Introverts don't have it easy in this world. Whether it's making friends as a child, going out on dates as a teenager or interviewing for jobs in your adult years, it can be difficult for reserved people to navigate these moments. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with being an introvert. If anything, I think it's a superpower that makes people creative, thoughtful and good listeners. As an introvert myself, I find solace in quiet moments and thrive working solo where I can channel my creativity and ideas. Design however is a team-sport, so we have to be able to switch from running solo to effectively working in a group setting both communicating, collaborating and building relationships.

My Backstory
Within a couple of weeks of my first internship at Hill Holliday, I learned that there was more to design than just designing. You had to collaborate with team members, plan out a project, articulate your ideas with stakeholders and work through feedback as well as questions. This stuff didn't come naturally to me like design or art did. I preferred to be laser-focused on sketching ideas and jamming in Photoshop for hours. I enjoyed working autonomously. While I could eke my way through the people and communication aspects of my college program, it was unavoidable in a professional setting.

While I wasn't born with the gift of gab, I knew that if I put in the time and set goals that I could develop these skills. I set off to figure out what this growth plan would be, so I did my research and carved out an action plan. The outline below is what worked for me and the general development framework for what I've implemented for introvert designers that I've managed over the years.

Planning Ahead & Outlining Your Story
The biggest mistake that I made during the early days of my career is that I would not prepare an outline of talking points for myself. I would discuss my thinking, process and ideas off the top of my head, but I would often forget key insights or miss the opportunity to highlight important aspects of my work. I needed the ability to articulate a concise story within the confines of a 1-hour meeting, while making room for a conversation and gaining consensus amongst the group.

Here's some low-hanging fruit that can set your meetings up for success:

1. Meeting Agendas
   Setting up this framework of expectations and needs for the group can be critical to run an effective meeting. Establish clear meeting goals, timebox each aspect of your conversation from presentation to feedback review and outlining action items as a group will ensure that everyone is aligned on next steps. Bonus points for drafting up all of the above and emailing it to the group after your meeting.
   
   
2. Talking Design: Outline Your Thinking, Process & Ideas
   What problem(s) are you solving? What key user insights are driving your decisions? Why do you believe these designs will effective solve these problems? These are just some of the questions that you'll want to address in your outline when discussing your design.
   
   
3. Know Your Audience
   Discussing your work with an internal team is very different from your review with stakeholders. Put yourself in the shoes of a stakeholder and ask yourself what matters most to them. What business goals are they tackling? What pain points are the most critical to address? What are their requirements? What key metrics are vital for success? These elements will be important topics to weave into your design review, so that you don't lose your audience with work that isn't tied to business needs and goals.
   
   
4. Compile Your Story
   All of your talking points can be put in a deck or presentation to not only reinforce the story but work as a guide for you to discuss each topic. The extent of what you put together whether it's a full-blown present or an outline of quick slides will depend on the complexity of your project, audience and specific team or project needs.
   
   Storytelling is also more effective when it's accompanied by visuals as it makes your talking points more memorable for your audience, so accompany your words with visuals that drive home the message.

Agendas, presentation decks and story writing are useful tools for introverts to create the time and space to get everything out of their heads and down on paper. It sounds like a no-brainer, but I can't tell you the amount of times that I've witnessed people skip out on these steps (myself included) and you could clearly see the gaps during the meeting.

We're Talking About Practice
I had to quote the great Allen Iverson, because the word “practice” is forever associated with him and once you hear it, you won't forget it. Public speaking is a scary thing for introverts and non-introverts alike. Public speaking without practice or a narrative outline can be even scarier for introverts. Whether it's nerves kicking in or feeling like you're “on the spot”, it can make the experience flustering. Combining the art of writing with practicing out loud are two immediate ways to work through how you present and what words you choose.

• Memorize your story: create a dialogue in your mind (or write it in your notes or place it into your deck) for how you're going to open the meeting and think through your word choices for important talking points that you want to emphasize.

• Get the nervous out: let out the nervous energy as you envision yourself presenting to your group. Getting those practice reps will allow you to use up some of that built up nervousness.

• Anticipate potential questions: walk through all of this in your mind and out loud to make sure that you're on point with your communication. Practice, planning and writing are key focus areas for introverts to begin to develop their communication skills.

The Art of Storytelling
As I mention above, you have to practice, so you can learn from each experience to develop good habits. However, practice, planning and outlining meeting topics will only get you from 0 to 1. In order to become a more effective speaker, professional coaching will get you to the next level of storytelling. This is where I came across an organization called Toastmasters, a program centered around public speaking. The program itself gives participants the opportunity to speak in front of a group of people on a weekly basis, while learning techniques on how to delivery a quality presentation or speech.

Personally, this is where my professional and personal lives collided in a good way, because I had 6 months to prepare for a best man speech. This would be my first speaking to a crowd of 300 people on one of the most important days of my best friend's life. No big deal or NBD as the kids say! While I never completed the entire program due to scheduling conflicts, I was able to gain several months of mentorship, training and practice from people that really know how to speak to crowds. When the big day finally came, I had grown as a serviceable communicator through Toastmasters and I was able to deliver a speech that was heartfelt, funny and memorable. I've applied all that I've learned to my career and have found that as I've grown as a communicator that I've been able to organize my thoughts, talking points and story in an efficient manner.

Sure enough, a couple of months later, I had my first opportunity to run solo on a big presentation for a national retailer where I would present in-depth concepts to their top executives and internal stakeholders. Not only did I crush that meeting, but I also managed to gain valuable input and alignment from all involved. These were two defining moments in my life and career, where I proved to myself that continued learning, growth and development I could do what I once thought was unthinkable.

Reframe How You Think About Meetings
It's very easy to get caught up in the mental trap of feeling like you're being criticized in a design review, but the reality is that it's your work that is on display, not you. Remember that your team members and stakeholders are rooting for you, not against you to succeed. Don't associate meetings with negative emotions from past experiences that didn't go how you would have liked or feel like you are your work. Team communication and collaboration is critical to a project's success, so it's your job as the designer to bring everyone together through your work to forge a path forward.

Also of importance is to remember to be yourself and not feel like you have to be someone you're not or that you have to put on a show for your audience. While we want to ensure that our audience is engaged, we also shouldn't put the pressure on ourselves to be ultra charismatic or funny to the point where it feels forced.

Forge Partnerships With Key Team Members & Stakeholders
You don't have to wait for meetings to build rapport with members of your team. Be proactive and put some time into fostering communication and building a relationship with people that you'll be working with frequently. Just a small fraction of your time every other week or once a month can go a long way to discuss timely projects, team goals and align on what matters most. Additionally, it's an opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback or work through concerns.

If your team already has regular meetings for this type of communication then great. If not you can set up both 1 on 1 meetings or small group sessions that allow for candid conversations and reporting on progress.

Active Listening Superpowers
Introverts can be exceptional listeners, paying close attention to verbal and nonverbal communication is one of our superpowers. Taking notes is a great way to stay engaged in meetings or conversations, even when you're not speaking. This will take the pressure off of your brain to recall specific items of the meeting, but also will give you an opportunity to outline questions that you'll bring up to the group. Providing the speaker with non-verbal affirmation by nodding when you agree with them is also a good way to communicate non-verbally and show your team members that you support what they're saying and paying attention to them. While these items are not critical, I have found them to be especially effective in remote work environments, where you can't often tell what someone's body language is.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Introverts love being in their own space and being in their comfort zone. Doing things that you wouldn't normally do and getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Go skydiving. Sing karaoke in front of a group of strangers. Go to a networking conference and introduce yourself to new people. Ok – maybe you don't have to go skydiving or sign karaoke, but you should prove to yourself that you can push past your communication boundaries of introversion or shyness. Finding those moments for small talk or getting to know someone are great practice for finding your voice and practicing how to have conversations with people. Your comfort zone is not something that you're locked into. You can train yourself to push into that territory and not feel like you are being held back.

Finding Your Voice
This one will take time to develop, because everyone has a different communication styles, personality types and interpersonal skills. But when it comes to one's ability to feel comfortable communicating in group settings it's critical that you develop your voice and your own approach for setting the tone of your meetings, handling disagreements, facilitating difficult conversations and speaking up when it matters. There are different approaches that one can take and knowing how and when to employ those techniques can be vital to a critical conversation. Introverts tend to harbor their thoughts internally, so it can be difficult to express yourself at times, so having the time and space ahead of meetings to jot down your thoughts and mentally prepare for a conversation can be extremely helpful.

Conclusion
Developing my communication skills has been a lifelong process for me. It's important for me to highlight that because people shouldn't pressure themselves to become great overnight, that's just not realistic, but your small victories will add up over time and your comfort-level with speaking will improve. I'm one example of many introverts that have worked diligently to develop their communication skills in order to continually thrive in their career and I'm a firm believer that with the right habits and effort that other introverts can find their voice.