Office introvert? You could be the most important person on the team

Every day at work we hear from leaders. The chief executive might appear in the news, a senior executive speaks at an all-staff meeting and a department head might stand up to accept an award on behalf of their team.

Of course, there are good reasons why those at the top are constantly in the spotlight, but what about the employees in the shadows underneath them who actually get the work done?

Workers who are happiest out of the limelight are often some of the most important people in the office.Credit: Shutterstock

These quiet achievers who exist in every business are the fuel that keeps the engine running, and we really need to celebrate those who turn up every single day to do the work, usually with little fanfare or recognition. After all, they are the real unsung heroes of the workplace.

Quiet achievers are the workers who sit diligently at their desks, getting through task after task. They are generally reliable, can focus deeply on issues without distractions, and are often the best weapon in helping creatively solve problems with alternative points of view.

A recent 2025 report by Marcova says these employees, or silent superstars, receive higher performance ratings from peers and direct reports than they do from managers. It highlighted an entire hidden layer of workers who are more valued by the people they work alongside, even if they are not always visible to management.

Tara Iwamoto, now a consultant to start-ups and growing businesses, proudly calls herself a “behind-the-scenes worker” who prefers to let others get most of the attention.

There are pitfalls to being a silent superstar. Quiet achievers are like glue - they hold things together and are often invisible

She’s worked in small and large businesses, and can trace her desire to help others shine to watching a politician stand up at an important event and deliver a series of tone-deaf, daft remarks.

“I remember thinking distinctly, ‘who let him do that?’,” she says. “The person behind the person totally failed by not briefing him properly or giving him the right information.”

Tara now derives a lot of her self-worth from being a quiet achiever. “I feel a lot of pride when the person that I help succeeds,” she says. “I enjoy working with a visionary or a team to help them organise whatever’s going on.”

However, there are pitfalls to being a silent superstar. Quiet achievers are like glue – they hold things together and are often invisible. “The glue doesn’t always get recognised,” says Tara, adding that when you’re not the public face of a project you’re more likely to get overlooked.

The normalisation of hybrid working is a double-edged sword for these workers. It can allow them to work away in the background without interruptions, but it’s also a trap that makes it harder to get noticed.

So, what can we do to ensure that the people behind the people in an organisation are not forgotten? Silent superstars are not used to much attention, so sometimes even the smallest bit of public praise can go a long way.

Create ways in your business to give recognition for things that are impactful but might not always be visible. One way of doing this is by soliciting nominations from colleagues for awards and celebrations, instead of the usual tendency to rely on senior leaders to notice visibility.

Understand that some communication styles favour extroverts in the office, and incorporate ways that all viewpoints can be heard in meetings, like asking for written questions in advance or arranging for smaller group sizes.

Great workplaces are wonderfully diverse, made up of all types of humans. Those at the front might have the loudest voices, but we need to ensure that it’s not at the expense of the people lined up behind them.

Tim Duggan is author of Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter at timduggan.substack.com

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