#Leadership: How an Introvert can Thrive In an Extrovert Workplace…Companies Set Up for Extroverts in their Work Environment, But also Introverts Lose Out in Understanding How to Move Up & Negotiate for Themselves in the Workplace

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About five years ago I made a commitment to myself that in my career I would only stay at companies where I felt comfortable.  That being said, I’m an introvert working in an extrovert world.

OvercomeFear

If you are an introvert–like me–you get energy from being alone. And this can be a problem considering most companies today are big open offices with little audio and visual privacy. One of my friends works in a law firm and she has her own office. I always tell her I am in awe of this “office” phenomenon. I watch “Mad Men” and I can’t imagine what life was like for these advertising executives who had offices that were a home away from home. For the most part in the Bay Area offices are something of the past. Only some offices remain in law offices, accounting firms and other more conservative institutions where privacy is essential.

Today I work for a great employer that allows me to work from home most days. Most of the time the only thing encroaching on my space is my Yorkie rescue dog Athena who rests her little head on the sock on my foot.

But most people commute to an office, and for those commuters who are introverts, being at work is actually more distracting than being at home. People often tell me they are interrupted numerous times while at their computer even with headphones on. The research supports these statements. In a 2013 study employees who worked in open offices said that “lack of sound privacy” was a significant problem for them. More than 30 percent complained about the “lack of visual privacy.” Most of us can imagine what this feels like.

The truth is I am one of those people who just prefers to work in a quiet and even isolated environment. I get my best ideas when I am exercising by myself. I still do a lot of the things that extroverts do, but these activities take me longer to both prepare and recover.

I make presentations at conferences a few times a year and when I do I spend hours preparing. For me parties and networking events must be followed by emergency downtime.

 

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I believe it is harder to be an introvert in an extrovert world, but as long as you ask for what you need it is possible to thrive and be happy at work.

Susan Cain is an author and speaker who wrote Quiet: The Power of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking.

Cain draws attention to the reality that today’s workplaces are heavily biased toward extroverts. In an interview with NPR Susan Cain talks about the difference between what used to be a world in which introverts (like President Lincoln) thrived to today’s world of rampant extroversion.

….the extrovert ideal really came to play at the turn of the 20th century…suddenly, people were flocking to the cities, and they were needing to prove themselves in big corporations, at job interviews and on sales calls…We moved from what cultural historians call a culture of character to a culture of personality. During the culture of character, what was important was the good deeds that you performed..But at the turn of the century, when we moved into this culture of personality, suddenly what was admired was to be magnetic and charismatic…Movie stars, of course, were the embodiment of what it meant to be a charismatic figure. So, part of people’s fascination with these movie stars was for what they could learn from them and bring with them to their own jobs.”

Cain goes on to talk about the fact that companies are set up for extroverts because they’re created for maximum group interaction. If you’re reading this you know that not everyone works well that way. Cain highlights that the average amount of space per employee actually shrunk from 500 square feet in the 1970s to 200 square feet today. Let’s be real, how many people are taking stretch or meditation breaks in 200 square feet of space? If you have introverts packed into these offices it’s likely your introvert employees are spending more time worrying about the workplace than they are focusing on their tasks.

Forget open office plans–did you know that 70 percent of U.S. offices have no or low partitions? Silicon Valley has been the leader in bringing down the dividers. Not surprisingly, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg designed the largest open floor plan in the world, housing nearly 3,000 engineers….

Did you know that Mark Zuckberg is himself introverted? I wonder if a young Zuckerberg would have himself thrived in this environment.

While some people might get energy from this environment, people like me would be highly distracted in an open office plan. But my fellow introverts, do not fret. Just because you aren’t extroverted doesn’t mean you can’t make a situation work for you.

The silver lining in all of this is there are a ton of amazing introverts out there working for great companies and shaping experiences that are conducive to being introverted. Recently I met Pat Wadors, Chief HR Officer at LinkedIn. I was so excited to see she labelled herself an “introvert” on her Twitter profile–I felt like she and I were from the same camp; the camp of introverts working in an extrovert world. She writes about making beautiful employee experiences for employees where employees are showered with options. There are advocates today who are working to create more diverse work spaces where introverts have choice.

On a related note, it seems that not only are companies set up for extroverts in their work environment, but also introverts lose out in understanding how to move up and negotiate for themselves in the workplace. Recent research from Levo League says that the highest earning women are extroverts–ENTJ (Extroverted Intuitive Thinking Judging) and ESTJ (Extrovert Sensing Thinking Judging) are making the most money. Perhaps this is because introverts are expected to grow up and understand how to navigate an extroverted world. They are expected to know how to lobby for themselves in asking for a raise or promotion–and the fact is most of us were never coached how to do this. We wouldn’t even know where to start unless we had someone helping us.

I believe step one in thriving in an extroverted world is understanding what you need to be comfortable and happy at work. Write it down. This way when you find your next employer you have a list of your caveats. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Both you and your employer will be happier in the end.

Lastly understand that there’s no shame in being an introvert. Consider this list of famous introverts: J.K. Rowling, Rosa Park, Mahatma Ghandi, Emma Watson, Marissa Mayer, President Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Michael Jordan, Hilary Clinton, Gwenyth Paltrow, Eleanor Roosevelt, Christina Aguilera, Bill Gates, Audrey Hepburn. So are you an introvert working in an extroverted workplace? How have you been able to manage?

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not her employer. Tweet to Blake on Twitter to share at @BlakeMichelleM.

 

Forbes.com | May 11, 2015 | Blake Morgan