Introverts in the workplace

Article: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/15-things-introverts-dont-work-that-makes-them-excel.html

While researching for a topic to reflect upon in my blog, I found an interesting article describing Introverts and how some of the qualities they possess that are viewed as negative are actually positive in the long run. This article really stood out to me because I was listed as an introvert in the first day of class after taking the sixteen personality test and the big five survey. I was eager to find out some of the qualities and surprisingly there were many more than I originally thought there were going to be. I'll describe a few in detail due to the fact that there were fifteen different qualities mentioned in the article. The first trait that I found interesting was that introverts don't speak before they think. This is a positive attribute because an introverted individual would take their time and listen in order to reflect on the person their communicating with. In the health care field this attribute is significant because managers don't like to get interrupted and want to see that your interpreting the information. First impressions and communication skills are key to becoming an effective manager and interrupting people ahead of you in the organization might not the be the smartest idea. Another crucial quality I discovered was that introverts don't patronize those who they lead or are below them. In class we have discussed the importance of effective managers walking around the whole organization and talking to all of the individuals about aspects in the workplace or even factors in their outside lives. One of the quotes from the article that summed up this idea was," it is second nature for introverted bosses to listen, appreciate and validate great ideas, and highly unlikely for them to treat those they lead condescendingly." When I thought about this quote, it finally clicked to me that introverted managers can be just as effective as extroverted managers. The last quality that I found really interesting was that introverts tend not to care if they work long or extended hours in the workplace. This might not sound that impressive but in reality it can be very useful. This attribute means that introverted individuals can focus on one activity for an extended period of time without losing focus. Focus is a key for an effective manager because no one wants to work for an individual that constantly lacks attention to detail. Overall this article did an excellent job summing up how introverted managers can potentially be as effective or more effective than extroverted managers.