Susan Cain, Oh Susan Cain. How I love thee. If you follow my blog or have attended a class with me you have probably heard about how great I think Susan is. When I first left my position in the hair industry to be a full-time instructor I truly felt I knew it all. I thought I was so ready and poised to be a understanding, well-rounded instructor. I've always maintained that hair stylists simply must be socially extroverted. My first year of teaching I had a group of new hairdressing students, three who were shy, quiet, and yes introverted! How could this be? Why are they in this program? What are we going to do? I struggled along with them for the first six weeks, the whole time worrying about how they will make it in the hair industry. I attended a workshop at the college where I teach. In the workshop I raised my hand and said " I teach hair design here at the college. I have three extremely introverted students. They barely speak! I don't feel they belong in the program little lone the hair business! What shall I do?". The facilitator gave me a side ways look of disgust. Right at that moment I knew I was about to learn a valuable lesson. I was right! Doug Mauger cued up a video. It was this Susan Cain Ted Talk that changed me forever. After the video Doug asked me " Well what do you think now?". Feeling embarrassed and like a simple fool I said "I have completely misunderstood and overlooked the value of these amazing thinkers, today that will change". To this day I think this was the single most important lesson I received as an instructor. The following week I went back to my class and saw my introverts with new eyes. I changed my approach to teaching them and they responded immediately. Rather then forcing them into interactions with clients I initiated all consultations and initial conversations with the salon clients. Prior to these interactions I instructed my introverted students to let me model how we communicate with clients, they were told to watch and listen, but to join in if/when they felt comfortable. This worked! To my surprise going that extra mile gave them the confidence to use their voices. I will forever be grateful for my introduction to Susan Cain. Introverts are so valuable and some of my favorite people. In fact I found out I'm a lot more introverted then I could have ever imagined. As educators we owe it to our learners to gain the insight we need to effectively help everyone in our classroom!
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