Corona Is Introvert Heaven

The coronavirus smashed so many of our habits. Like being able to hug a friend. Or going to work every day. And, guess what—some of us are thriving! In fact, some of us right now cringe at the thought they'd have to go back to the hustle and bustle. Many, but not all, of these people may be part of the overlooked mass of introverts that comprise between a third and a half of the American population.

"Extroversion has historically been celebrated while society has tried to cure introversion," says Melissa Taylor.

For people who are overwhelmed by prolonged social interaction and are deterred by noise, quarantine has its perks. A while ago (when people still met in person), I had a meeting at the Pfizer offices in NYC. Then we decided to continue over a late lunch. There were only two of us and a few other people at the other end of the restaurant. But boy, were they loud. They probably felt this was the right way to have fun. And maybe for them, it was, but for me, this boisterousness was torture. I doubt anyone takes this personality tendency, deeply ingrained, into account when planning "fun!" work events.

Even in universities, extroversion is the norm. My daughter's school has "active time!" every Monday. A cool idea, with music and dancing. She never participates—it's much too much for her. And she is not alone.

Ignoring the needs of introverts can hurt their work performance. Many jobs require concentration, which is hard to accomplish in a room full of people—harder for introverts than for extroverts. Likewise, meetings—where extroverts process information by discussion, introverts do it by consideration. They also recharge by being alone.

Half of us are introverts!

Source: @jjjordan / Unsplash

Adam Grant also writes about this, reminding us to harness the power of introverts but do it their way. I don't think Grant imagined a pandemic would help the world experiment with introvert-appropriate structures.

The implication is clear: Work as we knew it was extrovert-oriented. COVID-19 work—for those of us who toil at our desks, from home or elsewhere—was introvert-oriented. If productivity wasn't impacted, it would be asinine to just go back, having learned nothing and implemented no change.

We need to use the lessons learned and redesign work environments. "Re-imagine" them. Allow for more flexibility. Accept that work from home can be very productive, more productive, in fact, for some. Sure, we need to meet in person, but not every day, all the time, over everything.

The new and flexible workplace will also be less wasteful in terms of time—a 2.5-hour commute a day is the opposite of productive. It's hurting our work-life balance, our health, and our planet. And for what?

COVID-19 has allowed us to experiment with a new form of work. No need to keep the lights on at work, and the AC, at all times. Let's take the opportunity to broaden our spectrum of what "work" looks like. Let's match work procedures to worker personalities, at least more so than we did before. Between a third and a half of the American workforce will be (quietly) thankful.