The pros and cons of a being introvert and extrovert will be an ongoing discussion. Neither personality is inherently worse or better and both have their set of pros and cons and their effectiveness can vary depending on the scenario.
Due to the rise of many successful introverts in the last century, there exists an unspoken notion in the air that introverts definitely win in their life through their hardwork. While they may make it big but according to a recent research from Harvard, introverts may have a slight disadvantage at their work place than their extrovert peers.
Difference in Introvert vs Extroverted Behaviors at Workplace
| Extroverts At Workplace | Introverts At Workplace |
| They thrive on interactions with co-workers throughout the day. They often are the initiators of group lunches, after-work gatherings and etc. | They like to keep their energy conserved for worth-related matters only. Socializing at workplace beyond the need feels draining to them. |
| They express their ideas more quickly, however that doesn’t mean they are always right. | The tend to be more reserved during meetings and often take time to process the information before crafting their response. |
| Their confrontation style can be direct which may be perceived aggressive but not necessarily wrong. | They tend to avoid direct confrontation and may seek solutions which could involves comprimses and deep refletion. However such approach may not be always appropriate for every scenario. |
| They love to mix with other people during their free time. | Solitude is their primary requirement after spending energy on essential matters like work, and other activities. It helps them to recharge. |
Extroverts are considered more passionate at Workplace
The research done by HBS shows that employers may perceive extroverts as more passionate employees even when both introverts and extroverts report same levels of excitement and enthusiasm for their work. Suprising thing is that the introverts are seen less passionate than extroverts, even if that is not true!
According to the study’s result, employees believe that they display passion through higher quality of work and positive emotions and less with body language, facial expressions and quantity of work.
Since the introverts are percieved as less passionate, therefore are at noticeable disadvantage compared to extroverts in aspects of promotions, and assignments. The authors of this study also opines that such biasedness may restrict the introverts to move into higher rankings of the organization, even though they may be fully deserving of it.
The things that work in the favour of the extroverts is in their ability to demonstrate feelings more through animated facial expressions whereas introverts come across as aloof due to their reserved nature, as per Jon M. Jachimowicz, who is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School.
While it may not be possible to change our core personality altogether for the sake of being more appealing to important people, it begs the question whether someone should consider fine-tuning their personality in order to be Ambivert, atleast at the workplace?
Unclear Relation between Passion and Favourable Outcome : Study
Often we see that passion is a desirable trait for employers in recruitment and the author of the study opines that there are evidences of passion leading to favourable outcomes for the organization. However, the correlation between passion and success is not perfect. While being passionate encourages to face challenging scenarios, it also means unrealistic expectations at time and the discouragement can be more during unfavourable outcome.
“On the one hand, it’s great. It’s this motivating force. When you’re passionate, you’re attracted to more challenging assignments. But it also means that when you experience setbacks, it hurts more. Passion by itself is not enough to deal with some of the challenges and frustrations you might face.” says Kai Krautter of HBS, the doctoral student who took part in the research conducted by Jon Jachimowicz
