Workplaces are varied and interesting places. Much of the time you come into contact with many people you like and get along with,
but there will always be someone who you don’t get along with too. The challenge for managers is to create a space which enables all different personality types to work together in harmony, allowing effective collaboration and high quality team work.
Understanding personalities is vital, and one of the most common types of personality found within a workplace is the extrovert.
Extroverts have the tendency to be misunderstood. When you hear the word ‘extrovert’ you might think of someone who is loud and overbearing, someone who is overconfident and even arrogant. That isn’t always the case, and in most situations and extrovert is someone who simply finds it easier to be vocal than others. They are confident, but not necessarily overly so, and they enjoy social situations. Working in teams is ideal for extroverted people, because they thrive when surrounded by others.
Extroverts are great leaders, and they are often seen as role models for younger, more inexperienced members of staff.
Helping an extrovert to become that type of role model is vital if you want to create a harmonious working environment, and one which has team work and collaborative workstations at the heart of everything. Productivity is always high when teams work together well, and giving your extroverts the right environment in which to work will ensure that happens.
To sum up an extrovert:
- Vocal
- Confident
- Great communicator
- Creative thinkers
- Leader
- Good mediator
As you can see, these are fantastic traits to have in a workplace, but it is important to create the right office environment, including clever space planning, which allows introverts to have the space and time they need to undertake their tasks, whilst also allowing extroverts the ability to be able to do what they do best too. The implementation of quiet zones is a good idea here, because introverts can easily seek out the peace and quiet they need!
How to Get The Best Out of an Extrovert
There are different types of extrovert within this umbrella term. For instance, you may have a strong extrovert, who isn’t afraid to speak up, but isn’t necessarily exuberant. On the other hand, you might have another type of extrovert, one who requires noise in order to be able to work effectively, and is quite vocal throughout the day.
Extroverts make fantastic learners, just as introverts do, but they simply go about it in a different manner. Understanding the types of learners within your workforce is also important, to be able to get the most out of them.
A few tips on how to work with the extroverts within your organisation are:
- Give structured work and tasks to your extroverts to avoid them going off on a tangent
- Also give plenty of collaborative work, in a structured manner, so that ideas can be developed with others in the team
- Make sure that projects are engaging, e.g. they have a level of excitement or interest around them. This will help extroverts to be stimulated, and therefore bring out the best of their idea sharing and creative thinking
- Always give praise where praise is due – extroverts love it when someone gives them a pat on the back
- Encourage enthusiasm and don’t hold it down by giving menial tasks. Also don’t expect them to be chained to their office desks with tasks which require quiet time on a regular basis; this won’t get the best out of them.
Tasks which require creative, outside the box thinking are ideal for an extrovert. They love to get their teeth into projects which seem complicated, but can be picked apart and conquered – they love a challenge. Be sure to give them the right environment to do all of this, perhaps with the implementation of bench desks for easier collaboration within teams.
How to Ensure a Harmonious Working Environment
It’s true that some extroverts can be a little too much for an introvert, but it’s important to encourage and handle each personality type correctly, to ensure a harmonious working environment is achieved. Give each type what they need, e.g. space or otherwise, and allow them the opportunities to share or work quietly, depending upon the task at hand. It is entirely possible to have a hard working, productive teams consisting of different types of personalities, it’s simply about the environment in which they work and the opportunities they are given.
Understanding that extroverts will not thrive well if they’re chained to their workstations and expected to cover quiet work all the time is key. On the flip side, an introvert is not going to feel comfortable if they have to give large presentations to groups of people on a regular basis either. Middle ground is key!