Thursday, April 19, 2012
Is it okay to be difficult to work with?
MinnesotaPlaylist.com: Last week I asked the following question on Facebook and on Twitter: “Have you ever chosen to work with someone despite knowing they’re difficult to work with because of their talent?” There was a wide array of responses.
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11 comments:
For me, there is a fine line between being difficult enough to get what you want or believe is best and being difficult enough to be unpleasant. I have worked with both kinds of people. The stubborn set can actually work well, especially if it is a director we are talking about. Having a force that drives the show is often necessary to success. And, thankfully, this type of difficulty often does not walk hand in hand with someone who is mean. These people can be quite kind, they just know what they want. On the other hand, the set who sees people as being below them and has unrealistic expectations for work, work ethic, and does not provide adequate conditions for meeting these standards, are a different story. I'll probably avoid that set in the future.
I agree with others in saying that it depends on the definition of difficult. For some, difficult means stubborn, but it also could be someone who is difficult in a disrespectful way. If the other person is stubbornly difficult, in general I will still choose them if they have strong talents in what I need to work with them on. I usually am able to get along with most people regardless of a bad attitude, however if someone is difficult in a disrespectful way, I would not choose to work with them because they would be much more difficult to get along with.
There are a million things that can make someone “difficult to work with”. There are the obvious ones like being unreliable, disrespectful, or just plain mean, but there are also an innumerable number of less obvious attributes that can make someone difficult to work with. Something that freshman year has taught me (that I’m sure will be only be further ingrained in me next year) is that no one is 100% easy to work with. Some people are always convinced they are right, some people have a very difficult time getting their ideas across, some people are not assertive enough, and some simple have a very difficult schedule to work around. This article asks an extremely broad question and then complains about the result. No one chooses to work with people that are disrespectful or downright mean, however the time consuming and artistically intimate nature of our work almost guarantees that we will at some point find everyone a little difficult to work with.
It seems to be a loaded question, "would you work with someone talented despite their difficult nature?" Honestly, I have been placed in difficult teams, worked with difficult people and I really don't think that I would willingly choose those kinds of situations. I completely agree with the last person who wrote their response. People are difficult because others let them get away with it. If you don't tolerate it, most likely, people will change in order to "survive" to be successful. That being said, I know that sometimes you have to work with difficult people and you just have to realize that more often than not, this isn't a permanent situation. It will end, you will move on and hope that you don't experience that group work again.
I agree, it's a loaded question, to be sure. In theatre, I think that being good to work with is really indispensable. "collaboration" is one of the three words we use the most in our field, and it's because nothing we do can be done alone, and in my experience, it's almost always the best teams that produce the best final product. I find I'm always proudest of the work when I've enjoyed the process of making it, and when people are difficult to work with, it just slows down the entire process, not matter how talented they may be. Even those who are not good collaborators due to laziness and unreliability but are still talented must have some sort of motivation behind them, or they'd never have earned their reputation for being good. The trick is to get them to channel that when working with others.
Ok sure. Everyone want's to work with people who are not going to be difficult. No one ever asks to work with someone who will be a pain , for whatever reason. However, everyone is difficult to work with for one reason or another depending on the people on the other side. What this all seems to ignore is that this is a two way street. Yes, some people are stubborn, or unreliable, or even mean, but when working with someone, the factors are not solely the other persons traits, but everyone in the process. I think this has more to do with peoples' individual way of interacting and collaborating than it does with one person just being annoying on their own. It seems like this article was a little accusatory. There's a more to it.
A difficult working relationship is both parties' responsibility. Somebody who works smoothly with one person may have a horrendous time with another; it depends on how we're able to work within each other's constructs and constraints.
Personally, I've already learned that working with people whom I enjoy is more important than the product we're creating, and has a funny way to leading to a better product anyway. But there can be difficult parts of working with people who are great collaborators, e.g., the busy, smart, and generous designer who never answers hai email...
But as js144 points out, we often don't have a choice, so it's best to be adaptable and, when faced with somebody difficult, suck it up since we'll either find a way to work with them cohesively or the project will end eventually.
I will work with people that are obnoxious and "hard to work with" if they are not naturally talented at what they do. I think a lot of times, being naturally good at something and being hard to work with on that thing go hand in hand. If you have always been told you are great at something you are either, not going to care about it, think you really are the best, or feel good about yourself but not believe everyone and have to hide your talents. All of these traits make people hard to work with.
But if someone has worked hard to be good at something and they are hard to work with at least I know they are trying I know that they have not just been just handed the keys to their success, they have worked for it. Dedication and commitment mean a lot.
Also I think that a lot of times, artists are allowed by the people around them to be hard to work with.
I think this depends a lot on HOW they are difficult to work with. If they think they're better at their job than anyone else, and that's annoying, but, you know, they ARE...then, I'd say work with them. If you don't get along as friends but they do a great job, work with them. If they make unreasonable demands and show up late everyday and don't follow basic company policies, that's too much to deal with. Don't work with them. I feel like the implied question is, "Does being great at something give people the right to be a little bit of a jerk?" From a moral standpoint, I'd say no. From a work one, I'd say yes. If you shouldn't hire your friends because they're your friends, you also shouldn't hire people you dislike, just because you dislike them. (If you dislike them because they're always late, that's a different matter)
the unfortunate reality of the entertainment industry is that getting hired will most likely come down to who you know and who likes you. Now that definition of who likes you can be either that you are great to work with or good at what you do. Your reputation with those you have worked with and worked for will follow you. In my experience I have found that yes if someone is truly great at what they do then people are going to be more willing to put up with them if they get to be difficult. but if there is someone else is good at what they do and are easier and/or more enjoyable to work with then that second person is most likely to get the work. ultimately it comes down to how well the show comes together as a whole.
If you deconstruct all of the different ways someone can be "difficult" and just think about the very basis of working with someone difficult, then I would say no. I would much rather have a wonderful time working on the process and working a bit harder for the result then dealing with someone who makes your experience awful but might turn up a better result in the long run. It is true that finding someone who is great to work with and very talented is a rarity, but not impossible!
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