PPL2021 — People Person — How To Working Together With Human
This article was made for PPL Course Assignment
When working on a project, most of the time, you will most likely be working with another human being. And as far as I know, every person has unique characteristics. You can’t expect two people to have the same principle or behaviour. The research claimed that 75% of team failure happens when you can’t work together with another person. Unless you want to be Tarzan and live with animals, you will be working with other people in this modern society. So in this article, I will share my experience and tips for working together with other people in groups, whether for school projects or work.
Communicate
Communication is one of the fundamentals elements in team building. Because usually, people can’t read your mind. You have to articulate what you want to that person. Having good communication skill means you can speak your ideas or difficulties quickly. It’s not easy for some people. I consider myself an introverted people, and I have tremendous anxiety when I talk to someone I don’t know. One of my tips to build good communication is to know that person better. Usually, for me, when I know that person. It’s easier to speak my mind and request help when I need it. Don’t forget, saying “please” and “thank you” is mandatory. Respect other person and they will respect you too.
Respect and Empathy
As I said before, respecting other people is crucial if you want to be respected. The first key to being respectful is to have empathy. What is empathy? Empathy is the ability to recognise, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of another person, animal, or fictional character (Physocologicaltoday). The key for me is recognise and understand. For example, in my PPL project, not every teammate has the same schedule as me. They have another class, another assignment, and another thing to do (relaxing, sleeping, eating, family time).
The first key to being empathetic is to set boundaries. I’ll try never to contact any of my team or coworker about work after 9 P.M and the weekend (unless it’s super necessary). Even if I have to, I’ll try to ask whether they are busy are not and can I have some of their time. Once again, saying thank you every time another person has helped you is critical. When other people say thank you to me, it made my hard work and time is paid off. And I want other people to have that too. See? Empathy.
We are in this together
One of the crucial understanding in a school project or work is to have a sense of belonging. When your teammates failed, you will also fail too. I can’t vouch for this method in an office environment. But in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with helping other people. Because you never know when you need help next time, so having the mentality of being a servant “leader” is essential.
For example, in my PPL team, we always ask about progress and see if our teammates have a problem. And if they encounter any issue, we will always try to help. Because if one person works fails, it will also damage the whole project. Having low morale will also delay work even further.
Open Minded
You may think, what is the use of open-mindedness when working on a project? It turns out super important because every teammate will have their idea. If you don’t have an open mind, you will quickly invalidate their idea. And think that only your implementation is the best. That’s a wrong move because, once again, the key here is to work with other people. It’s a team project for a purpose.
Trust
Having trust in other people in this era is hard. I know it. But, to work together, you have to trust the other people to do their job. It’s also tightly related to respect other people. If you can’t trust that person, it means you don’t appreciate their skill. I always give the benefit of the doubt. It means I will trust a person until they broke my trust. It will work wonders because I have less burden, and people feel respected. And once again, the team morale will be in all timely high.
That’s all my story for now. I hope my experience and tips will work with you too. Always remember to communicate, have empathy and respect, open mind, and trust other people. I believe you can tackle anything with this mindset. Because becoming a people person is very important in every life section.
