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| Photo by Anthony Intraversato on Unsplash |
Working in a group could be a nightmare for some of us, I dare to say. When I was in my foundation studies, I keep hearing stories about how my friends had to deal with free-rider and etcetera. In university, I thought people would act much professionally considering everyone had reached an age which can be considered mature enough to think about the good or bad - for some of us, it get worse. Despite all of that 'experiences', let's call it a day. There are thing which would remained unless we decide to change that.
Dear high school leavers, not to scared you but uhm welcome to adulthood?
Where all the catastrophe are.
Lol, joke. No worries, you will have fun.
This semester, exceptionally, I have to work and coordinate a lot in group rather than individually. Not only academically speaking but also in co-curricular because this fellow here somehow is daring herself to go out of her comfort zone. I tried, well, pushing myself to meet people outside my normal bound circumstances and mingle around. It was hard at first but uhm, again, there is nothing wrong with trying.
There are few things I learnt while working in group. It just my two cents but I decided to pen this down since I have been dreading to post this entry no matter rain nor drought (Yes, I just literally translate that lol).
#1 You are going to get chances to look at someone closer.
You have to admit this. When you spend most of the times with your group mates, you somehow would be able to look at them from different sides and perspectives. You could look at their work ethics, their personality, their characters, their response when they were pressed with tremendous pressure. If you are lucky, or observant enough, you might even able to catch a glimpse on things they have keep hidden under the rug or inside the closet.
Personally, I have few people who after I worked/mingled with this semester, my impressions on them drastically changed. Rather than condemning their attitudes, I somehow learnt the reasons for them to be acting like that.
You will have that privilege.
#2 You will have better chemistry.
As the time goes by, as the time spent together were much longer; you learnt to coordinate better with your group members. I guess, this might suggest why we need to understand people better. In order to have better chemistry with people, you ought to learnt about them. You shall spent more time with them. You basically live in them lol.
In one of my drama performance, my lecturer commented that we are lacking in terms of chemistry. There is spark but no chemical reaction I guess. However, during our last performance (last Thursday) our chemistry seems better. Probably because we have spent almost the whole semester with each other despite the ups and down.
#3 You learnt to be more open-minded.
... because you are not always right. Lol. Sometimes, we have to be neutral when dealing with people with 'strong' personality. There's nothing wrong with it to be honest. An act of consideration would help. You do not actually want to break the momentum you have gained in the group. The trust and such, it will bring a long term effect on people. I found out that it is okay to voice out your opinion but you have to prepared yourself to be evaluated, condemned or even rejected.
There are reasons for that.
Besides, group work enabling us to share the missing piece in us. We learnt from people, and if it is good practise - why not adapting it in our own life style?
#4 You will be left with memories.
Undeniably. Either good or bad, you will have experiences and memories which would always stayed in the deepest part of your heart. You will bring this memories everywhere you go and you ought to stay with that.
Because memory is one of the biggest component that makes us human.
There would be time where you were just sitting while enjoying your food and your group mates silliest jokes on the earth just came across your mind. Even if you were alone.
You will have their photos, tremendous of them, filling your memory card because they just love spoiling you with their own selfies.
The people who you used treat as stranger would now greet you, waving their hands in big motion just to get your attention in the middle of the streets.
Those kind of things.
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In conclusion, I could tattletale about all the horrible things while working in group. How a person could be such an asshole you never think would ever being encountered - a weird species and such. However, working as a group is making me realized that there are still a bunch of good things I could learnt and adapt to my own life. It just, you have to cleverly handle your life.
If you have something you are not satisfied with, talk.
If you cannot make it to your meeting, try to find another solution to make up your absentees.
If you have trouble, ask for help.
It's a group work after all. People would not know unless you speak up :')
What do you think?
Until the next time, adios!
21 comments
i used to hate group projects because i have trust issues t__t but ever since i moved to a new school there are many group projects i got involved in and i somehow got used to it.. overall group project has its own perks
ReplyDelete@That Ravenclaw I don't mind working in group but as I grow 'older', meeting a lot of people and working with them - I can see, you are not merely working with them :D There are more to it.
ReplyDeleteWorking in a group has its pros and cons. Totally agree on advantages on your list above. I think the success of group projects depend on the members. Personally, I hate group projects. It's very difficult to communicate with each other especially when some of the members are too selfish and didn't help with the work at all and only get free marks from others hard work.
ReplyDeleteYeps, sometimes its hard to deal with human yet my lecturer often says that we need this kind of exposure :') And I totally agree with her.
DeleteI dread group assignments. Mostly because my groupmates tend to take advantage of me.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should take advantage over them later, lol joke XD The last time I dealt with this kind of people, I reported them to the lecturer or I just give them a really poor member evaluation. But sometimes, there are lecturer who insist us to deal with it by our self :')
Deletelol! It's okay. I have finished my undergrad. Yes, that's what I did. I gave them low score on the evaluation.
DeleteI still ada group assignments yang tak settle cause everyone is busy with their exams. But tak sampai tahap benci sebab groupmates baik hehehe.
ReplyDeletePernah sekali je i hate group assignment sebab ada sorang tu.. i dont know whats wrong with her hahaha. Nasib assignment tu settled cepat >.<
Hahahahahah gosh the perks when we have to deal with people we do not even like lol. I have times when I sendiri pun rasa nak nangis dengan kebaikan groupmates :'))
DeleteFighting btw!
I normally team up with my friends but there're times when I'm all alone for a semester and teaming up with someone outside of my circle is nice, well.. it's depending on the attitude as well..
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I have a question that goes around my mind lately lol that which one actually would produce better result; when I work with the ones I know well or totally stranger? :D But then, its all depend on the work ethics, our self and the people, right?
DeleteFor me being in a group does not meant that any assignment will just magically finished in blink of an eye. it still is an individual work and to have the task in a group means an individual need to carry little task rather than doing it alone. The key is finish your task first before others. This shall be in term for obvious assignment (like answering question etc). When it in term of business, argh it was more complicated. Lols.
ReplyDeleteI kinda agree however there are times where we had to sacrifice in the name of group work by doing others' assigned job just because their very own 'negligence'. Lol, 'can't wait to start working yeay'!
Deletemost of the point here, I am quite agree. But, as for me been working in a group for 7 years I guessed. Sometimes: be understanding, team work and tolerate is important too.
ReplyDeleteAnd agree with you. If there is anything that you do not agree with , just speak up. If we just keep silent people wouldn't know. People can't read our mind and heart,right?
Nice sharing dear. And , Happy New Year 2018 <3
Happy New Year too! :D
DeleteDululah zaman belajar, Siqah tak suka group task sebab lebih prefer sendiri kot. Tapi bila dah tahun2 akhir, selalu ada grouo task, jadi seronok dan lebih bermakna kehidupan lepas bergaul rapat dengan kawan yang lain. Barulah kita lebih mengenali dan dah tak judge personaliti orang lain. Betullah, pepatah Melayu kata, “tak kenal maka tak cinta” :)
ReplyDeleteAgree with your last sentence. People don’t know our mind, and we need to speak up if anything we do not agree. Sesungguhnya tiada telepati antara kita semua. maka baiklah speak up, berterus terang agar tidak merana seorang diri :)
Happy New Year, Faten. Semoga baik2 saja dalam tahun 2018 <3
Itulah, satu perkara yang den realized after working in bunch of group assignment :') Kena bercakap, tapi nak bercakap pun ada adab dengan tertib dia macam mana lol kalau aci redah - silap haribulan boleh buat gaduh pulak sedangkan itu yang kita nak elak.
Deletehad a really good read here. u speak what's on my mind. i mean write.
ReplyDeletehahahahahaha glad it did but it doesn't matter if you did not pun since every one had their own opinions :D
Deletei have a really small group of friends here, like 5 people only. and only 3 of us in the same class. And almost every single group assignment we do it together. Paling suka kalau max 3 orang satu group. sebab senang gila buat kerja dengan kawan rapat. Bila tambah je nak group of 4 or 5 dah pening kepala dah hahaha. Susah nak cari yang betul2 masuk. But yeah in the end of the day, it's all about experiences, either good or bad. Sampai bila nak group bertiga je kan so kita pun bukak la sikit minda and start berpecah-pecah sikit, Alhamdulillah not /that/ bad pun sebenarnya hahaha
ReplyDeleteIts easier to do group work when you have people yang kita memang dah kenal and rapat lol but sometimes we need fresh air jugak. Why? Because nanti bila dah habis study, we might encounter people yg kita taksuka pun utk berkerja with, hence why I agree with your opinion, its all about experiences :)
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