What’s Your Work Style? Confessions of a Freelancer Who Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way
July 18, 2008 by Kristen King
Filed under Business
(www.bizchicksrule.com) — I hate group projects. I’ve always hated group projects. I hate having to check in with people, having to deal with the part of the job no one else wants, having to pick up other people’s slack, having to have my performance–be it a grade, a review, or a check–depend on someone else’s work, having to share credit for something I did. And did I mention that nothing anyone else does is ever good enough for me because I always think I could do it better? Frankly, I would rather just do the whole thing myself.
Yeah, I know you’re thinking it, so let’s just out that elephant in the room: I am a CONTROL FREAK. I’m about as Type A as they come. Let’s face it: I run my own business for a reason. Two reasons, actually: I love it and I’m good at it. (Three if you count liking to set my own income, but that should all be another post) And yes, Bridget is a saint for blogging with me because I know I don’t always make it easy on her. I’m not GOOD at working with others. I love the team. I’m all about the team. I’m totally pro-CONCEPT when it comes to co-working. But when it comes to actually DOING the team project, I have a huge learning curve to overcome. And that learning curve is that I’m used to running the show. I’m the first born and only daughter of a mom whose main ambition in life was to have kids to whom she could devote herself entirely. To say that she instilled me with confidence and leadership abilities might be an understatement. And it doesn’t help that I’m smarter than your average bear. (Although to be frank, I’m like the village idiot in my family. My SAT score was over 1400 and I think I had the lowest of all of my cousins. Seriously, they’re all geniuses.) Put all that together with the fact that I’m still young enough to think I know everything, and well, I think I know everything.
At the end of the day, I KNOW I have a lot to learn. A lot. I don’t know the words to express how much I have to learn. I could fill a book with the stupid things I’ve said and done in the last week. A month or two of my life would rival War and Peace. Give me two years and I’ll give you the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. I get that part. But somehow, I manage to talk–and type–without thinking and without being able to shut up. The part of me that knows I’m being petulant and need to just grow up and learn how to play well with others stamps its foot and takes its ball and goes home every time I’m confronted with these group projects. Grad school was a nightmare. I had flashbacks to fifth grade when we got divided into groups alphabetically and I always got stuck with the boys who teased me for having glasses and I ended up doing the whole project.
I hate everything about group projects. Almost. I adore brainstorming. I adore strategy sessions. I adore short-term, high-impact, one-off projects where everyone’s excited and we do it in like a night. I love that stuff. I love being mentored by people who know more than I do. I love when someone else takes charge and gives me a task to do that’s perfect for my strengths and they take care of everything else and I don’t have to deal with it (though that last one isn’t really a group project–it’s an individual contribution to a collaborative result). I love being challenged to come up with a better idea, a better solution, a bigger concept. I love all of those things.
And if you’ve met me, you know that for all my talk about being a homebody and getting freaked out at conferences, I really do love meeting people, engaging with them, trading ideas, sharing experiences. I’m good with people. I’m a great networker. I make decent conversation. I’m fairly articulate (when I’m not saying and doing incredibly stupid things, that is). All signs point to me being GREAT at group projects.
So what’s the problem? Am I just stuck in fifth grade with Steve P. and Ryan P. and Jeff W. (who grew up to be pretty good guys in the end, for the record)? Am I just a lone wolf? Amateur psychoanalysis welcome and encouraged. Go to town.
And when you’re done analyzing me, tell me about yourself. How do you like to work? Are you more of a loner, or do you thrive in a group atmosphere? Vote in the poll in the sidebar and leave a comment on this post and let me know what your work style is.
Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King
Tags: womens business blog, women and business, women, woman, business, women in business, work style, group project, solo, individual, work alone, work in a group, play well with others, work well with others, biz chicks rule, kristen king
Kristen — I can relate. I don’t like group projects either. I’m totally more of a do-it-myself person!! This is part of why life as a paralegal working at a large firm sucked for me; too many people giving too many sets of instructions, too many people doing different parts of each project, and too much for me to feel like I had to clean up in the end. I’m OCD, so I tend to blame it on that. But in freelancing, I do find myself passing on projects where I’ll have to be dealing with too many people. I don’t need the headache of group work! Nice to read that I’m not alone. ;-)
Kristen – first of all I totally relate to your “group projects” gripe. I would really rather just do it myself and be done, versus checking in with this one or that one and/or not having total control over the project. I’ve come to embrace that… it makes life a lot easier.
As far as the belt-tightening goes, I am currently on what was originally a temp-to-hire assignment for a company that provides services to a large bank in my city. I was told on Monday that the “to-hire” portion of the deal is now on hold, perhaps indefinitely. There are a lot of temps here, most doing temp-to-hire, and we’re all on pins and needles, just wishing we knew what was coming next so we could prepare.
I’ve started circulating my resume and putting out feelers, because I need some job stability (too many of these temp situations not working out for my personal taste in the last year.) It’s a huge stressor, and one that I’m still sorting through.
Kristen,
Very interesting and happy to see that I am not the ” only one” on some of the things you mentioned.
First, I would like to applaud you for realizing the part about ” that you are still young enough.. and think you know everything.” That’s part of the battle in that case.
My preference is reflect back what I ” see ” in the situation, is by asking questions.
Are you, still, a litle self-conscious? From the 5th grade, hum?
Do you think you are an over-achiever/type A type due to comparison with others in perceptual modeling ? Or more of a compensation model in terms of fitting in with a group?
Are you very competitive? Even if it is more sub-consciously, than overtly displayed?
The question many people don’t enjoy:
Are you a perfectionist? Ya’ know, DIY to get it done right and quicker comes from the not settling for anything but the Best part of perfectionism?
I am a bit too much of a loner. Still a little shy, a little self-conscious, prone to comparing myself to others, and far more competive than I, myself, believed. Therefore, I completely prefer working on self-guided projects and tasks.
If not the latter, then I prefer small groups, as in 2, 3, maybe 4 people in size. Ever. Period. And as a collaborative project with individual contributions. Largely due to the fact that I require a balance of social interaction time and time alone. When I am done with my time with the ” pack “, I am done. The two ingredients there are patience and my busy little brain is now over-stimulated and needs to process alone.
The why of that dynamic took me awhile to figure out. As intelligent as I may be, it took some time to realize that when the group dynamic becomes too large, I lose all patience, and quickly. I don’t need it all my way, not really that, as the case.
This is not a snobbish, nor elitist thing, mind you. But with that large a group, it takes too long to come to concensus on important issues. And here is the real tricky part, in two parts:
1) Due to the length of time, I am now ” bored ” and already way farther in to the task, project, my part- what ever piece fits.
2) That’s due to the fact that I think and/or process far faster than many other people. Thus, I lose my patience with the whole thing, not really any individual(s) in the group. I am way past the point at hand and ready to goooo now because ” the process ” is driving me nuts.
Believe it or not, learning to recognize these things in myself, is something I learned from observing and trying to figure out the behavior one of my cats.
Regards,
Ayn Elise
This was such a great post! I grew up hating team projects, but loving the things that you also adore – the brainstorming and strategy sessions. But, there is something about these qualities that make you a great business owner. Just love it that you were so frank about these things – it’s refreshing!
Amy, Kelly, Ayn Elise, and Kaarin, thank you guys SO much for weighing in on this. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in feeling frustrated — both with myself and with others. Ayn Elise, you hit the nail on the head: I’m a perfectionist for sure, and yes, I do get bored, too.
So what do we DO with these feelings? I’m still working that out. ;)