I just pulled off an all nighter! I am a bit dizzy but I think I can do this. I am a night time kinda guy. I don’t know if there is any particular word to describe people who like to work at night.
Nocturnal, maybe?
Nah…that’s not it.
Anyway, with my strange humor sense out of the bag, let’s get into this post.
Today, I am going to tell you something important. I know that’s a cliché line but I really mean it. Not that it’s going to change the world or anything, but it will help you when you do a team project or, if you want to think extremes, when you start a new company.
People taking business advice from 17 year olds!!!???
What has the world come to!?
I know. But let’s move on.
We have all gone to a get-together programme at some point in our lives. If it’s a family get-together, there is a good chance that there will be some games in the end. How many times have you ended up in a get-together were you didn’t know jack squat about any of the games. Remember that feeling when you got so embarrassed you just wanted the thing to be over. You don’t ? Am I the only one? No of course not! That would be weird. We have all felt that feeling at some point in our lives. That feeling when you felt like you didn’t fit into the group.
If I ask you why you felt like you didn’t fit in, one obvious answer would be:
‘It’s not my thing, bro’
Did I guess that right? Okay, good!
You see the reason why you didn’t have a good time at that party was because the games asked you to be somebody you’re not.
This is where the title of this post comes into play
‘Productive Systems’
Technical term. I know.
Take that situation at that get-together as a system of which you were a part. Now lets give you a quality. Let’s say you are an introvert. Which simply means high exposure stuff like say, jumping rope in front of your family in the living room as part of the ‘game’ will never be your thing. Bingo is our lifesaver.
An introvert is shy and might not be able to make many friends but they make great public speakers.
What!!!??
I know that makes no sense at all. The thing is public speaking, in my opinion, creates a secure space where an introvert feels like it is okay to be outgoing and strong. I believe one of the questions that introverts always ask themselves is : is this vibe right for this situation? The touch of formality to such cases, therefore has a huge impact. Whereas in the informal day to day life, an introvert is shy. This is my theory on it and it could be ridiculously wrong. So, I apologize in advance to all the psychologists reading this post.
What we just saw was the same quality producing contrasting results in two different situations. Introverts are often misjudged to be not that productive. They can be productive, when they are in an environment they feel comfortable in. But the problem is our workplaces, our educational systems all are shaped very similar to the family get-together games environment. This is based on the belief that extroversion is better or maybe because of the larger number of extroverts. But the truth is no quality is greater than another in this case. Productivity here is very much based on the environment.
Introversion and extroversion is just one pair of qualities I used to explain this effect. There are a lot of quality pairs you can think up yourself that can affect the outcome of a group in terms of productivity. There is nothing wrong in having to work with people who have absolutely different ways of functioning as long as you recognize and take the appropriate measures.
Your group or your team can attain the maximum productivity if you give importance to how everyone in the group is wired. Let us take a point, X and another point, Y. Let Y symbolize maximum productivity and let X be anything below the maximum productivity. Everyday we travel from X to Y( work hard to attain maximum productivity). Now all I am saying is instead of everybody taking the same path, leave the option open for the use of another path given that it also ends in Y. In other words, our systems have to be modified in a way that a group can work as a group even when the approach of the members within the group shows difference.
So, next time you’re having Friday night games with your family, bring a chessboard for the introvert or try bingo for a change. What’s the harm? If you have an extrovert too in the house, try that jump rope thing I made up. Who knows it could turn into a trend or something.
Anyway, thanks for dropping in. Write a comment. Be a part. I would love to hear from you. God bless and see you guys in a few days.
The 4th Dimension 