Working in a Team Vs Working Alone: Which Is Better?
Do you remember the time when every HR asked this question in a job interview? The perfect answer was to work in a team; but is it actually the right answer?
Most people spend some time thinking that the right thing is to work in a team instead of working alone; but have you ever thought which is better? Let’s find out together.
Working Alone
Let’s see what happens when you start working alone.
You’re More Focused
When you work alone on a project, you put all of your mind into it. You have no one to distract you with opinions, ideas, or suggestions; you’re like your own boss.
You work on your ideas all alone and you put your own rules, so you won’t worry about teammates objecting to it. Working alone will make you more focused because you will know what you should exactly do and how.
You Get Things Done Quickly
As we said, you’re your own boss, so you won’t have to worry if someone has done their part or not. You’re the one who’s in charge and you’re the fastest in your team of one. You’re working on your ideas and you know how to do it, so you end up implementing them fast.
You won’t sit around waiting for other team members to deliver or to even edit; you’re doing it all.
No Arguments
Working in a team puts you in a lot of arguments and conflicts, but working alone spares you all of that.
Ideas won’t be approved once they are presented, your teammates will share their opinions; some might agree while others won’t, and it will take some time to eventually agree on an idea. And put in mind that you’re not just discussing one idea, you’re discussing many ideas.
But being on your own will make you avoid any objections and any conflicts regarding ideas and which member will do this part of the project.
Getting All The Credit
It is nice to succeed with teammates, but it’s probably nicer when you’re the one who’s fully responsible for this success. It is a nice feeling to see your idea being implemented and taking the credit for it. Receiving appreciation will boost your self-esteem and enhance your productivity. When you succeed, you will find yourself doing even better the next time.
Taking All The Time You Need
You have no one to rush you when you’re working alone. You will be taking all the time you need with no interruptions. Taking your time will make you have the best results because you will be working on the details of your own idea.
Working In A Team
Working in a team has many perks as well and we will tell you all about them.
Flow of Ideas
When you’re working in a team, creativity is unlimited. You will be exposed to many ideas, and you will come up with more than a couple of ideas.
In fact, the brainstorming your teammates have is useful, as it is a kind of practice to your mind. With every proposed idea, you will find yourself thinking of an even more creative one.
Peer Pressure
Working in a team won’t put you under the same pressure as when you’re working alone. You’re all under stress and you all want to do your best, so you will be helping each other. You won’t have everything on your shoulders, the project will be divided on every team member, so it’s a divided pressure.
Building New Connections
Working in a team will enable you to build connections. You’re dealing with people who work in the same field and even have the same level of creativity. This can bring you all closer and in any future projects, you might reach each other to work together again.
Better Problem Solving
Working on any project will put you in difficult situations and will expose you to obstacles. When you’re all alone, you will have to figure out solutions on your own, which can be stressful. On the contrary, if you’re in a team, you will all be working together to find solutions to any problem you’re facing regarding the project.
So, working in a team will provide proper solutions to problems.
Efficiency
Working in a team will make the work more efficient. In other words, you’re all getting the job done with the best performance. With everyone giving their best and working hard, your work will be perfect. Even when someone does a mistake, other team members will notice and will fix it.
What About The Cons?
Technically, some of the perks of working in a team can be cons of working alone and vice versa. Meaning, working in a team with many people can distract you and can make you take longer. While working alone, won’t enable you to come up with the same amount of ideas just like working in a team.
So, to end this, probably none of them is better than the other; each one of them has its own pros and cons. It actually depends on you and how flexible you are. But you should be aware that some projects require teamwork while others can be done on your own.
