Dealing With “Chatty Cathies” and “Flapjaws”

Last week I spent a half day with two of my Future Leader coaching clients. These are the guys the CEO expects will take the helm and lead the firm when the current execs step down very soon.

Ray and William are both extraverts, like me. Extraverts have to talk in order to think. Believe me, the three of us did a lot of talking, and they came up with great ideas and a plan for moving forward. That’s the beauty that comes from extraverts working and talking together.

It’s unlikely they would have made such gains if they had each worked on the problem alone, in their offices.

Ray, William, and I are different from a lot of the engineering population. Statistically, the majority of engineers are introverts. Introverts like working alone. Introverts don’t talk until they have finished their thinking.

Introverts wonder when the extraverts are going to shut up. They call us “Chatty Cathies” and “Flapjaws.”

How do you, as the boss, help these two groups coexist?

FOR THE EXTRAVERTS

Most extraverts don’t realize how much they talk. They also don’t realize how their talking grates on introverts’ nerves. Here’s what you need to do to educate your extraverts.

• Tell them you understand they need to talk to think
• Make them aware that they talk a lot, which is an energy drain for introverts
• Have them identify who they work with, particularly clients, that would appreciate them talking less
• Remind them to ratchet it back, as I told one extravert, before going into meetings with introverts
• Institute the 5-second rule—They have to wait 5 seconds before speaking when someone else finishes.
• Tell them to jot down ideas when they get them, but not to interrupt to share an idea the moment one pops up.. Extraverts are world-class interrupters.

Next week: How to get Introverts to extravert just a bit—and what extraverts call introverts

CAN YOU HELP?

Last week we included a link to a one-question survey we are conducting. If you didn’t have a chance to follow through last week, could you do so now?

Click Here to take survey

We are conducting this simple survey to gather input from you that we are using to design Creating Tomorrow’s Leaders Today, an upcoming Future Leaders online coaching program for engineers. Stay tuned for more details.