Activate your Introvert

In this week’s show

• Mystic Veg: A fortune tellers’ predictions which seem as accurate as most instant introvert extrovert tests.
• A wedding proposal gone wrong: It seems dramatic stunts are not just used for poor quality team building events.
• Porn in the house: Doing things quietly in the corner is a good thing?
• Ejaculating bees: A sad story about hot weather.
• A discussion with Donna Obstfeld: Donna is an HR Specialist; helping employers who care about their people to make their workplace a better place to be; saving them time, money & stress. Contact Donna at https://DOHR.co.uk
• Question of the week: How does introversion affect personality?

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• A grievance can be a good thing, it allows clarity and conversation.
• Know how your staff like to interact.
• Know how people like to be dealt with.
• Confidence should not be conflated with introversion or extroversion

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• Leading the country: The ongoing saga of choosing a new personality to drive our country forwards
• Ovation saturation. Have we got standing ovation inflation?
• Working from home: It's 13% more efficient than the office
• Team burning in Switzerland:  A horribly different problem at a team building event, where the normal problem is they don't work that well. 
• A discussion with Sharon Barton. Contact Sharon at https://harbourHR.co.uk
• Question of the week: Are introverts less authentic? Read more about the problem with authenticity at work 

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• Get to know your people and their preferences
• Like most other personality traits, introvert / extrovert is a spectrum
• As an introvert, when you speak people to listen
• Drive and desire may help you find tactics to appear more extroverted, but you’ll still lose “people energy” and have the benefits of internal processing
• Not down to leader to create environment on their own

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• Love island, or is it loveless house?  The Conservative leadership race steps up.
• Do you respect other workers and do they respect you? A survey by officevibe
• Extroverts don't always make the most stable leaders. An article in TrainingZone
• A giant step for hamkind: A hamster survives daring trip into the stratosphere on a flying balloon
• A discussion with Tony Brooks: Tony is a leadership psychologist, runs leadership training workshops and speaks on survival psychology. Contact Tony at https://theleadershiptrainingworkshop.com/
• Question of the week: What should I NOT ask an introvert?

Please complete this short survey on ego, extroversion and drive for success. Click here (5 questions)

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• Human nature to doubt ourselves -many people don’t feel good enough
• Introverts may need to make themselves socialise at times and lockdown got us out of practice.
• Being aware of doubting yourself can give you power.
• Survival psychology: We used to be afraid of sabre tooth tigers, now it’s often our ego!

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

Download your guide to small talk and introverts. Click here 

In this week’s show

• How good are French drivers?
• The airport chaos: One thing we should ALWAYS be doing, introvert, or extrovert
• Leading change:
• A discussion with Amy Rowlinson. Amy is a Life Purpose Strategist and host of the incredibly successful Focus on WHY Podcast, it’s in the top 1% of podcasts globally. It’s that focus on WHY that I’d like to chat about Amy about. Amy also helps people seek fulfilment and purpose in life. Contact Amy at https://www.amyrowlinson.com/
• Question of the week: How can you engage an introvert in small talk? To download your guide to small talk for you and your team, click here.

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• The power of understanding your purpose and using it in your business/ life. What’s your purpose, why do you do what you do?
• Start finding your purpose by looking at things you really love, or that really anger you
• The importance of long term vision in a business, so everybody understands it and how their role fits within that
• And I loved Amy’s phrase - Not a mid life crisis a midlife beginning

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• Leadership and introversion
• Introversial news items: A DIY store problem about unwritten, but obvious rules and and uplifting way to deal with car thieves
• A discussion with Paul Harris: Paul helps farmers to build harmonious high-performance teams
• Contact Paul at http://www.real-success.co.uk/
• Question of the week: What is the most engaging speaking style for an introvert to hear?

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• The “macho” view that leadership is about extroversion, demonstrated by speaking up and having gravitas is wrong.
• Farming has the same leadership issues as many other sectors, some may even be magnified.
• The basic assumption that people are like us, leads to communications and productivity issues, no matter how much we think it should be true.
• Good leadership means making less assumptions and going deeper into understanding people.

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• Boris, or Keir – is it an introvert, extrovert thing?
• A discussion with the introvert recruiter Carey Curry: Recruitment is interesting for two reasons: the extrovert bias where many employers look for the wrong people and because many recruitment agencies are seen as pushy, salesy and extroverted. How can you attract and bring out the best in your introverted candidates. Contact Carey on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/careycurry
• Question of the week: How can I make my interviewing more introvert friendly?
• Bottle-fed babies ‘more likely to develop fetish for rubber gimp suits’.

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• How strong the extroverted bias is in many companies and it’s often unconscious
• Changing words on your job advert can attract many more people, who are different and possibly better.
• The importance of recruiting for introverts and extroverts

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What's your question?

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• Draco Malfoy has imposter phenomena!
• One MP’s version of leadership: Yes, it's another partygate clip.
• A discussion with Lorna Helps: Lorna specialises in helping CEOs of small businesses thrive by identifying and implementing the best style of hybrid working for their business and employees. Ever since lockdown there’s been an ongoing debate about working location, style and personality, so I’m looking forward to learning from Lorna. Contact Lorna at https://vibrant-thinking.com
• Question of the week: On zoom / teams how to handle the camera on/ off thing with regards introverts.

• This is so much more than introverts prefer home working and extroverts prefer the office. We all need good people contact.
• Think hard about the WHY. That’s more than a simple staff survey.
• Hybrid working isn’t just allowing people to work from home, it’s having a workforce who work in the best location for them and you, on any one day.
• If you want to be allowed to work remotely, consider the organisational benefits when discussing the issue with your manager

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• UFOs, George Bush and obesity:
• A discussion with Kate Atkin: Kate is a speaker and facilitator who specialises in imposter Syndrome. It really is a phenomenon and one which I’d love to know more about. Contact Kate at https://www.kateatkin.com/
• Question of the week: Are introverts happy that the extroverts and shouting out / answering the questions as they can then avoid the limelight?

My takeaways from the discussion were:

• It’s not a syndrome, it’s a phenomena or “imposter chatter”
• Talk about experiencing it, rather than suffering from
• Accepting we can do something is not the same as hubris and arrogance.
• And that wonderful quote “True humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less” (C.S. Lewis)

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

I also briefly mentioned the discussion with Derek Arden about reframing, click to listen to that episode.

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• Leaders: Do they have to attend leaving parties?
• Working from home, or the office, which is right?
• Question of the week: How to handle people who don’t want to go to drinks after work. Two articles linked to this answer are:
  • Tips for planning work social events that are introvert friendly
  • Tips for introverts to survive work social events
• A discussion with Jim Culverwell: Jim is the premises mentor. He helps businesses get the right premises on the right terms for them. He has, naturally been very involved in the working from home / working from office issues; but from a different angle which I thought it would be good to explore. Contact Jim at https://culverwellconsulting.co.uk

• Both home working and office working have benefits, how do you get the best of both.
• The first imperative in the working from home v the office debate is what’s right for the business and the people, when doing the job they need to be doing.
• Office design is changing to allow more collaborative spaces and more quiet working spaces. Open place isn’t a good thing for many people who need to focus, especially introverts.

What were your takeaways? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.

In this week’s show

• If superheroes suffer with imposter syndrome, so can your team!
• Question of the week: Do introverts suffer with more self doubt than extroverts? You might like to read more at https://introvertinbusiness.co.uk/self-doubt-and-introverts/
• A discussion with Fiona English: Fiona is a keynote speaker and coach who combines her extensive experience in global investment markets with expertise in human potential. One of her key beliefs is that the key to purpose in life is to express all of who you are and can be. Which seems so appropriate in managing people especially introverts. Contact Fiona at https://fiona-english.com

• Focus on wholeness, not purpose. Getting people to find their purpose isn’t helpful.
• Three pillars which help are goals, values and “do I feel my life is valuable to me”
• Meaning has lost all meaning, because of how it’s been overused.

What were yours? Add to a discussion on the Facebook page Activate Your Introvert

What question would you like answered about introversion? Visit ActivateYourIntrovert.co.uk  and let me know. I’ll answer your question on the show, and you'd be welcome to join me on the show, if you like.