As an executive coach I meet with a lot of coachees who are introverts, and they often tell me that they struggle with being understood in their organisation and by their line managers.

So, I decided to put together three top tips to help you better understand how you can support introverts in their growth at your organisation:

Be mindful of feedback you provide
One of the most important things you can do is to be very mindful of the feedback you’re giving to introverted team members. This is something that always comes up in my sessions with introverted coachees – they’ll say something along the lines of “my manager always says I need to be more confident”.

A common example they are often given for not being confident is not speaking up in meetings or presentations. That automatically makes them feel low, because they don’t necessarily lack confidence, it’s just not their natural go-to. An introvert will often want to sit back and really process and think about what’s being said and how they are able to apply that to their work.

So be mindful of that, because what tends to wind up happening is their confidence does start to erode as a result of this kind of feedback. Giving proper examples of what they could do better in specific situations is more constructive.

Facilitate individuals in setting realistic goals
It’s important to help an introvert set realistic performance goals. Quite often, introverts can be quiet, and they may not push back and say “I can’t do something”. They’ll often take on too much work, things might slow down, they’ll find themselves working extra hours and you might find your introvert ends up burning out – but you never saw it coming. 

It’s really important to help introverts manage their realistic time goals.

Give people time to prepare
Another thing you can do to help an introvert at work is to give them advance notice so that they are able to properly prepare.

For example, if they haven’t been speaking up in meetings, why not give them a heads up? There’s nothing like getting a day or two’s notice that you’re going to call on them during the meeting. This will go a long way, because it enables them to come up with some talking points, or a question that they might have. When they show up prepared, they’ll be confidently showing up. 

What I’ve found with introverts I’ve worked with is that often, when they’re called on out of the blue, they can’t find their words because they’re shocked or panicking. And because it’s not their natural mode they can shut down, and this can end up eroding their confidence even more. A simple ‘heads up’ can make the situation easier for everybody to navigate.