Over the years, much has been written and said about getting the best employees, or finding the best talent. When was the last time you thought about getting the best out of your employees or finding the best within your talent?
In “The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World
Under stress, our most dominant [nervous] system is set into motion. For example, several years ago Mike and I were involved in a car accident. We were driving on a narrow, two-lane highway at night, and suddenly something huge flew at our windshield. Mike swerved over the double yellow line. Luckily, the oncoming lane was empty. The massive flying object missed us and hit the station wagon behind us. Mike pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. I didn’t move; my body felt numb, and my breathing slowed. I didn’t want Mike to get out of the car. In my mind I could see him getting hit by oncoming traffic. Mike, his heart racing, was thinking only of taking action. He opened his door and leaped out to see if anyone was hurt.
I went into my dominant system, the Throttle-Down (to halt and examine), while Mike was catapulted into his dominant system, the Full-Throttle (to bound out and do something).
It turned out that a mule had escaped his enclosure and meandered into the road. He had been hit by a pickup truck and crashed into its windshield. Then the ill-fated creature flew over us (because Mike dodged quickly, exhibiting good Full-Throttle reaction) and hit the hood of the car behind us. My Throttle-Down reluctance to get out of the car was sensible. It was a pitch-black night on a two-lane highway with cars strewn katywompus all over the road. It was dangerous. I wanted to assess the situation, a good strategy. Mike’s Full-Throttle response, checking on the injured, was helpful. As it turned out, no humans were badly hurt. We were fortunate. Sadly, the mule wasn’t so fortunate. Several of the men dragged the mule’s body off the road before any other unsuspecting travelers could hit it.
While you may not have been in this extreme of a situation, and it’s doubtful that your employees will encounter something like this at work, the distinction between how people perceive and respond to a situation is clear: some people will ’slow down’ and engage a thoughtful appraisal of the situation, others will ’speed up’ and engage in energetic activity. Neither of these is right or wrong, and both of them are valuable. The key is understanding which employees tend to which style and how that influences the effectiveness of performing their job responsibilities.
Ms. Laney makes this conclusion:
To sum up, although we all need both of these systems for balance, we are genetically and environmentally wired to use one more than the other, especially under stress….Although we all engage both sides of the nervous system, our brains and neurotransmitters make one side dominant.
This last phrase is critical: “Our brains and neurotransmitters make one side dominant.” People are hardwired, literally by brain pathways and chemical release, to perceive and respond to situations in different ways.
Think about a recent situation where you had an urgent deadline come up unexpectedly.
- How did you respond? Did you jump straight into whatever first task came to mind that would begin to address the situation? How about your employees? Were you looking for action, and one or more of them wanted to talk about the situation — what caused the unexpected deadline, who had what responsibilities, what resources were available?
- Or did you sit back and put together a plan of action? Were you keenly interested in making sure the project was understood, the implications of success and failure, and ensuring that each team member understood their part, and you noticed that one or more of your employees were fidgeting, kept wanting to know what to start on, or said, “just tell me what you want me to do”?
Recognize that one way is not better than the other — both are necessary. The “let’s go” person is not trying to avoid being clear on what needs to be done, and neither is the “what’s the plan” person avoiding taking action. Both are simply utilizing their strengths and talents in the way that works best for them. You can eliminate problems and raise the level of performance of your entire team by remembering that your response is natural and valuable, as is the opposite response. Your job is to make sure both responses get brought to light, discussed, and acted upon.
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