Do you ever wonder what your role is at work? Or if your manager even knows your name? While a quiet manager may seem a huge relief from an obnoxious or ego driven leader, it can be just as debilitating. Taken to extreme, quiet management presents a world of uncertainties and unanticipated challenges. Fortunately, there are simple steps you can take to engage your quiet manager.
Drawing quiet managers out of their shells takes patience and understanding. The best approach to helping them feel safe in relationships is to be professional and straightforward, holding back emotional responses or subjective language. Quiet managers need to know they can collaborate with low risk and enjoy the process with a sense of comfort and productivity. Repeated positive experiences lower their walls.
Here are a few steps you can take to engage your quiet manager:
- Offer to help with tasks and ask how they prefer them to be done. Your manager will gradually see the benefits of involving others in their work. Giving positive feedback on how you enjoyed the process offers further encouragement.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help or training; they value expertise, and your request will build rapport and open doors.
- Be sensitive to their need for structure and planning. Ask for appointments; don’t ambush them with spur-of-the-moment issues. Quiet managers hate surprises, so inform them of significant issues as soon as you’re aware of them. Present important details in a calm, objective fashion. You’ll earn their trust with other issues that crop up, and they may learn to collaborate with you in solving them.
Quiet managers may lack the people skills that many consider necessary for effective leadership, but they nonetheless often find themselves in positions of authority. While they may seem like fish out of water in some respects, they can be coached and encouraged to expand their comfort zones, grow their trust and engage others.
What do you think? How have you engaged a quiet manager? I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060, or, I can be reached here or on LinkedIn.
