Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Feb 19, 2018 8:36 AM
Replying to Vincent Guerard
...
Andrew,
Interesting I see introverted often more efficient/successful than extraverted.
I have often see
Introverted the quiet leader that deliver effectively
Extraverted the loud that distract, make noise and eventually deliver.
Agreed. My point was to highlight peoples mistakes to make these assumptions in the first place Saving Changes...
Janice GrierSenior Technical Vendor Manager| ATTShelby Township, Mi, United States
I think the perception problem has to do with the evaluation of the PM. More vocal PM (extraverted) too often get better evaluation. Saving Changes...
Bobbie SchofieldManager IT Project ManagementBrentwood, Tn, United States
I am by nature an Introvert and I don't think everyone really understands what that means. There are a lot of people who think I am an extrovert. I have worked with many extroverted PMs and I can tell you that not all of them were good or successful. I have been very successful as a project manager but I also know what I need to do in order to get things done. I work on complex IT projects in the Biomedical Research area where most of the people I work with are introverts some to the extreme and I work very well with them because I understand how they work and what they need to be successful. I have also found it is easier for me to do really well on agile projects. I would encourage folks to take a look at Susan Cain's Ted Talk on Introverts, it really changed my life and to understand the value of introverts, this
information is valuable to anyone.
https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts
...
1 reply by Dayiris Barrios
Feb 23, 2018 4:07 PM
Dayiris Barrios
...
That Ted talked opened my ideas to many misconceptions. I purchased the book Quiet after watching the TED talk and it was amazing, it changed my life as well :)
Vincent You read my mind !. Reviewing the responses to the topic shows that we need to talk about it a bit more e.g PM's personality - communication style, I listened to a webinar here that touched on individual preferred communication within the team that was great. Saving Changes...
Training in facilitating meetings is especially helpful with an introvert PM but great for everyone. Once they have a process to follow and someone assigned to help in the meetings, it becomes easier to check the list of activities with less stress from interaction.
Also, making sure that there is a proper methodology from holding the team members accountable can reduce the stress of confrontation when they need to ping a team member for deliverables.
It is important that the team is aware of the communication ground rules and terms of engagement. While the innate desire to provide customer service makes PM have a tendency to alter their style to fit some team members, we must be true to what we as project managers can bring to the table to successfully fulfill the project goal and realize value. Saving Changes...
I like Kiron and Dinah's comments. I don't recall seeing a project succeed or fail because of a PM's extrovert or introvert personality. That said, I wouldn't think one extreme or the other is necessarily good (e.g., I could imagine a person is so extraverted they engage in everything other than their project, or a person is so introverted they cannot communicate to anyone). A good PM is going to do what it takes to make the project successful and in my experience I see other characteristics that make a project successful (motivation, is this a project they're interested in, having the right people to get the job done, ability to remove impediments, can use the right tools at the right time, etc.) Saving Changes...
Shivanjali BhutkarBringing Technology and Business togetherNa, Ca, United States
Good point Dinah. Working with people in meetings can exhaust a PM. Not sure who can still keep talking after an exhausting day! Not sure if an extrovert can!
Mihail BarakoskiTransformation Lead | Agile Coach| TakedaBratislava, Slovakia
A person can have many other traits that categorize him as a good, better or worse type of personalty to work with and quite often doesn't reflect the professional ability. Everyone needs to make his effort to adapt and be able to bring the best out of himself and the people he/she is working with. Empathy is way more important to connect to people, that either limits or unlocks a PM communication ability and prob the most impactful skill one professional can have. I have never seen this being 'given' by default for being an Extrovert or Introvert. Saving Changes...
