Building Sustainable Teams — How The Future of Leadership is Being Shaped by Introverts

The time of forcing people to work is over.

“I screwed up real bad. I don’t know how to fix it”, he said, sitting in front of my desk and looking extremely anxious.

“What happened?”, I asked in a calm voice.

“I took the hourly sample from a wrong tank. The lab results are all screwed up because of me,” the nineteen years old plant operator said as he fumbled with the zipper of his coveralls.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. We will fix it together. Let’s go take another sample,” I said, smiling encouragingly.

As a Chemical Engineer responsible for running a Petrochemical Plant, it was my responsibility to troubleshoot and find solutions for problems that might happen during operation.

This was a situation where the inexperienced young operator made a mistake while taking one of the samples that are used to determine product quality.

I put on my safety shoes and helmet and took him to the correct tank and observed as he took the sample, sealed it, and labeled it. He did a good job.

We took the sample to the lab where I asked the lab supervisor to kindly analyze the sample and override the results of the previous one.

Afterwards, we went back to my office and I poured the young operator some water as he sat on one of two chairs in front of the desk. I took the other chair.

“Thank you for being honest”, I said. “You saved us, and our colleagues in the next shift a lot of hassle when you came forward.”

“Thank you for helping me fix the problem,” he said, looking a little bit more relaxed.

“It’s okay buddy. Mistakes happen. The most important thing is you did not try to bury the issue. Coming forward like that gave us the time to fix the mistake”, I replied, smiling.

For the good part of fifteen minutes, I had a talk with the young operator. Making sure to assert the importance of precision in our line of work.

I gave him some examples of big problems that happened because of mistakes similar to the one he just made.

In the end, I commended him for the good job he did while taking the second sample and sent him on his way to continue his work.

I did not scorn him. I did not make fun of him. I did not make him feel bad about what happened in any way. I just helped and supported him.

My professional style doesn’t change if I was dealing with a manager, a colleague of the same level, a junior team member, or someone on the first steps of the administrative ladder.

I use humility, respect, and appreciation. I have found through my fourteen years in leadership positions that people value those traits more than any other.

This approach was the reason why the operator felt safe to come forward and tell me that he erred.

Some leaders are so hard on their teams that people are worried about their reaction more than the consequences of the problem itself. They try to hide the problem to avoid being reprehended by their manager.

Employees will go the extra mile for you only when they feel respected and appreciated, and they will respect and appreciate you in return.

The Time of Greg the Gregarious is No More

We grew up in the seventies, the eighties, and even the nineties being taught that to be a good leader you have to be a people’s person.

You had to be outgoing and at ease in the presence of large numbers of people.

Public speaking and the ability to clearly present your case even in the face of altercations were also traits highly valued in the twentieth-century leadership model.

In his article, The Future Of Leadership — From A Millennials Perspective, Tim Denning talks about a dark trait that was assumed by some people in leadership positions, Deception, or the ability to manipulate people.

He says:

Manipulation is a technique that was used in the past to get people to do work they didn’t want to do. The days of these techniques working will become less and less effective.

We are now living in times where everyone has access to unlimited resources of knowledge. Employees know their rights. There is no deceiving them into submission anymore.

The leadership model revolving around gregariousness, quick wits, and — in some cases — sharp tounges is diminishing, giving way to more humane approaches to leadership.

“We have two ears and one mouth and we should use them proportionally.”― Susan Cain

The Introvert Leadership Style

Susan Cain, in her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, says:

“We don’t need giant personalities to transform companies. We need leaders who build not their own egos but the institutions they run.”

And that’s what it’s all about. Leaders should never focus on their own image. Instead, they should be building the institutions they run. That includes everyone working with them as well.

Introverts, preferring to take a quieter approach to life, are able to observe and take in a lot of information that passes by extroverts in their daily race to socialize.

Spoken words, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language are all inputs that introverts take in, process, and use to understand people.

Once you understand someone, it is possible to guide them on the road to success, to realize their potential and achieve their, and the business’s goals.

Being an introvert myself, I have been doing this for the past ten years of my career. Observing, understanding, and then guiding to success.

I have built a few teams of engineers who are still functioning strong even after I left them seeking other adventures.

So, let’s take a look at the main traits of the introvert leadership style in more detail.

Quiet Observation

Knowing how annoying it is to be asked to act in a way that is not suitable for you, we don’t force our ways on people.

We acknowledge the uniqueness of each individual in the team, then take an appropriate approach to guide them into success.

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your team members is the single most important thing in building a Sustainable Team.

People might have unrealistic ideas about themselves and what they are good or bad at.

This is why observation is essential in understanding each individual and knowing for a fact what their strengths, weaknesses, and interests are.

Knowing the Strengths will allow you to assign the appropriate task for each individual.

Interests are what you will use to keep your team members involved and eager for the next project.

For example, a young engineer is comfortable supervising work in the field and is capable of motivating workers to produce results efficiently.

He is also interested in writing and takes pride in his grammatical correctness.

You can use him to supervise workers and get the job done, then you can ask him to review the Operations Manual Draft for grammatical mistakes.

You got the work done, and you got the engineer involved in something special that he will take personal pride in.

Without quiet observation, that whole world of opportunities is closed to you.

‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world.’ — Mahatma Gandhi”

Genuine Compassion

Loathing small talk and fake emotions, introverts are incapable of faking interest in someone or something.

If a team member has a problem, the care and compassion we show are always genuine.

May it be that the introvert relies on feeling or logic to deal with others, the interest and the desire to help is always true.

People can feel it when you are genuine, and this helps to build a robust relationship with the team members.

Helping your team members navigate their personal problems is a tricky path though, and might lead to unwanted results.

Here are some pieces of advice on how to deal with it.

As a leader, you need to be able to show empathy and care, but you also must avoid becoming an employee’s personal confidante. After all, your job as manager is not to be the office shrink. — Carolyn O’Hara

Mutual Respect and Trust

If you don’t trust your team members, there is no team. And if you don’t respect them, they will never respect you.

Some leaders still think it’s appropriate for them to shout at their employees or if they make a mistake or micromanage them to prevent that mistake from happening again.

This type of behavior must be discouraged and firmly eradicated.

The introvert leadership style revolves around mutual respect in all that we do. The team is comprised of different people with different personalities.

Each one of them deserves respect and fair treatment. People make mistakes, and it’s never the end of the world when they do.

Introverts always hold themselves accountable. We know we are responsible for the team.

If a team member makes a mistake, it’s my role to guide them and teach them better, not belittle them or stop trusting them.

In her article, Do You Really Trust Your Team? Amy Jen Su explores many of the aspects of trust and respect in team building.

When you give trust, you not only empower others, you also develop the individuals on your team into stronger contributors, and in doing so, you empower yourself as a leader. — Amy Jen Su

Developing Sustainable Teams

By realizing the individual potential for each team member, we move forward to offering guidance, support, and training for them to realize such potential.

In doing so, we raise the level of the whole team and create a Sustainable Team that is full of confidence in their own abilities.

Sustainable Teams continue to work efficiently even with a change of management.

One of the teams that I have built is currently a part of the operational task force running one of the most strategically significant oil refineries in Egypt.

This team has added new members through the years, but the performance did not falter because the old members are elevating the new guys to their level.

It’s like a pay-it-forward charity, where your good deed keeps ongoing as long as there are people willing to take the time to help others to improve and gain confidence in themselves.

In his article, The new rules of effective leadership, Aytekin Tank touches on the subject of lifting people up to their potential.

He says:

Good leaders elevate those around them, both personally and professionally.

These leaders go beyond on-the-job competency and aim to shape people’s character and values for the better, too.

Conclusion

The new, modern compassionate leadership style, is but a reflection of the Introvert Leadership Style.

Authors like Susan Cain and Jim Martin have been addressing this issue for some time, trying to raise awareness of the power of Introversion and Compassion in the business world.

In his book, The Modern Compassionate Leader: 12 Essential Characteristics of the Rising Sales Leader, Jim Martin describes the compassionate leader as one who wins by creating more winners.

“Make no mistake. Business is about winning. But it is not simply about defeating others in that endeavor. There is abundance. Enough for everybody. The Modern Compassionate Leader achieves success while creating other winners.” wrote Jim.

How To Adapt?

In her TED-Talk, Susan Cain said that Introverts make about 50% of the population of the United States.

Now, if you belong to the introverted 50% of the population, you will find that this leadership style comes to you naturally.

If you are of the 50% extroverted population, you might need to take a step back from the goal-chasing, and social engagement.

Take some time to rethink how your leadership style looks like.

• Are you imposing your own ideas and techniques on the team?
• Is your main goal to succeed and fulfill your personal goals? Or are you trying to lift the whole team to their true potential?
• Do you allow each member of the team to express his or her ideas that an individual, rather than a gear in your well-oiled machine?
• How approachable are you? Are your team members comfortable talking to you about their problems?

Based on your answers to these questions, you can determine if your leadership style is compliant with the modern compassionate leadership style, that is the Introverted Style or not.