5 Ways to Excel in the Meeting Room as an Introvert

Introversion is  often perceived as a weakness. While people don’t always recognize the qualities of the introverts among us, our more-quiet counterparts often bring more to the table than what may initially meet the eye.

Introverts show characteristics of being more reserved, less motivated by ego, better listening skills, and a great ability to handle independent work. All these are essential traits for any work out there.

However, they are not enough, especially during meetings. Introverts usually find trouble expressing their ideas. Therefore, it is good for them to come up with ways that they are going to ensure other members hear their views.

If you are an introvert and have faced some difficulty expressing your ideas in the meeting room, here are some tips you can implement to help you excel.

1. Prepare

As an introvert, you will need to prepare for meetings and presentations instead of just doing it right away. By being prepared, it will be of great benefit to you as it will help you collect facts in advance, gather your ideas and present them in the best way possible. Besides, preparations give you the opportunity to identify potential issues and come up with solutions for them.

In the meeting room, where conversation can move quickly, preparation can help you to figure out what you should say next.

Moreover, setting discussion points on the main agenda and practicing them severally before meetings can help to ensure you have space, time, and confidence to speak your mind. Proper preparation also provides you with ample time to process your thoughts and ideas. Conversations in meeting rooms move very fast, leaving you feeling a bit behind and left out. You can combat this situation by the planning of time.

The other thing you will need to do during preparation is to have a notebook that outlines everything that you would want to achieve during the meeting. It does not have to be a lot. It can be a simple thing such as raising an issue with your team or asking particular questions. Try to preempt people’s response, and write down your main points, with any research figures you could need.

Since you will have everything on your notebook, make sure that it stays close to you, and refer it severally to maintain focus.

2. Share your Reflective Thoughts

Introverts usually sit quietly at meetings, looking at various points of view before coming up with their own opinions. When they make their contribution later, they typically add important and balanced perspectives and comments. Therefore, as an introvert, you ought to follow your natural tendency to think before talking. Make sure that you speak up when you have something meaningful to chime in. Remember that just one comment can have a significant effect.

Introverts possess great reflective abilities. Therefore, you need to bring this massive strength to the meeting room. As other players in the meeting make their contribution, bring your ideas too. Work to bring the conversation together, and make sure to pick out those elements that might be missing.

Thinking is your strength, so make sure to play by it.

3. Use Filler Answers

Answering complex questions on the spot as an introvert can be a bit overwhelming. Naturally, you need some time to think about your answer so that you can come up with a concrete response. Therefore, you need to take as much time as you can when a difficult question is thrown at you. How do you do this?

The use of filler answers has shown significant effectiveness in helping individuals take their time to gather their thoughts. For instance, you could say, “That’s an interesting question. This is what I think about it… I will do more research and get back to you as soon as possible. “

Take the time you need to come up with the best response. It is okay to say that you want to think about the issue at hand for a minute. It will not be considered unusual when you take your time, even when your colleagues feel impatient.

4. Add Value by Asking  Questions

If you feel overwhelmed when making statements, you can ask questions instead. You can pose your ideas directly as questions instead of statements. Ask something like, “Would more programmers help our tech business?” As a matter of fact, when you ask the right questions, you are adding real value to the meeting by getting everyone to take one step back and think through their ideas.

Make it a personal challenge to ask questions during the meeting. Just allow yourself to mumble relevant things that might not be perfect. Waiting for the perfect time will not do you any good as the extroverts in the meeting are not waiting for perfection. They just want ideas so that they can continue with other things.

5. Own Your Introversion

The last and most important thing you need to do is to accept your nature and be comfortable with whom you are. If you are not the most prominent personality in the meeting, that should not worry you. However, you will be able to harness the quiet and steady confidence on your own. Confidence is vital as it gives you a positive perspective of yourself.

As earlier mentioned, introverts can focus more and better for an extended period, they think deeply and love to reflect before taking action. Hence, you need to own these character traits and make use of them during the meeting. This is the only way that you will be able to excel and make good contributions.

Conclusion

Being an introvert does not have to mean that you need to look idealess about the topic at hand to those around you during a meeting. Introversion is not a weakness, and you don’t have to make it look like one. A lot of individuals out there have no idea the benefit introverted people can bring to the table. With the tips above, you will be able to influence and excel at your next meeting. A little confidence is all that you will need.

Shadaitul Intan is a Communication, NLP and EQ Coach. She has been involved in the personal development work since 2001 and has since trained thousands of young adult students to be prepared for the workplace, gained confidence in communication and learned about life skills that has not been taught in school. She can be contacted for a free training need analysis and consultation at www.shadaitulintan.com