Jan 24, 2022
Are you better at working in teams or working on your own?
I'm sure you'd agree that when you work alone, you tend to become obsessed with planning everything beforehand. And that leaves you constantly perfecting yourself; and before you know it, you have let time pass you by without actually working on your project. Our ego works that way. It makes us think we need to wrap up and take care of everything we have to take care of before we can move forward. And it just holds us right there in that same spot, always trying to get our momentum going before we set out. Group work, on the other hand, provides more opportunities to get us going and get support to go ahead and do your work. It's kind of like peer pressure; you see the others taking action and that spur you to do the same, and you just set out to keep up with the others. It knocks you out of your reverie a little bit.
As you can see, one-on-one work can provide a lot more depth, and you can go much deeper into whatever is showing up for you. Whereas in group work, you get the opportunity of the breadth, the range of possibilities are available and that in itself can kind of spur you on.
The challenge, however, is that your ego is going to try to grab a hold of whatever's happening in the group, and then use it for its own nefarious purposes, which ultimately are to keep you safe from being confronted by your fear. And although groups can really open up new opportunities for you and spur you forward, it can also provide a bit of a dangerous opportunity for some kind of justifying actions you mimic from the group.
Now, if you’re in charge of this group, what should you do to lead it transformationally?
Let's delve into this topic a bit more deeply by focusing on some of the differences between individual vs. group work and why you may choose one approach over another in some situations.