In ny last post I shared my thoughts about whether MBA’s should go the on line or classroom route. Here is the excellent article that Menachem Wecker wrote on…
Being Alone When Surrounded by Others The NY Times ran a story this week about tech entrepreneurs living in hostel type places in the Bay Area. It says, ”…
Did you know that … … when crossing the street, you just keep on walking, even though there are hundreds of moving motorbikes? … speakers are often treated like rock…
The courtyard at American Funds’ Irvine campus serves as more than just a meeting place, according to at least one expert. Jennifer Kahnweiler, executive coach and leadership consultant, strongly encourages employees to get outside during the workday. “Much of our creativity comes when we’re not in the cubicle,” she says.
Kahnweiler, author of The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength, also emphasizes that firms that have opted for more open work spaces must also provide employees with more private rooms where they can work and think in a quiet environment, and encourage workers to use them. While some employees may not want such space, the introverts among us, who make up about 40% to 50% of the population, need those spaces to be productive, she says.
There needs to be enough of these kinds of rooms so that they don’t always have to be booked in advance. At a lot of companies, she says, people have to fight for a conference room because of their scarcity.
We live in such an extroverted, centric world that the people who are the talkers – whether it be in brainstorming sessions or in coaching itself do a real disservice to people when they fill in the sentences. I think that equation we’ve all heard as coaches, is that you should have the 80:20 rule, coaches speaking 20%. That should mirror a lot of conversations you’re having, when you’re trying to get the best out of the introverts in your organization, allow them the dignity of their own rhythm.
Actors like Streep prepare extensively to take us into the world of that character. Likewise, introverts often emphasize how much they prepare for meetings, calls, presentations, etc. so that they perform at their best ( a side note: Meryl Streep is an introvert like many actors). Yet, despite careful preparation, you can’t always anticipate what is thrown at you. Handling the moment sometimes trumps preparation.
The sort of coaching that fosters effective innovation and judgment, not merely the replication of technique, may not be so easy to cultivate. Yet modern society increasingly depends on ordinary people taking responsibility for doing extraordinary things: operating inside people’s bodies, teaching eighth graders algebraic concepts that Euclid would have struggled with, building a highway through a mountain, constructing a wireless computer network across a state, running a factory, reducing a city’s crime rate. In the absence of guidance, how many people can do such complex tasks at the level we require? With a diploma, a few will achieve sustained mastery; with a good coach, many could. We treat guidance for professionals as a luxury—you can guess what gets cut first when school-district budgets are slashed. But coaching may prove essential to the success of modern society.
John is a Client Manager with IT staffing firm, CCCi and his latest assignment is at the The Southern Company, one of America’s largest generators of electricity. He has organized a number of well attended programs with technology leaders. and is committed to working with IT pros to help them succeed. On Halloween his company hosted an appreciation luncheon for the teams of IT pros at the Southern Company and gifted each attendee with a copy of The Introverted Leader .I was honored to speak to them about why introverts are leaders and what we are missing when we don’t tap into their strengths.
I took a wrong turn on my way to Coudersport, PA. No. I had not heard of the town either but it was where I was booked for a training gig; a 2 1/2 hour ride from the Buffalo airport. I wondered what I was thinking or drinking when I said yes.
