How Do We Shift This Bias?

When I started this newsletter, it was with the aim of providing useful little nudges to we quieter ones, who tell me they sometimes need a bit of gentle persuasion.

And I too still need nudges, after all, I’m not the finished article, not immune to the challenges of life so am always learning more about myself, expanding my comfort zone, and surprising myself in the process.

You see, I have decades of lived experience of trying to 'make it' in a world biased towards the extravert ideal. And depending on how you measure success, I made it, but I paid a heavy price. The price I paid came from pretending to be more extraverted as that's what I'd been told I'd need to do if I wanted to be successful in my career.

When expectations like these are laid on us, I refer to them as examples of the extraversion bias, but if you search for that term, you’ll find very few results. And yet, it is endemic.

?? I’ve spoken about it on podcasts and am about to do the same again this week.

?? I’ve written articles about it that have appeared in publications like People Management, Raconteur and European Director.

?? I’ve delivered conference and bite-sized lunchtime sessions about it.

?? I’ve had a couple of articles published in Inside Government’s Education Hub

?? I’ve spoken about it on BBC Radio

And still, the bias persists; it’s so deeply ingrained yet largely unnoticed.

??♀? I’ve experienced the extraversion bias mostly as a cocktail of affinity, attribution, conformity and confirmation bias with the recent addition of (the cherry on the top) proximity bias.

If people are not yet informed, about what it really means to need to recharge quietly in order to be productive, I can understand how they may unknowingly perpetuate the bias. That's why everything I do is aimed at helping people to understand, so they can make more informed choices and decisions.

What I do get upset about, as I did last week, is when coaches and leaders make grand statements about those who identify as an introvert when they don’t truly know what it’s like to face the bias, day in and day out. It's relentless.

A core tenet of the work I do with organisations is to encourage inclusion because I believe that we owe it to humanity to create inclusive workplaces. And when we remember that around 50% of any population identifies as an introvert, that’s potentially half of any workforce who may be struggling.

So, there is much work to be done and together, we can start making progress.

?? How can you help?

By challenging cases of extraversion bias that you see in your organisation.

A couple of weeks ago, I delivered a lunchtime session to a forward-thinking, top 10 Professional Services firm about Introverted Leadership. There was some concern when the topic was announced that it wouldn’t be popular.

Au contraire!

It was the most popular event to date with over 200 people attending both in person and virtually either in small groups or from home.

What delighted me the most was that the audience was a mix of introverts and those who wanted to understand their quieter colleagues better.

Inclusion not division.

Towards the end of the session, I got small groups talking about what could be done differently within their firm and what came back were some simple yet powerful changes that people were prepared to make. The proposals included

?? Providing detailed meeting agendas in advance to allow for those of us who like to prepare and think through our position before being put on the spot

?? Making sure some people don’t dominate conversations to the exclusion of others

?? Building in space between meetings to break the common pattern of back-to-back bookings, enabling people to reflect and recharge before the next appointment

These are simple things that can make a world of difference to an introvert's ability to focus and do their best work.

Which of these could you initiate in your organisation?

So, whoever thought that introverts wouldn’t want to, or feel able to show up to that lunchtime event was misguided at best and biased at worst. In this case, perhaps a case of attribution bias where we assume that because someone identifies as an introvert, they wouldn’t come out of their office to take part. And, there are examples like this happening daily in our organisations.

? If you need examples of articles I’ve written to share in your organisation please let me know and I’ll happily share the links.

? If you want me to come and talk to a network or deliver training, please drop me a message so we can talk about options.

? And if you’re a leader who is ready to play your part in shifting the bias, follow me or connect for more ideas.

I’m inviting you to be part of this movement – we ride at dawn!

#introvertedleaders #flourishingintroverts #bias