By Craig Dowden

If asked to describe the profile of an effective leader, what words would come to mind? Chances are, your answer would include words like: charismatic, dominant, persuasive, action-oriented, driven, and passionate. We would likely be surprised if someone responded with: reserved, humble, reflective, or quiet.

As Susan Cain outlines in her international best-seller Quiet, our society celebrates the extroverted ideal. Our schools and communities strive to bring out the extrovert in all of us. Not surprisingly, perhaps, this extroverted bias is present within our corporate boardrooms as well. Indeed, research has consistently shown that extroverted employees are perceived to be more effective leaders than their introverted counterparts. The key word here is “perceived.” We assume extroverts will be more effective, even when this may not be the reality.

Professor Adam Grant of The Wharton School of Business and his colleagues Francesca Gino and David Hofmann wanted to examine this question more closely. In particular, they were keen to understand whether extroversion was the ideal leadership style in all cases. Although extroverted leaders would undoubtedly bring benefits in certain circumstances, they were curious as to whether these same benefits would manifest when leading a team of proactive employees. Specifically, they questioned whether employees who took initiative to speak up and offer ideas might pose some challenges for extroverted leaders, since these leaders were accustomed to being the centre of attention and generally desire to be dominant.

Grant and his team surmised that conflicts might ensue in situations where proactive employees intersected with extroverted leaders. Given their more reserved and reflective style, introverted leaders seemed like a more natural fit to manage and engage proactive employees. Introverts would likely tend to listen more than talk, and would also ask their team more probing questions. Their lower levels of assertiveness, along with their decreased desire for the spotlight, may make them more likely to reflect on and implement employee ideas. This would create a positive feedback loop in which employees would be inspired to be more proactive and offer up more innovative solutions or suggestions. Proactive employees exposed to extroverted leaders, however, might quickly stop doing so, as they would likely be met with criticism or negative reactions.

To test this idea, Grant and his team conducted their research across a chain of pizza stores. Given the consistency of the environment and the tasks involved, it provided an ideal setting in which to explore these effects. If there were any differences in performance, it could be correlated to the interaction between leadership style and team proactivity.

What they found was incredibly fascinating. In stores where employees exhibited more proactivity, introverted leaders led them to significantly higher profits. In stores where the employees were less proactive, extroverted leaders were most effective in terms of delivering bottom-line results.

How do you apply these findings to your organization?
According to Dr. Grant, employee proactivity has arguably never been more important:

“Organizations in general are more dynamic and uncertain than probably any time in human history, in light of globalization and the increasingly rapid pace of change facilitated by competition and technological advances. In a dynamic, uncertain environment, it’s impossible for leaders to spot all of the opportunities and threats on the horizon; ideas and suggestions from proactive employees can fill critical gaps and suggest new strategic directions. Since introverts tend to be more effective than extraverts in leading proactive employees, this may be the dawn of the introverted leader advantage.”

Given the increasing importance of introverted leadership within our organizations, what can we do to leverage this to our advantage? To translate these findings into practice, I recently spoke with Dr. Grant and Susan Cain to obtain their insights. Here are their suggestions:

1)Promote more introverts into positions of leadership – While difficult, it is important to move away from the belief that extroverted leaders are always the most effective. To counteract possible biases, Dr. Grant advocates giving “a little more consideration than we would naturally do” to potential introverted leaders. Susan Cain recently reinforced this point, noting that “people who talk really well in the interview may not be the best person for the job.”

2) Provide mentors and examples of introverted leaders to aspiring leaders – In many cases, introverts can get swept up in the extroverted ideal. After his talks on ‘leading quietly,’ many audience members have approached Dr. Grant to discuss how they feel pressured to act out of character in order to gain a leadership role. As a consequence, many highly qualified introverts may self-select out of these roles or mask their natural strengths in an effort to conform. He explains, “We need to identify more introverted leaders who are successful. Employees should be able to look up the ladder and see introverted leaders who will be great mentors and role models, which will help to illuminate the path.”

3) Strive for balance – As Dr. Grant’s research demonstrates, effective leadership is highly situational. Thus, organizations may benefit from promoting a more balanced and reflective leadership ideal, in which understanding of situations is the driver of subsequent action. In this regard, extroverted leaders can leverage the advantages of an introverted style of leadership just as ‘quieter’ leaders have learned to capitalize on some of the behaviours of their more outspoken counterparts. Encourage extroverted leaders to ask questions, listen more frequently, and know when to take a back seat. These introverted characteristics could serve them well in their roles and lead to better performance, for both the team and the organization. Dr. Grant shared a profound observation from an interview he conducted with the former CEO of a large consulting firm, “I don’t learn a lot when I’m talking, but I learn a lot while I’m listening.” This executive challenged himself to only speak for 20 per cent of scheduled meeting times.

As the speed of our work lives continues to increase, the need for thoughtful reflection, and taking the time to do so, may seem counterintuitive. Although leaders may be enticed to exert power and express dominance, perhaps their greatest strength will come from having the courage to lead quietly. Susan Cain summarized it best when she concluded, “we are sitting on the next great diversity revolution. Organizations who get out in front of it are going to be seen as pioneers because they are going to be harnessing talent in ways that their competitors do not.”

Craig Dowden is presenting at the BC HRMA Conference + Tradeshow 2014 in Vancouver. His session Who Cares? Why Empathy Should Matter to You and Your Organization is on Tuesday, April 15, 2014..

Craig Dowden (PhD) is the managing director of the Toronto office of SPB. Dowden can be reached at cdowden@spb.ca or 416.506.1809.

Reprinted with permission from HR Professional magazine and the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA).www.hrpa.ca