What Makes Introverts Thrive in the Workplace?

The Introvert’s Edge Video Podcast: Discover the Strategies and Tactics of Introverted Global Business Leaders

Ed Frauenheim, Director of Research and Content at Great Place to Work®, shares the simple steps managers and leaders can take right now, to not only increase the happiness and productivity of introverted employees, but triple the company’s revenue in the process. Creating a Great Place to Work for All Employees, Introverts Included You may be familiar with the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for list, which pulls data from thousands of companies (and hundreds of thousands of employees) to determine which workplaces provide an atmosphere of trust, camaraderie, innovation, respect, and people-focused programs, consistently and for all team members. How do introverts figure into this equation, and what can team leaders do to ensure they fall under the overall banner of inclusion and workplace satisfaction? Why CEOs and Team Leaders Need to Focus on Introverted Employees There’s been a long-overdue push for inclusion in the business world to ensure that all employees, regardless of gender or ethnicity, are heard, valued, respected, and represented in the workplace. While this focus on diversity is welcome and needed, there is still too little attention being paid to the needs of introverts, who represent at least half the population. Ed and I discuss this critical oversight, along with the need to address it. As Ed points out, for organizations to advance, they’ve got to bring everybody along. Businesses do a huge disservice to their employees – and to their bottom line – by ignoring the needs of introverts in the workplace. Ed shares some simple and effective strategies that leaders can employ, starting now, to best allow their introverted employees to flourish. The benefits are two-fold: introverted employees become happier and more productive—and when employees are happy, company revenues increase by as much as three times. Some Questions I Ask: How can leaders create a workplace culture that allows both introverts and extroverts to thrive? (1:50) What should leaders be thinking about in terms of aiding and empowering the introverts on their teams? (3:40) What are the first steps a workplace can take towards being more inclusive? (4:59) What are the 5 levels of leadership, and how can they be applied to better understanding the introverts in your workplace? (6:37) What are some of the most important takeaways from your new book, A Great Place to Work for All? (16:40) Do you think that a discussion of introverted employees comes up among leadership as often as it should when creating policies for inclusion? (19:40) In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why it’s just good business to create a culture that works for ALL employees (1:55) How the “For All” leadership models ensures every team member has a great work experience (3:53) How “individualized leadership” brings out the best in every team member (4:08) The importance of listening to your employees (5:09) What a study of 75,000 employees and 10,000 leaders in certified Great Workplaces tells us about leadership, productivity, and innovation (7:00) How you can apply principles of Hilton’s successful culture to your own workplace (10:19) Getting introverted team members to buy in to your mission (10:43) A valuable feedback-generating tactic that’s underutilized by team leaders (13:20) Why you need to rethink your ideas about “team brainstorming” (15:30) How the workplace experience ripples out to the rest of our lives, and to the world (17:56) Resources Mentioned in the Show Fortune article - “Why Austin is the Rockstar of Small-Business Cities” 2018 Great Place to Work® For All™ Summit Book - A Great Place to Work for All