If you’re an introvert, what do you find most challenging about working with extroverts?

For me the hardest part is to get them to focus on the immediate question. Their socialbility seems to sidetrack them. Also I am certain that many of the extroverts I have encountered have never heard the line
"You can't learn anything if you are talking". They frequently are so busy with their thoughts and ideas and what they want to say that they really never listen to and process sufficiently what others are saying.

Getting them to listen. They have such large and loud personalities that they never listen, especially to someone they feel is timid. When we are in a 'brainstorming' session, they are spouting ideas so quickly and trying to constantly outdo each other that it is hard to get a word in, much less have them truly listen. They seem to be busy thinking of the next thing they want to say.

In a room of extroverts there is often no way to be heard because everyone is so busy talking.

The biggest problem for me (an introvert) working with an extrovert is their energy level. A friend of mine is the life of the party kind of person, but never wants to be alone, doesn't really knows how to relax and making decisions is difficult. Sometimes, it is very exhausting being around him.

Like others have already said, getting extroverts to stop talking long enough to give others a chance to do so and to listen are my biggest challenges. Another problem I have with a couple of them, in particular, is their inability to allow me to finish a sentence before they are trying to finish it for me or interrupting me. It's particularly frustrating when the end of my sentence, as it comes out of their mouths, is not usually what would have come out of mine.

Letting people get to know me without having to 'tell all." Extroverts I've worked with have been so 'big' in meetings I shrink from trying to force my way into the converstions.

My thought is that extroverts are always so sure they have the right answer, the right way to do things, that they are irreplaceable and as everyone else has said they won't stop talking, and won't listen to others and other ideas.

Trying to get a word in edgewise, being made to endure a lot of people in a small space all talking at once.

They just never. shut. up. Which seems mean, but I work with and live with extroverts and there are times when I need to go to the happy place in my head, particularly if I am not directly involved in a conversation, just to get away from the chatter!

Though I work in a library, the staff room - where I spend most of my time - can really get out of hand as far as the noise level goes. I have difficulty concentrating when it's so noisy. I'm not the only one, though, as a couple of people who made the most noise have been asked multiple times to keep it down. And it's finally sunken in. One of them was even moved, which really helped. And one left, thank goodness! There's talk that soon we're getting higher walls around our desks (we just have half-walls now). I hope so. The noise at work has a very high impact on my ability to work and I resent the intrusion of extroverted people.

It's frustrating when extroverts are automatically valued more in the workforce simply for that "quality".

Getting the extrovert to stop talking for a minute, listen, and focus on the task at hand.

Oh, and it's also a challenge to realize that sometimes the extrovert really does have something valuable to say, but it gets lost in the constant chatter flow that some maintain. Being an introvert in an extroverted world takes patience.

It's exhausting.

This isn't about dealing with extroverts in a work environment, but more in general. I lead a book club, and at our meeting the other night one of the members remarked at how quiet I was (I forgot my crowbar), and said she knew less about me than any of the other members. Now, I'm not all that quiet at book club meetings, but I don't talk about myself much in settings like that (and we do, after all, meet to discuss books). Plus, she's been a member for all of six months. I hate feeling as though I have to wear a sandwich board telling the entire world everything they might want to know about me. Try this: stop talking long enough to let someone else talk, and be patient enough to get to know me. It's not going to happen in a few evenings.

Sallyh, I can really relate to what you wrote. Most people know little about me because they don't stop talking long enough to allow anyone else to be heard. I tend to not interrupt others nor try to talk over others. This leaves me little chance to get a word in.

bettyt, I'm in the same situation, only I also feel what I have to say may not be as important as what others do. That goes further than being shy/reserved but I wonder how many others are like me.

lisag, I do feel that way sometimes.