Introverts in the workplace

This is a guest-post by Sangamithra Nataraj, a writer and poet.  Here is a link to her blog.

Introverts. The word leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It reeks of the solitary and the unpopular, a high-school hangover, of the outcasts of the classroom, of those who were always left behind.

Introverts. Every office has one of those, don’t you agree? A lone guy or girl, slinking in the corner, never at the centre of the discussion. They sometimes make you wonder how they got in at all. Do they ever talk? Do they live their lives in a state of constant boredom, never up to anything fun? You shudder, and walk away, thinking about the next team get-together.

As much as you despise the thought of being left alone, of having only your own company to spend time with, the introverted personality trembles at the thought of being around other people. This is not a case of being inferior to those who prefer a packed social life. They’re not lesser, just different. If you asked them, at a time when they seem approachable, or interested in having a conversation (provided you don’t force your company upon them) you’d see that they have a rich inner life, so much so, that venturing outward would be to take away from, to contribute less time nurturing the mind-palace they have built for themselves.

The energy they conserve from not socializing they divert inwards, generating a tremendous potential for creativity. This also holds true for the inverse. When forced to mingle with people against their will, their energy is sapped, not only by the act of socialization itself, but also by the anxiety associated with this activity, and the dread of having to repeat it again.

Tough luck, you think. Being in a shared space means you have to mingle, whether you like it or not. The workplace can’t change just because a few can’t develop social skills enough to hold a decent conversation. However, the truth is, this goes beyond a lack of social skills, or being shy in front of a group. Being thrust into a socializing activity, such as a party or team-training endeavour against their will might hamper the skills they already possess.

A case in point: A friend of mine works at a corporate office for a certain notebook company. She has a few close friends, and prefers not to socialize at all. Her boss harangues her for not being sociable enough with her colleagues and gives her a bad performance review. Her performance accordingly drops, the more she is forced to attend team building activities. A month later, her boss and colleagues have to take up a project in another branch of the company. She is on probation, and therefore continues with regular work. Her output of concepts and copies triple during this time, and she produces more work in a month than the entire team has been able to do in two.

Workplaces accommodate extroverts better - they socialize, make bonds without conscious effort, they are able to lead and hence, able to perform, at least according to the expectations of the corporate masters. The question I’d like to ask you is this - does success have a single definition? You know the answer to that as well as I do. Then, why cannot the workplace accommodate different types of individuals? If there were options - to work in teams or stay solitary, if teamwork and leadership were not the main criteria for good performance, if employees were recruited for their ability to listen and understand, as much as talk and persuade, the workspace could improve for the better.

If the idea of networking and socializing being the criteria for performance, leading to a successful career was dismantled, with allowance made for individual comfort of communication, introverts could have a place in the workspace, without having to sacrifice their energy or mental health.