💪The Quest #30: The Power of Introverts

Introvert-friendly facilitation tips and the problem with personality tests

Hello friends,

Greetings from Barcelona☀️ where we ran our very first live online event for the Quest on Friday. More on that below👇.

Many thanks for your feedback on the last edition of The Quest. A special shout out to Noelle in Sydney, and Michaele and Barry in Bracebridge, Joan in Mansfield, Jen in Chicago, and Connie in Toronto 🙌.

If you are joining The Quest for the first time, welcome to our weekly exploration of creativity, facilitation, and learning. 

You can catch up on last week’s edition on 🎉The Era of Re-gathering and all past editions here.

This week we are exploring how to engage introverts🔎

👉 The power of introverts

👉 10 tips for facilitating introvert-friendly spaces online

👉 The problem with personality tests

👉 Plus: pro facilitators weigh in on the Gatheround icebreaker platform

Let’s dive right in.

💭Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

For years, I tried unsuccessfully to answer that question.

• I like spending a lot of time on my own = introvert

• But I also love being around a lot of people = extrovert

• I like to observe and listen = introvert

• But I also love to talk through ideas to test them out = extrovert

• I like to take time to collect my ideas before sharing them in a large group = introvert

• But I also like to jump in and learn through hands-on experience = extrovert

I did personality tests. Sometimes the results concluded that I was an introvert. I’d take the very same test again and then just like that I was an extrovert.

There were times when I longed to be more extroverted. Extroverts were more charismatic. They were the life of the party. The kind of people that other people wanted to be with. Or so it seemed.

But then I would feel conflicted. I also related with my friends and family who didn’t always want to be the center of attention. Who were thoughtful, reflective, and totally comfortable with silence.

And then a few months ago I was taking an online course when another participant introduced himself and said:

“I’m an introvert-extrovert.”

That was my aha! moment. That was me! I wasn’t an either-or. I was a both-and. I had found the last piece to a puzzle I had been trying to complete my whole life.

The truth is that everyone has a bit of both. Carl Jung was the first to introduce the terms introversion and extraversion into psychology. But Jung didn’t pigeonhole people into being one or the other. He said that people have elements of both, with one being dominant. About one-third to one-half of the population are self-proclaimed introverts.

When it comes to facilitating groups, engaging introverts can present special challenges. Introverts are known for being self-aware. For being good listeners. For creative ideas. And for being unbiased in complex situations. But for facilitators, it can be harder to read the needs of introverts, especially online. Without even realizing it, we can give disproportionate floor space to the participants who talk the most.

When we fail to design for introverts, we fail as facilitators. When we fail to design for all group members we can overlook the contributions of up to half of our participants. Missing opportunities to include introverts can become the elephant in the room. It can reinforce negative experiences that participants may have had of feeling excluded. It can erode the group’s confidence in you as a group leader.

So how can we design and lead group learning experiences that embrace the needs of introverts as well as extroverts?

That’s our Quest for this week.

💪The Power of Introverts

A TED talk by Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Cain’s book and TED talk are nearly a decade old. But while we are on the subject of introverts, this is the TED Talk to watch. Through telling her own story, Cain shines a light on the challenges for introverts in a world that she argues is largely designed for extroverts.

💻10 Online Tips for Facilitating Introvert-friendly Sessions

Online facilitation has made it more challenging to pick up on non-verbal cues. The kind that introverts tend to excel at. But in many ways, platforms like Zoom have given us tools that we didn’t have before. Tools that can make it easier to level the participation playing field for introverts in the group. Here are 10 online facilitation tips that you can use to engage introverts. Tweet thread here👇

What strategies do you use to engage introverts?

💩The Problem with Personality Tests: The MBTI is bullsh*t

A video by Anne-Laure Le Cunff, entrepreneur, ex-Googler, neuroscience student, and straight-talking founder of Ness Labs. Many of us will be familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). You may have done the test. It comes up with a four-letter personality “profile’“ based on a number of questions. It’s the test that told me that I was an introvert, then an extrovert. The test has been wildly popular with career counselors, companies, and beyond. Le Cunff argues that that the problem is that the test is that it is bullsh*t. Watch her video to find out why. Check out her Maker Mind newsletter on creativity, neuroscience, and learning.

What is your experience with personality tests?

🧪Testing Gatheround: Pro facilitators weigh in

On Friday we did a 30-minute test run of Gatheround’s “Sight, Smell, Sound” template. Thanks to Nadia, Chris, Kasia, Themis, Cathy, Francesca, Allegra, Connie, Thandile, Monica, Caroline, and others for joining. You may remember the Quest issue on icebreakers where I shared my first experience with Gatheround, an online platform that is “a better way to bring people together.”

We did 3 breakout pairs with questions like:

• What’s a song that brings back a happy memory?

• Describe a place you love with at least 2 senses.

Our conclusion? It was fun. The questions are engaging. It’s nicely designed. It’s a welcome change from the Zoom screen. It’s got some technical glitches. It doesn’t substitute having a facilitator design and lead a session. But it’s a good free resource to know about.

💌Thanks for reading The Quest 

I always love hearing your feedback and suggestions. Leave a comment below👇or hit reply to share your thoughts and ideas. Visit my website for ways we can work together here. 

If you are enjoying The Quest, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with anyone you think might like it. 

Until next week!

P.S. I loved hearing your comments on my new Creativity Kickstarter e-book. If you haven’t seen it yet you can download it for free here💥. 

P.P.S. If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe to The Quest here: