We have really different working styles and projects like this are when your working styles matter. We learned a lesson to make working together easier.
Working styles matter
What went wrong?
Over the course of the last few weeks, we have learned really valuable lesson. It’s something that we should have realised earlier if we’re honest with ourselves. We didn’t realise this straight away because we weren’t in an office with other people. It is our first time properly working together so it just didn’t occur to us. We didn’t have the key conversation. The one that we needed to have to stop all the lumps and bumps that have occurred in the last couple of weeks.
We have really different working styles. These working styles are as a result of 25 plus years in our own industries. It is also a result of our own personalities on personal preferences.
What are our working styles?
CJ assimilates information by reading it. She is also at her best in the morning. CJ gets more work done before noon then she can do after 2 o’clock. This means that if you want to have a good conversation with her, give her time to read and think about the topic. And that’s conversation needs to happen as early in the morning is it can. She also likes having notes to refer to. These include things like a record of every discussion so that we both know what was said and what was agreed. A little less formal than minutes of a meeting but that’s basically the idea.
Matt also assimilates information by reading it but he’s at his best in the afternoon. Matt gets more work done after 3 o’clock and less before 11 o’clock. If you want to have a good conversation with Matt, he also needs to have had time to read and think about it. Just like CJ. However his idea of a conversation is about taking the final decision. He prefers to think through the pros and cons on his own. He expects people to come to the table with a decision.
This is in conflict would CJs preference. She likes to discuss all of the aspects and come to a joint pro cons list. And then review the list together before coming to a decision. The review of this pro cons list may happen by reading and thinking about it alone. And then coming back together to have a second conversation to take the decision.
You can see how we came into conflict with each other.
How did we fix our working styles?
We had to set some ground rules and we also had to agree how we were going to handle discussions etc.
CJ will review the properties on the property portals in the morning and flag potential items for a deeper look.
Matt will review the flagged list and put some trough the opportunity model each afternoon.
At the end of the week we will sit down and have a conversation in the middle of the day. This will let us agree which properties we will be putting on to our final shortlist.
This means that we are both able to perform a lot of tasks adequately. We also give the other person the information they require in order to have a good and meaningful discussion.
Finally we are able to have that discussion at a time we’re both of us have enough energy to engage with each other constructively.