I'm a little process and people. What "P" are you?

This is the second time I've been to this particular teamwork workshop at work, and I have to say that I like it just as much the second time as I did the first. Now, don't get me wrong, I am as skeptical as the next person (probably even more so) about these group activities. These workshops where some kind of leadership consultant comes in and tells you how you're going to have a great time at work, how you're going to get along with all of your co-workers, how you're going to be efficient, productive, and a happy drone. This workshop is different, though, and it has everything to do with Lou Bergholz and his Edgework Consulting. He is really enthusiastic about his work (or at least comes across that way, which is really key), and his passion and energy are infectious. I listen to what he has to say. I'm an active listener. I get ideas after listening to him speak. I'm a little in love with Lou.

The premise of Lou's teamwork workshop is that teams work better when everyone knows there's a job to be done, wants to get it done, and works together to get it done. Everyone brings something different to the table, and this is a good thing, because we all check each other, keep all of our distracting qualities in balance, and form a good team. Lou boils people down into three basic categories, the three "P"s: People, Process, and Product. While we all might be each of these at different times, we are predominantly one or another, and it's the way that each of these types fit together - and how we learn to accommodate the differences - that makes a team a good team.

So bear with me while I discuss which "P" I am. I straddle the line between a people person(someone who is concerned with how everyone feels, someone who wants to make sure everyone's voice is heard, someone who knows people and who can just call someone to help them get to the result) and a process person (someone who is very concerned with the context of the task, the details, the supporting data, the research, how to go about getting the result, and making the result the best possible result no matter how long it might take). I am not fully a people person because I do not have connections and I would often rather sit and figure something out myself rather than ask someone for help, anyway. I am not fully a process person because I don't always care about the details (like when I'm reading a book without a lot of dialogue... sometimes I skip the descriptive paragraphs). But I am mostly a process person. I get absorbed in the task of doing something and of doing it well. I strive to be a perfectionist. I am hard on myself if the end result is not what it should be - or what I think it should be. If only I had more time... my end product would have been so much better! That kind of thing. I need people to give me gentle nudges if I'm taking too long at something. Most of the time, for me time is not of the essence.

Why does this matter? This matters because I think that you can extend the three "P"s to everyday life. To your other relationships outside of work. People need to have patience to deal with me. You should consider me a challenge. But I also need to understand that some people, like Doug, for example, want to get to the end result. They want to move through their set of tasks and get things done. And then people people can get so caught up in emotions and feelings and socialness that nothing ever gets accomplished. No "work" ever gets done. I don't always want to talk about myself or my feelings, though often I do. But if you're looking for me to always talk about myself or my feelings, we won't get along. It's all about understanding each other. Understanding what makes the other tick. How the other works. No one really needs to change, we just need to understand. You know, the now infamous, "Can't we all just get along?" Well, we can get along. Really. We just need to try to work it out.

No, we did not sit around a circle and sing Kumbaya at this workshop, but still... sometimes these work-type things can be useful. This workshop was useful. I left it feeling enthusiastic about getting my team to work better together, about better understanding my team and the differences between us. Now let's see if I can apply this knowledge and keep up the enthusiasm. Too bad I can't have an intravenous line of Lou for the 10+ hours I'm at work each day. That would really, really be helpful.