Who's More Productive: Introverts or Extroverts?

False question. The choice is not binary. We all possess characteristics of both personality types. It's just that the preferences are stronger in some than in others.

So, the issue is not which is more productive or how to design an office that will optimize the potential of introverts and extroverts, but how to create a workplace that accurately and effectively combines the elements everyone needs to achieve their potential.

If that sounds a trifle new-age-y for today's bottom line manager, well get used to it. Global competition has rendered many traditional notions of management, structure and design irrelevant. Not because they are 'wrong' or the opposite of right, but because the contemporary enterprise can not afford to leave such details to chance. Such people as still populate the institutional environment tend to be expensive. Even if they are contractors or part-timers their existence is a reflection of a need. Resources could be more productively redeployed if those folks weren't around.

As a result, organizations feel that crafting workplace elements is a decision with financial impact rather than philosophical inclination. At its simplest, this means providing space for individual contemplation and production, as well as other spaces for collaboration and cooperation. Spaces and the enterprises that inhabit them reflect the people who comprise them and the factors that drive them. If the world is a more complicated place than we might like, well, so are the people who make it tick. JL

Drake Baer reports in Fast Company:

There is no such thing as a pure introvert or extrovert," observed Carl Jung, the psychologist who popularized the terms. "Such a person would be in the lunatic asylum."
That may be true, but if you work with, are friends with, or are in a relationship with someone on the complementary (read: opposite) side of the introvert-extrovert spectrum, we can also feel as if they belong in the insane asylum.

if you squeeze a lemon on the tongue of an introvert, they'll salivate more than an extrovert would.

Why? Because we're constantly projecting our experience upon others, imagining that they take in the world in the same way that we do--which is why, curiously, we tend to hire people who are just like us. So if we're going to really relate with the other -verts, we need to understand their axis.

Versions, intro- and extro-

As Belle Beth Cooper noted on Buffer (in a post we also published), introversion and extroversion don't fit our assumptions:

• Extroversion is how outgoing you are.
• Introversion is how shy you are.

Instead, she notes, your introversion-extroversion depends on where you get your energy:

• Introverts (or those of us with introverted tendencies) tend to recharge by spending time alone. They lose energy from being around people for long periods of time, particularly large crowds.
• Extroverts, on the other hand, gain energy from other people. Extroverts actually find their energy is sapped when they spend too much time alone. They recharge by being social.

Yet people aren't binary (isn't that confusing?!). Instead, we run along gradients. In the same way the Kinsey scale suggests that most people's sexuality lies along a spectrum, most of us are ambiverts.

Where you get your sensitivity--and productivity

As Susan Cain notes in Quiet, if you squeeze a lemon on the tongue of an introvert, he or she will salivate more than an extrovert would.
Since introverts are more sensitive to stimuli, they don't need to gather stimulation with the same fervor as extroverts. Too much stimuli--especially of the social variety--will leave them feeling drained of energy and ultimately unproductive.
As we've noted again and again, managing your productivity is really a matter of managing your energy levels, so figuring out your introversion-extroversion orientation lends specifics to the oft ambiguous art of the recharge.

Introversion, extroversion, and collaboration

As Kellogg professor Leigh Thompson argues in Creative Conspiracy, collaboration--that is, the idea-blooming, strategy-begetting kind--springs from a rhythm of individual and solo work.
So to have a more literate conversation about introversion and extroversion and how they relate to collaboration and productivity, we need to know how best to work with either. Similarly, we need to recognize that everybody has tendencies of introversion and extroversion, so we can take care of both in ourselves, too.
If we're on the introverted side, we can:

• Give space: We should carve out negative space between meetings to recharge our social batteries.
• Create focus: Similarly, we should sculpt the opportunities to put our heads down and dive deep into complex problems--and bring the solutions back to the team.
• Attune: As Dan Pink notes in To Sell Is Human, introverts are great at attuning to another person in a one-on-one situation, which shows that introverts can have super high social intelligence.

And when we're feeling extroverted, we can:

• Embrace the busy: The more extroverted among us crave high levels of stimulation, so let them go after it--even if it means their schedules will be packed.
• Compliment extroverts: Extroverts love being social; they love to be validated socially even more. So give 'em the praise (that would embarrass an introvert).
• Explore: As Steve Jobs argued long ago, the more experiences you've had, the more ideas you have to draw from in life, catalyzing your creativity.