Introversion and Extroversion

Stickyminds.com is running an excellent article on understanding introverts and extroverts by Naomi Karten. Project teams often have both these types and managing them requires us to understand each of these personality traits and manage them accordingly.

My comments on Naomi's article as on Stickyminds.com:

One of my introvert team member came up to me and expressed his concerns over my ongoing communication with extrovert ones. The extrovert one usually visited me casually and threw his ideas and the introvert one did not take that in right spirit. He even thought I was being partial. It took me a while to convince/counsel him by presenting facts. Teams often have both these types and managing each one of them requires special skills and attention to personality traits. Thanks for your article. ~ Tanmay Vora (06/05/06)

Naomi's response on my comments:

This is an excellent example of how easily people misinterpret the actions of others and see ill intent where none exists. Kudos to you for broadening the employee’s awareness of personality differences and for recognizing the importance of paying attention to these differences in how you manage your staff. You may find it useful to facilitate a discussion with the entire team about the communication preferences of the introverts and extroverts. If you do, I’d enjoy knowing how it turns out. ~ Naomi Karten (06/05/06)

The full text article and my comments therein can be read here.