Exhibition: The desire to be the center of attention.
Are you someone who likes to take the back seat and not be the center of attention? Does speaking up and giving your opinion in a meeting make you anxious? If so, you may be a low scorer in exhibition. Let’s take a look at the behavioral traits of someone with a low score in exhibition and what you can do to best encourage their growth.
Low Exhibition
Meet Kate. Kate has no problem working on her own and prefers to take a back seat in meetings. She’s a deep thinker and likes to listen, observe and reflect on what her team says instead of speaking. She never causes a scene and navigates life in a subtle, reserved way. Although she’s great at her job, she feels awkward when she’s publicly recognized for something and prefers that the whole team get recognized. She also hated taking public speaking in college because she really doesn’t like being the center of attention, and does her best work when no one is watching.
Kate is a good example of someone who likely has a low exhibition score. She:
- Performs best outside of the limelight
- Doesn’t like to be the center of attention
- Enjoys support roles and giving credit to others
- Is unassuming and comfortable being alone
- Values team recognition over personal recognition
- Is more subtle, gentle and reserved.
- Is cautious and conflict avoidant
- Prefers to “give-in” in order to escape interpersonal stress
Tips for Managing Low Scorers
Although low scorers in exhibition can be positively team oriented, are keen listeners and observers and provide a gentle presence in the workplace, sometimes their tendency to withhold their thoughts, feelings and ideas can hold them back personally and professionally. Since low scorers in exhibition are often more introverted deep thinkers, they often have great ideas that are worth hearing!
Here are some tips for managing someone with a low exhibition score:
- Encourage them to speak up and make their opinion known at least once in every meeting.
- Because low scorers in exhibition typically feel less comfortable speaking than they do listening, they choose their words wisely and it often takes them a long time to formulate their thoughts before sharing them — especially in fast-paced business settings. To combat that tendency, you can suggest that they go into meetings prepared to speak first, before there’s time to talk themselves out of it.
- Realize that drawing attention to this person is extremely de-energizing for him/her, and try to minimize how often that happens.
- Help this person understand the positive side of conflict and create simple “rules of engagement” during times of conflict. For example, if ground rules prohibit yelling, sarcasm, profanity, blaming, etc., during times of conflict, the low scorer in Exhibition will feel much safer in voicing their opinions.
- Contribution, support roles, and team wins motivate low scorers in Exhibition. Giving them volunteer opportunities is a great way to encourage this person.
