How managers can create a work environment for both introverts and extroverts to thrive in
Extensive research about effective working environments finds that lighting, noise, color, and even air quality affects employee productivity. These factors stimulate the introvert and extrovert differently.
Because our environment is all about energy like the energy from the people in the room, the energy from the way things are arranged, or the energy from either clutter or organization, by far this is one area that affects us from the moment we get to work until the end of the workday.
Leaders and staff would benefit immensely in creating an environment that serves both the more introverted and more extroverted if they know how to set things up to play to each preference.
Lighting
While extroverts can better tolerate bright light, partially because of not being so affected by sensory stimulation, introverts do better with more subdued and indirect lighting.
Lighting companies know the type of lighting can affect both our mental state and therefore our performance.
By our very nature as introverts, we prefer calmer places. In the lighting world, this can mean more indirect lighting.
Extroverts are not as affected by such sensory factors. Bright lights might even energize them.
Lighting will affect alertness and activity in people differently. The best way to know how you are affected is by trying different kinds and checking their effect on your work.
Music
In a workspace occupied by introverts, music is more of a distraction than a factor that might help concentration and focus.
Numerous studies have examined the effects of music on performance. A current study by Adrian Furnham and Anna Bradley, Department of Psychology, University College London, UK, found that depending on both the task and the temperament of the employee, music while you work can mean either better or worse performance.
If you asked yourself was it introverts or extroverts who performed better with music, even pop music, and you answered extroverts, you are right.
Even background music may cause introverts to lose focus and have worse performance.
Choice
In the design of an office the optimal situation is to have both quiet and open spaces that give people the type of space needed for the task at hand.
A recent study by the design firm Gensler found both open-plan layouts and the lower cubicle setup do more to compromise some workers' ability to concentrate and be productive. The findings from surveying 2,035 employees found that it is when employees are given their choice between quiet spaces and collaborative spaces that productivity is optimal.
This actually applies to introverts and extroverts alike in cases where the task is more knowledge-based.
Collaborative office space can be an open-plan office design. Credit is often given to German designers, post-war, for the open plan office design still in many offices today. Replacing traditional factory style line up of desks for what was once thought to a better arrangement, with workers facing the boss like in schools where students were facing the teacher, now there was not necessarily a hierarchy of seating.
Cubicles, possibly the last chance for an introvert to have privacy, are on the way out.
Faux privacy
Faux privacy is where privacy by personal office is not possible or impractical in the company space, earplugs or even headphones can serve to dampen the surrounding noise.
Founded in 1994, when in 2012 Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer took the position she quickly got the media's attention: she ended telecommuting for all of their 11,500 employees working in that way.
It turns out research finds that telecommuting is almost an ideal work environment for an extrovert. Suppositions are it is because of their quicker decision-making style in a more volatile environment. They can better manage inevitable interruptions that might happen because of looser rules at home. And regardless of where they work from, they stay connected with people.
Introverts just may thrive in the structure of the office environment and schedule.
Mayer and the human resource people believed in-person interaction is still best for communicating even for these knowledge workers. E-mail would not serve the purpose as well in particular as the company was going to be forging new territory.
Part of the changes also included redoing the office space to create a more collaborative atmosphere.
What kind of work might many of the employees be involved in that requires concentration, focus, even research?
Apparently the jury is still out on the changes Mayer made. As relates to our personality style, there are proponents for both the more introverted and more extroverted being affected the most.
Mayer seems to bring in to this decision to end telecommuting what she learned at Google in terms of where innovation comes from: discovery, collaboration, and fun.
The more you research Mayer's move you find firms like Apple, Facebook, Zappos and more, with data supporting evidence of how more interaction, in part from collaboration, fosters faster decision-making and more innovation.
If extroverts do thrive with people connections, they could benefit from being lassoed back to an office where people and interactions abound.
If introverts excel with a quiet and alone space, and offices have nothing but this stated collaborative environment, there is doubt their productivity could also thrive.
However, privacy can both quickly and inexpensively be created if the environment is an open office plan. Headphones are one option for those who want to block out the buzz around them. One step up from this would be creating a sectioned-off quiet work place when someone needs more focus, concentration, and privacy for the work at hand.
There is not a win-lose in the situation for any personality group as a whole. We have to know our preference for our privacy at work, considering there are various other personal traits and preferences that affect our productivity in any environment. The key is to know there are options if you are an introvert whose clear preference includes more privacy.
