reaBefore long, you may become weary of all the group projects assigned in your classes. Why do university classes force students to participate in group projects anyway?
If you choose to take a positive attitude toward group class projects, you will perhaps be making the best investment of your life.
Scenario: Professor Jones assigns you to team C for this semester's group class project. No one can switch into a different group. Your new best friend from two doors down in your dorm hall is put in team 'A' and you're crushed because you won't get to tap his great research abilities with which you are so familiar.
You have no idea what the other people on the C team will be like. For all you know, you may end up with four people who aren't driven to succeed at all. Or, it could be a well-balanced team.
There may even be the possibility that you'll be thrown out of your usual tendency. What if you receive the surprise that you end up being the weak link when that's completely not your style? Or& you could end up being the celebrated contributor to the success of the project, when you've always had a tendency to be a slacker of sorts.
The point is you really never know!
So how do you cope? It will reduce pressure, stress, and disappointment to walk into your times with your group if you hold little expectations from your team mates. To expect people around you to be something that they can't live up to will disappoint, confuse, and often anger you. The worst part about having prior expectations is this -- when people or situations don't turn out the way you expect, it brings out the worst in your own personality.
To make it through a group project successfully, go in with a positive attitude, ready to contribute your best to the group. All that is really in your control is how you contribute and react to your various group interactions.
Keep an open mind towards the other group members. Their work and communication styles may be completely foreign to you. You may have to work with someone you absolutely cannot get along with. You will have to figure out how to get past whatever clashes in the group, make the best of everyone's strengths and work together to make up for each other's weaknesses.
Look at group work as an opportunity to learn about different working personalities -- not only your own, but also the ways other people tend to work. Once you begin to identify your own working patterns and those of various other people, you can then better communicate and co-operate with people of numerous backgrounds and styles. The interpersonal, team work and conflict resolution skills you gain from your university group projects will serve you well in the work world once you start your career.
Taking such an open minded perspective will allow you to delight in the diversity of people whose paths you cross in life, instead of feeling frustration at every step you take, or letting others' issues bring you down.
Staying positive, doing your best, keeping an open mind, and observing different work personalities will better prepare you for and give you a better perspective on life in general once you get out into the world after graduation.
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