Video Transcript:
Hi Everyone! This is Day 6 of my video series, 20 Days, 20 Quizzes, where I count down the 20 reasons why my book, All About You: A Personality Quiz Book will make a great gift for your loved ones this holiday season!
The sixth quiz in the book is about what role you fall into when working in a group. You could be someone who wants to get the job done as efficiently as possible. You could be someone who wants to use the opportunity to socialize and make friends with the people you’re working with. You could enjoy being the group leader. Or you could prefer to work alone and not really be into group work.
The results of this quiz give suggestions on how to navigate a group project based on how you come out. If you prefer to work alone, you’ll get advice on how to reduce the amount of work you actually have to do together by dividing up the tasks and working on them separately. If you like to get the job done efficiently, you’ll get tips on how to do that, if you like to make friends with your group members you’ll get suggestions on that, and if you like to lead the project you’ll get tips on being a good leader and looking for leadership opportunities.
All of the types play an important role. When I was in high school, one of my teachers did an experiment where we all had to choose what type we were in a group project setting, and then we had to break into groups with only people who were the same type as us and make a poster together. Now, I was thinking, this is gonna be great, we’ll get the job done so efficiently. But it didn’t turn out that way. First, it took forever for us to actually get started on the poster. I was someone who liked to make a plan of what we’re gonna do before we do it, but then after that, I like to get the job done. Being in a group with all people who like to plan, we spent much longer in the planning phase than I normally would, and all the people who were more action-oriented, the ones who would jump in and just start making the poster, were in their own group.
The second thing I noticed was that I felt a bit left out, like it was hard to say anything or contribute my ideas to the group. I was much less assertive back then, and in group settings, I was often relying on a people-oriented person who made sure that everyone’s ideas were being heard, someone who would notice if everyone hadn’t had a chance to share and would especially go around ask each person what they thought. I used to think that I didn’t like to be with people-oriented group members because I associated being more social with goofing around and not getting the project done, but after that experiment, I realized how important that role was, and how I had always benefitted from having people-oriented people in my groups, even if I didn’t realize it.
And even the person who doesn’t like group work plays an important role. I personally don’t like group work, and there have been times when we had group projects that lasted the entire semester, where every week we’d have to hand in a paper or case study as a group, and I suggested right away that we divide up the weeks and each be completely responsible for a few, and most people looked relieved to not have to meet every week. So however you come out on this quiz, your role is important, and you’ll get advice on how to navigate a group setting with your unique strengths.