Leadership for introverts

Leadership for introverts
How to lead a team of 40+ people when you don't have the mental energy to do people stuff.

Hello, my name is Alison and I'm an introvert. Groups of strangers make me nervous, parties exhaust me, and I'm scared of talking in public. Also, I run a team of over 40 people. This is how I do it and maintain my sanity.

Transcript

1. Leadership for introverts Alison Hawke
2. Don’t worry about getting the references They’re all in a GitHub Gist, scan the barcode instead. I’ll show this again at the end. 2
3. What you’ll get here: A NSFW song from comedy band Tripod Explaining introversion to others Why we all need introverted leaders What IS leadership? Finding your limits 3
4. What you’ll get here, continued: Coping strategies, bad and good A survival story How to get started in leading Bonus kitten pictures 4
5. Explaining introversion to others Website: IntrovertDoodles.com Marzi explains introvert vs extrovert 5
6. Define “introvert” The highest compliment you can get from an introvert: “You’re not people.” 6
7. Why we need introvert leaders “A third to a half of the population are introverts.” -- Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking 7
8. Thinking differently together Traditional brainstorming is terrible – HiPPOs (*) and extroverts dominate Your first idea is not your best idea ( * HiPPO – Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) 8
9. What is leadership? Happens every day Not big or flashy 9
10. Not required for leadership Doesn’t require a “leader-y” job title Rarely standing up in front of hundreds of people to speak Pointy hair is not necessary 10
11. What is leadership? Traditional boss Making decisions with incomplete information Delivering good and bad news Dealing with poor performance 11
12. What is leadership? Serve and encourage Encourage people Praise their achievements Care for people Serve people 12
13. What is leadership? Coach and speed-boost Give the credit Remove blockers from people’s paths Be honest and as transparent as you can Make a safe space for people to experiment, knowing that many experiments fail 13
14. What is leadership? Lead yourself Mentor people to grow and develop their skills Continually learn and improve yourself 14
15. What is leadership? All the things Traditional boss Serve and encourage Coach and speed-boost Lead yourself 15
16. Finding your limits Things that make you go “Ugh!” What leaves you feeling wiped out? What makes you want to disappear under your desk? What terrifies you that’s on your schedule? 16
17. Finding your limits – positive reinforcement What makes you feel accomplished and useful? What makes you say, “That was a good day”? What makes you smile (a good smile) when it is done? 17
18. Finding your limits – getting the data Use a mood tracker like Daylio Track when you have a good or bad night’s sleep Look for patterns and trends 18
19. Terrible ideas that don’t work Just force your way through it Withdraw from people Give up on leading Plan to recover on the weekend 19
20. More terrible ideas that don’t work Naps and espresso or Red Bull Assume everyone else has this figured out Don’t try anything new Pretend you’re an extrovert 20
21. Tactics that worked for me Solo lunch, minimum two a week Planned down-time on the calendar Walking one-to-one meetings Tell people you need thinking time 21
22. More tactics that worked for me Script out what to say before important meetings Do a dry-run with safe people Don’t over-extend yourself Track your mood and sleep for trends 22
24. Even more tactics that worked for me Ask for agendas before meetings to buy space to think Regular exercise I enjoy Hobbies unrelated to work (knitting, wood carving, weaving, sewing) 24
25. Surviving comp reviews as an introvert Have individual conversations with over 30 people locally and take an overnight car trip to talk to another 5 about their annual raises. Within 2 weeks And still get the rest of your job done Without collapsing into an exhausted puddle 25
26. Setting the scene Spreadsheet of Doom with everyone’s current pay, raise %, raise $, and new pay “Talking points” from HR, a script to use Everyone gets a private, one-on-one conversation 26
27. Scheduling tricks Block-book a conference room with a door for a 3-hour block Sign-up spreadsheet, with a maximum number of appointments per day 5-minute breaks between appointments Solo lunches taken off-site 27
28. Get to the monkey Step 1: Sit people down Step 2: “How are you doing? OK? Let’s get to the good bit.” Step 3: Profit! Straight to the point of the meeting Step 4: HR boilerplate script 28
29. Recovery – on site Knit a couple of rows of a scarf after each talk. Tea. More tea. Even more tea. I’m British, OK? Tea solves everything 29
30. Recovery – after work No cooking after work. Spouse cooked or we had pizza Offline weekends and naps 30
31. How to get started in leading Make a suggestion to your team lead Ask a question in a meeting Post a link to a useful article on Slack 31
32. Difficulty +1 Write a quick-start guide for something you use every day Help to on-board a new team member Lead a meeting (make sure everyone can speak, shut down the talkers, follow an agenda, get to the monkey, get out) Give a piece of improvement feedback to someone 32
33. Difficulty +2 Improve something (like a piece of the interviewing process) Do a half hour lunch and learn presentation with a co-presenter Put a useful article on your company’s network Lead a larger meeting 33
34. Difficulty +3 Present a solo lunch and learn Submit a talk to a conference Do the conference talk 34
35. Bonus kitten pictures! 35
36. Yes, it’s scary to start leading Yes, you can do it Yes, it’s worth the effort 36