Creating Introvert-Friendly Workplaces

Book excerpt: "This important book offers organizations the keys to introvert inclusion." —Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet Influence The first guide to creating a welcoming culture that maximizes the powerful contributions introverts bring to the workplace. As the diversity, equity, and inclusion wave widens and deepens its reach, introversion is becoming a natural part of that movement. After all, about half the population identify as introverts, but many organizations are stuck in traditional extrovert-centric workplace cultures that reward people for speaking up publicly, expect them to log face time, and employ hiring and promotion practices rooted in the past. This ultimately discourages introverts from contributing and reaching their full talent potential, which could have a major impact on the bottom line. "Champion for introverts" Jennifer Kahnweiler offers a road map for everyone in the workplace--including leaders, human resource managers, and team members--to create inclusive, introvert-friendly cultures. Kahnweiler provides an assessment to determine how introvert friendly your organization is and looks at every aspect of organizational life--hiring, training, leading, communicating, meeting, designing workplaces, and more--through an inclusive lens. You'll discover how to make open-space offices introvert friendly, what the best practices are for encouraging introverts to participate on teams, which training techniques work best for introverts, and how to make remote positions work.