Thread by @RohanIrvine

Day 2 @UXAustralia!

This mornings keynote is Tim Yeo (@timyeo)

— Design Leadership for Introverts

#UXA2022

@UXAustralia @timyeo For the last 40 years Tim has been an introvert.

And this is how it's been.

Growing up in Singapore he wouldn't really small talk, out in public he was on his phone, or keeping to himself, you know, like normal people.

When he moved to Australia smalltalk found him everywhere

@UXAustralia @timyeo Some introversion myths

@UXAustralia @timyeo Introversion and extroversion are not binaries, the context, people and environment always ebbs and flows.

Working in design, extroverted qualities are often defaulted to as "leadership qualities"

In a world that desires extroverts, how can an introverted design leader succeed?

The answer is not being more extroverted.

When working remote, will introverted leaders thrive or wilt? Will my introverted superpowers still be super?

Tim felt so much of the leadership he did was peer to peer, face to face in the room. With working from home this dynamic had to change.

Meetings.

1:1
— People are more open to being wrong
— they tell you what they really think

Working remote:
Chance encounters no longer happen
Schedule 1:1's with peers and leaders intentionally!

Arrive at virtual meetings early.

There will always be someone who is late.

You arrive early because you get precious 1:1 time with the people who are on time. You can practice small talk.

The minutes between meetings are when people speak freely.

You ask how they truely are.

Give yourself permission and license to speak up before you are ready.

You can preface what you're about to say:

"I haven't full formed this thought..."
"This could be wrong..."
"I need a little bit more time to process..."

Not everything has to be a meeting.

They're not always the best way to get things done. They're synchronous, everyone needs to be available for them.

When you meet across timezones it will be to late or too early for someone.

The have politics, position, power.

The loudest voices seem the have the most to say, but sometimes they don't have much to add.

Use asynchronous communications.

Record a video of you presenting, so people can watch it in their own time.

Rewatching a video of yourself is a good way to get better at public speaking.

Let others know when a response is required, and when they don't need to respond!

High stakes meetings are where a 'go' or 'no go' decision needs to be made.

What do you do as an introvert?

Influence the outcome before you get the meeting

Focus on influencing a long time out from the critical meeting. It's rarely a single poor decision, but many small poor decisions that cause probelms in a company.

Remote working has drastically evened the field.

Team Management.

You will need to hire some social butterflies.

Ask your team how they want to receive their recognition.

The reality is we have a preferred style of leadership

Recognise the role you need to play, and what you have to do to perform that role successfully.

Social media is a gift from the introvert gods!

It used to be public speaking as the best way to build your profile. With social media we're able to do this.

Find the people you respect.

Follow who they follow.

Not everything has to be a blog post

Schedule your posts, creativity doesn't come at the most convenient time.

It comes in waves, so don't release it all at the same time!

Your perspective is always unique and always interesting!

If what you have to say is true to you, and comes from your heart, you will have an audience, there are people out there who want to hear it.

Networking — The Most Loved Part Of Being Introverted™️

Tim is recounting being in a room, scanning and making eye contact, but hoping no-one comes to chat.

Do your pre-work of who you'd like to meet at the conference or event you're going to.

Always be networking methodically and consistently — have a system, spend 15 minutes of your morning stumbling onto people on linkedin and twitter, join in a convo, share a thought on what they posted online.

Don't network with people who can help you.

Reach out to people you can help too!

Pretend your networking is user research.

make sure you don't ask questions all the time.

Have a measurable output, like linkedin adds or emails.

Introduce people to two other people!

Have an exit script, and practice it until it becomes natural.

Networking doesn't have to be a group activity, 1:1's are a great way to get to know people better.

Introversion is not a flaw, it's a super power.

Q&A
Q: How do you remove the ums & ahhs

A: Practice, practice, practice! When you first hear yourself recorded your voice with be a couple octaves higher than you think, after you get used to it, you'll notice what you want to change.

Q: How do you deal with mixed teams?

A: Often times when people are choosing managers and teams they aren't looking at the team, identifying the gap. They mostly hire people who are like them. Acknowledge what yours and your teams skillsets and personalities are, be Intentional

When you hire more diverse teams you'll have more conflict. The key thing is that you learn how to deal with conflict in a positive and respectful way to allow the best ideas to emerge.

Q: I have a fear that the further you watch yourself the more your fear will degrade. How do you build yourself back up.

A: That awkward feeling will pass, how you build your confidence is when you notice the things you're doing and stop doing them. Very incremental!

Q: How can we help the other introverts in the team?

A: How do you want to help them?

Q: Someone in the corner isn't talking in the meeting

A: This is about the norms of how you want your team to operate. What behaviours are okay/not okay. What do we want our team to be

You can design the team you want to have and design the behaviours.

When people don't behave on the way you all agreed on you can have a conversation. It's adaptive and iterative.

Be intentional about the behaviours you want to design into your teams.

Thanks so much Tim!!!

#UXA2022

@threadreaderapp unroll please