real estate, Sun introduced flexible offices, which were reservable private offices. Sadly, the flex offices, ripped teams apart as people reserved space closer to home, and not necessarily to be with their team mates. Google, on purpose, has an open floor plan to increase interaction. Facebook is famous for having a large factory floor feeling. These approaches are often an all or nothing approach. It works for some folks (e.g., extroverts), but not for the introvert who wants a quiet small work space.

Your office should provide a mix of work environments:

• Allow introverts their private cubicle.
• Have a communal Starbucks-like table with power strips and monitors.
• have a standing desk area.
• Have a reading nook.
• And mix the different options close to each other, so the teams can generally stay together.

End the let’s meet culture

US companies are famous for having many meetings. It is in general a good productivity practice to scale back the number of meetings. In support of introverts, avoid the impromptu meeting. Introverts don’t like to be put in the spot or share thoughts that haven’t been fully developed. Provide enough preparation time. Publish the agenda in advance. Allow for introverts to add items to the agenda or comment on the agenda in advance. Your meetings will be much more productive.

The same is true for a 1–1 meeting. Extroverts won’t mind an impromptu chat or walk to discuss how things are going. Have a standing regular time slot for introverts.

Fun events should be fun for everybody

Company meetings can be especially exhausting for introverts. Bring together the outgoing sales team for a social event with engineering, and you will see several engineers run for the doors before the event even starts.

When it comes to fun and team building events, think about the entire team. Recently, our events team nailed it when planning team outings. Our fun day included a high energy go-kart racing competition, with plenty of group interaction. In parallel, others could visit the San Jose Tech Museum and go for a stroll downtown. Both events were well attended.

Too often we cater to the loud and outgoing. As you pay attention to who on your team is not in that category, there surely are other ideas on how to work with different personalities.