{"id":3982,"date":"2013-11-25T11:19:32","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T19:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/?p=3982"},"modified":"2013-11-25T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-25T19:33:00","slug":"designing-with-introverts-in-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/designing-with-introverts-in-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing with introverts in mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A long time ago I was an introverted person and over the years that has completely changed. \u00a0If you know me, you’ll know I love talking to others, being around people and engaging in meaningful social interaction. \u00a0I still love my solitude but I love hanging anround in my local coffee shop and pub more.<\/p>\n

As a process designer, creating good meeting and learning spaces for introverts has long been a blind spot for me. \u00a0Facilitators by definition bring people together. \u00a0If we are extroverted, the processes we design can often contain an overwhelming amount of social interaction for introverts which actually alienates them from the group and marginalizes their contributions. \u00a0Sometimes I have run meetings where the introverts never contributed at all. \u00a0That wasn’t through their fault – it was the fault of my process design that never took their learning styles into account.<\/p>\n

You might call it extrovert privilege.<\/p>\n

Back in June I was on the hosting team for an Art of Hosting in northern California. \u00a0A long time friend was there – Tree Fitzpatrick – \u00a0one of the most deeply intensive introverts I know. \u00a0She is also a long time process designer and facilitator nd she knowns her stuff. \u00a0She left after the first hour of the workshop, but not without having a long conversation with me about what she was experiencing. \u00a0She later made a beautiful gift of sharing her insights with me in a long email on designing processes for introverts. \u00a0In the past six months, these insights have been a gorgeous gift to my own practice and have radically shifted the way I design, by actually putting the needs of introverted people at the centre of the work. \u00a0The core of her message to me was this, quoting:<\/p>\n

“Please consider integrating some introvert work into your designs. You don’t have to worry about the extroverts: while you give the group quiet time, which is giving the introverts permission to reflect inwardly, most extroverts will just go on doing whatever they want to do but the introverts will feel better if you give them permission to reflect. It only has to be a minute of reflection before speaking but it can make a huge difference to the introvert’s experience in small group talk.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the past six months, I have done several things to attend to this.<\/p>\n