That said, being a leader of any kind in any organization means you have to talk to people you don’t know. You have to stand in front of a crowd of people, with all eyes on you, waiting patiently for you to not stutter while telling them what they need to know.
You must communicate verbally with your team and employees even if it’s the last thing on earth you want to do. Burying your head in the sand and hiding in an office only leads to an unruly, anarchist office. That’s not productive or healthy.
So here’s my advice to introverted leaders that are terrified of talking to people. Suck it up. That’s right: Suck. It. Up. You have something that needs to be communicated, practice what you want to say and then go say it. If you get questions you don’t know the answer to, tell the person you don’t know but you’ll get back with them. (And actually get back with them)
This all seems like common sense to some, I know, but for part of our population communicating verbally is just terrifying. Terrifying like the way you dream about being in front of the class talking about your book report and realize your butt naked and that hot guy/girl is laughing hysterically. But this isn’t a dream, and your not in school. If you want your team to function properly you must talk to them. Simple as that.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
LOVE your post! Someone in my office the other day was talking about being an ostrich for a different reason: deadlines and pressure were building up and she was jokingly saying that she didn’t want to deal with it. I think any type of avoidance behavior (whether it be communication, task-oriented, or otherwise) is a bad quality in a leader. And your advice is sound, haha, you just have to suck it up and deal with it!
So this means that you are going to present at #HRevolution, huh? LOL