Who speaks for the quiet ones in an organisation? How to make introverts visible

But what happens to the silent (introverted) drivers of organisational success? The ones who don’t clamour for the spotlight but consistently deliver, innovate, and support achievement of strategic goals? Who is speaking for the introverts? Unlike extroverts, who are sociable, assertive, and attention seekers, introverts are reserved, passive, and thoughtful, keeping their feelings to themselves and preferring to be and work alone.

The personality and character of an individual determine a lot of things in their personal lives and careers.

In organisations, there are highly visible (extroverted) and less visible, quiet (introverted) performers. The visible performers are assertive individuals who are charismatic, outspoken, and thrive on engagement. They actively contribute in meetings, challenge ideas, connect easily across departments, and often seek leadership opportunities.

They are seen as natural leaders, even when their contributions may be less than others. Their presence is felt, their progress or decline is noticed, and their career trajectories often advance faster due to the perception of leadership potential.

An assertive team member may volunteer to present a project update, even though the bulk of the work was done by someone else or a team. Their confidence and visibility in leadership forums make them the face of success, and they are rewarded with more projects a promotion or a leadership training opportunity.

The quiet (less visible) achievers includes analytical minds, operational backbones, and innovation drivers. They prefer structure over showmanship. They may not speak unless asked, but they often generate high-value outputs, solve complex problems, and offer steady, reliable performance.

The best-performing organisations leverage the synergy between these groups' front-facing visibility and behind-the-scenes impact.

To bridge the divide and create an equitable and inclusive recognition of both personality types, the senior leadership must shift from rewarding the most visible to appreciating and rewarding the less visible in equal measure. Performance appraisal and promotion criteria should emphasise contribution to business outcomes, innovation, and support to teams.

Managers should be sensitised to unconscious biases. Introverts should also be invited to leadership programmes, project presentations, and mentored or coached. Managers should be trained in emotional intelligence so they become self-aware to respond to different personalities and emotions of the people they lead.

When leaders elevate all personalities, they unlock holistic performance, sustainable growth, where everyone thrives ,and a culture of high team work and accountability is the norm.

Read:  How quiet workers pick up their value in era of showoff

Figure this scenario. A quiet researcher develops a cost-saving solution in a manufacturing plant, a breakthrough that earns a media house or financial institution a global award, but the project proposal, even results, was presented by a colleague, who literary owned and run off with it during a review.

Does that sound familiar? The originator gets no recognition. Have you had an idea or solution that you held back in a meeting? Then a colleague says exactly what you had in mind, and it's praised as a breakthrough?

The quiet ones get overlooked because they are not expressive, and many organisations equate leadership potential with flashiness and visibility. Traditional promotions tend to favour those more visible and ignore highly competent individuals who don’t go out of their way to speak for themselves.

The introverts are often passed over for career progression despite delivering results, due to reduced access to leadership, mentoring, training, emotional disengagement from feeling undervalued, and are likely to quit when they feel their growth is stagnant or unrecognised.

Over time, these experiences affect not just the individual’s career progression but the organisation’s ability to retain diverse talent and maintain a culture of fairness.

The introverted and introverted individuals are important to organisations and drive business growth in their own ways.

The extrovert drives organisational momentum through visibility and advocacy, champions change, and sells ideas internally and externally. They promotes team morale through energy and optimism, and are good at representing the organisation t in public or in client-facing roles.

The Introverts deliver depth, operational continuity, and innovation, supports systems thinking and long-term process improvements, reduces risk through data-driven decision-making. They often form the backbone of research and development, IT, logistics, risk management and compliance, quality assurance, and medical specialists, among others.

Leadership can also empower introverts by practicing intentional listening during meetings and techniques like round table discussions, where each person is given an opportunity to contribute.

Celebrating and showcasing success stories across personalities makes introverts feel appreciated and validates different personalities and leadership styles.

Other ways of bridging the gap are personalised recognition, a one-to one personal feedback, coaching sessions, and championing the outstanding work of the quiet to ensure credit goes to them.

An organisation should develop a culture that allows both assertive and quiet personalities to thrive.

According to Adam Grant, Great leaders don’t just give voice to the loudest—they amplify the quiet brilliance that drives real transformation.”

Look out for an upcoming article on how introverts can use their quiet strengths to overcome challenges and achieve success in their careers and personal lives.

Mr Muya is a HR strategist, Career & Leadership Coach. [email protected]