Activate your Introvert

• Introverts are more romantic
• Understanding introverts in your team
• And an interview with Canadian Journalist Sarah Moore

Sarah is a journalist in Nova Scotia who recently wrote a brilliant article about introversion in journalism and the myth that all journalists must be extroverts. After reading it, I just knew I had to interview her. You can connect with Sarah on Twitter, @sarah_moore_1

Taking time to understand introversion will help you get more from your team and it's worth it as 33% - 50% of your team are introverts. This week's episode examines some ideas to help, and you could read "How to understand an introverted employee"

I did think about saving this for Valentines day, but the team I was working with asked it as they must have had a fun Christmas party! Simply put, no. Is the background all about fantasies and to quote a certain prince "whatever in love means"

• Happy World Introvert day
• Do introverts need more sleep?
• And an interview with Sophie Morris

Sophie frees quiet professionals from overwhelm so they can use their voice to be heard without having to shout. Contact her at quietosophy.com

Happy World Introvert day for January 2nd. A day when people across the world can learn more about introversion. On LinkedIn a group of global introvert experts are collaborating for the day publishing useful material

Introverts need more sleep, weird idea - even though I could take some zzzzzzz's right now. 

• Introvert myth of the week: Introverts are unemotional
• Tip of the week: Christmas Gifts for your introverts
• And a discussion with John Hotowka

John is a resilience speaker and trainer who helps organisations to improve their team’s resilience, boosting performance and mental wellbeing. Contact John at hotowka.co.uk

Do you think about introverts at Christmas? Parties, social gathering, more noise, more disruptions? How can you help?

Introverts are unemotional

• Hybrid working and the channel tunnel – thinking about what that means for you as a leader
• The thorny old myth about public speaking
• And an interview with Simon Raybould

Simon's a presentation consultant who makes your presentations have impact, without freaking you out in the process. Contact Simon at reluctant.presentationgenius.info

Tip of the week: What can improving your team’s performance have to do with the channel tunnel which marks an important 30th anniversary this month

Introvert myth of the week: Introverts don’t like presenting. It's been around since 1 BC

Happy Podiversary on the 52nd edition of Activate Your Introvert

In this week’s show………

• A summary of some of the leadership advice that's been covered this year
• Introvert myth of the week: Introverts just want to be alone
• An interview with Vicky O'Farrell. Vicky is known as the queen of behaviours and specialising in working with people on the profiling system DISC. She’s one of the most popular guests on the show in the last year, so I invited her back to celebrate the first podiversary Vicky's website is motivationalvoice.uk

Introvert myth of the week

Introverts just want to be alone. Not only is it wrong, it's bad for everybody. Here's another myth to go into the bin.

It's nearly happy birthday, this is anniversary episode 2, where I revisit one of our most popular guests from the year.

In this week’s show………

• Getting the quiet members of your team to speak up
• Introvert myth of the week: Introverts don't make good leaders
• An interview with Clare Haynes. Clare is a coach who puts the human back into being at work and is an expert at helping people resolve difficult conversations at work. Her website is wildfireatwork.co.uk

A common request from leaders is how to get the quieter team members to speak up more in meetings. The answer, line them up!

https://introvertinbusiness.co.uk/running-meetings-that-make-things-happen/

Introverts don't make good leaders! In the week where it's the 35th birthday of Windows 1, that seems a good time to tackle this persistent myth.

It's nearly happy birthday, so this is anniversary episode 1.

In this week’s show………

• A tip to get more from your wfh team
• Introvert myth of the week: Introversion can be cured, just speak up
• And an interview with graphic designer Angie Phillips

Angie Phillips is a multiple award winning graphic design consultant. The interview I did with her about networking was one of the most popular in the year, so I thought I’d invite her back for a few minutes to help celebrate the show’s birthday

Working from home, office working and hybrid working are all big changes to the way we’re used to working. How does that switch affect your team?

How do you use the greatest control mechanism you have a manager – the meeting? Here's a simple tip, taken from a childhood love of watching Ice  Skating!

https://introvertinbusiness.co.uk/running-meetings-that-make-things-happen/

Introverts can fix themselves and become extroverts. They just have to speak up!

In this week’s show………

• how to spot an introvert.
• Introvert myth of the week – ego is an extrovert thing
• And an interview with personal brand expert Ian Moyse

Ian is a long time Sales Leader in the tech sector, for the last 13 years specialising in Cloud Computing, with over 25 years tech leadership experience.

He has sat on the boards of a number of related industry bodies and built many new business sales teams in both small start-ups and large corporate organisations.

Get better at spotting the introverts in your team, so you can help them in appropriate ways. This problem is often caused by introverts trying to look like extroverts, as success often has an extrovert appearance. For more ideas go to https://introvertinbusiness.co.uk/spotting-an-introvert-hiding-in-plain-sight/

Ego is an extravert thing.

Yes I know one of the things many introverts dislike is people with big egos taking them out and waving the round. It’s easy to think of big ego people as being extravert, but the two are separate.

Is your introvert ego, holding you back?

In this week’s show………

• Penny for the Guy Mister
• Better remote meetings
• And an interview with Gina Gardiner

Gina is well known for her leadership expertise and illuminates the Way for enlightened leaders to create a more profitable & meaningful mission. Her website is https://genuinely-you.co

Many of us now have to run, or be involved in more virtual meetings than ever before. There’s an assumption that introverts prefer them, as there’s less people contact.

Simple fact is that most people, including introverts find them tiring and often more tiring that face to face. In most face to face meetings people will look around the room every now and again – it’s not frowned upon. But on camera there seems to be an expectation of more concentration.

One simple tip to help – have more breaks and get people to get up and move. The introverts will find it useful, but everybody else too.

Other things that help are being much tighter on the agenda (keep it more relevant to the people in the zoom and stick to it). You could also try getting a different person to summarise the discussion on each subject, so every 10-15 minutes there’s a short summary

For more ideas go to https://introvertinbusiness.co.uk/improve-remote-team-meetings/

Penny for the guy mister….

One myth I’d like to confine to the bonfire today is that it’s easy to tell an introvert from an extrovert.

More and more people wear masks (figuratively, not the covid, or even Guy Fawkes ones). If the rewards for success go to more extrovert behaviours, then it’s no surprise that many introverts will wear a mask to hide in plain sight. Read more at https://introvertinbusiness.co.uk/spotting-an-introvert-hiding-in-plain-sight/

In this week’s show………

• Introverts don’t like being around people
• Promoting your introverts
• And an interview with Nick Shelton

Nick aka “the connected introvert,” has been fine-tuning the craft of effective, high-level social strategy and networking for twenty years

He is the author of “An Introvert's Guide to World Domination: Become a High Level Networker and Upgrade Your Life.” and teaches introverts how to navigate social events with ease.

How many times have you held a meeting with your team and thought “I wish those 2 would say more” and at the same time wondering why that other two never shut up? 

Now you can find out what the drag queens of the undersea world have to do with running better meetings.

For more on running meetings that make things happen, click here.

Introverts are plagued by public speaking anxiety and don’t make good speakers, it's wrong! Once you've listened, you can get more ideas to help at "Myth introverts don't like public speaking