How Introverted Leaders Empower their Employees

Introverted leaders are gifted with inherent abilities to make others feel good and empower them. As leaders we can be the channels through which brilliant ideas are put into action, and the facilitators for incredibly productive collaboration.

HOW DO INTROVERTS EMPOWER?

Empowering through our LISTENING superpowers

Introverts spend more time listening than we do talking. This means that in leadership roles we are more likely to encourage our employees to come to us with new ideas, making them feel empowered and valued members of our teams. I will never turn away anyone who tells me they have an idea on how to make things better. I will always find a way to make time for them.

We also are open to listening to challenges that our staff are encountering. Being somewhat more sensitive ourselves, we don’t expect that things will always run smoothly and we don’t expect employees to only tell us about the good things.

Really listening allows trusting professional relationships to be built, is inclusive of employee experience and empowers people by allowing them to be a part of the process and to be heard, which, in turn, improves morale, motivation, and productivity.

Empowering by SHARING the Spotlight

Being the center of attention is an introvert comfort zone. We rarely get fussed over our own status, or have much desire to be in the limelight. In a professional environment that often moves our leadership style into a facilitating capacity where we are just as happy to let others take the lead and be outspoken and share skills and ideas, while we quietly direct from the background. This gives space for those who deserve and want to have their unique skills or ideas. We really don’t care that it’s not about us and we rarely want it to be.

Because we’re not particularly interested in status, we want our employees to do their jobs to the best of their abilities and aren’t likely to feel threatened by their successes. If the team is doing well, then we’re doing well. The success of your employees is not a threat to you, but rather a feather in your cap pointing to your team development skills.  

Empowering with our unique PEOPLE Skills

Yes, we have people skills and they are quite fabulous too! We just value the quality of our interactions with others over the quantity or duration. For introverts, personal interactions in smaller group settings with meaningful conversation are more important to us than large meetings and the fostering of culture through a lot of small talk. We work the other way around where we like to get to the point quickly and then develop and explore from there.

So while we may not be hanging about the office chatting with everyone about the weekend, personal interactions with an introverted boss that do happen will have a lot weight and will occur with meaningful intention. There is something special about personal time with an introvert one on one or within a small group. I don’t mean to say that’s not the case with extroverts, each has their own place and brings their own value to every interaction. I feel though that a focused meeting with intention is more empowering that a casual interaction that happens by chance.

Empowering using our dynamic OBSERVATION Skills

Our amazing observation skills are kind of what we are known for. Introverts spend so much time watching and absorbing all the things around us. All that incredibly valuable information gets filed away and often gets filtered down into wonderful little gold nuggets of wisdom. Also, because we so frequently don’t fit in the mainstream body of thought that “extrovert is best”, we know what it feels to be looked over and have our skills go unrecognized which translates into a hyper awareness to the skill sets of others.

So what do these little gold nuggets of wisdom look like in the working world for us introvert leaders? One is a very acute sense of awesome team composition. We can curate really powerful teams by using our observation-gained knowledge to pull together cohesive skill sets and personality types offering a high level of valuable collaboration and insight. This empowers everyone involved because it caters to their best working selves.

Another gem is in the ability (with a little bit of planning and practice) to communicate well with anyone within their own communication comfort zones. I’ve been practicing this throughout my career as an employee and as a leader and I absolutely swear by it. The key to navigating the people landscape as an introverted leader is to understand that everyone has different communication and management needs, to then use those keen observation skills to recognize those needs in your employees, and finally to develop a process that meets those needs for each person and which still works within the needs of your own introverted frame work.

For example, an extroverted employee may want to share all their ideas in person and talk about them at length. An introverted friend of mine calls these “voice people” and we often ask each other why they couldn’t have just messaged the question. Well, we know why… because they are voice people and that’s not how they communicate. That’s the point.

When you’re the boss, it’s your job as a leader to find a way to meet their voice needs, while staying mindful of your introverted self. I like to schedule a set time frame to hear them out, let them do all the talking, and then if I think the idea is something to go ahead with, I’ll curate a team (or let them) that they can lead. I can then sit in as passively as I like on their discussions if I want to keep myself involved, or just have that employee report back to me with progress. I don’t need to lead it all myself and take that need away from that employee.

On the flip side, if I find out that an introverted employee has an idea, which I will likely hear about through someone else or from an email they may send, I will react differently. I will take a more passive approach to extracting that information from them, usually by letting them know I heard they had an idea and if they’d like to share that they’re welcome to stop by for a one on one chat or to just email me. Or I’ll just email them back. I take the clues from how they bring it up and react in kind. Then if the idea is to go forward, I may work with them to curate a team, and will openly discuss options for how to lead it if I feel that they’re not comfortable doing so. Would they like me to assign tasks? Do they want to do any public speaking involved or would they like to enlist someone who enjoys that to do it?  How can I help them manage the project if they want to manage it at all? What is most important is to continually instill in their team, whose idea and project it is, and ensure they get the credit they are owed.

Not sure how best to manage someone? Just ask them! Most people will be grateful you asked and will be happy to tell you what they need in order to work their best.

KEEP ON EMPOWERING!

Obviously there are lots of ways that us introverts empower our staff just by going with the flow of our natural introvert leadership styles and being our wonderful introverted selves. We are knowledge hoarders though, so we know there’s always room for more and honestly, empowering others also empowers us and empowered introvert leaders are really an extra special brand!

Remember to be frank about your needs. You have a valued place on your team just as much as all of your employees. There is nothing to be ashamed about being an introvert. Work it into discussion and tell your employees what you need from them too.

What other ways do you think Introvert Leaders can use their natural abilities to empower others?