Lessons from The Apprentice

I have been watching The Apprentice quite abit after the introduction to it by a friend a while back. I'm starting to like it as I get to see people and people's interaction and the possible conflicts and then when they get interviewed, the parties normally let out all they can. It's probably identical to how we all function when we get projects.

We may get uncomfortable with how the person says or does something but we keep it under control thinking that it's no use letting out all steam and pretty soon it becomes difficult working with one another.

When troubles come, I've always thought that thrashing things out would be a good way to solve it, but from the way the show depicts it, it doesn't seem to help. One party will be less outspoken and will be shadowed and he or she will not feel that she had been thoroughly understood. Problems will still continue to ensue.

When we have conflicts with a single person who is the source of all negativity, normally, the team leader has a role to do something about it. He will pull the person aside and try to get things clear so that conflicts will happen in less occurrences. Apparently one less outspoken person did just that. He was the project manager and he pulled out one negativity king and tried to set things clear. I realised that for him, that didn't seem to work. He however, never sought to understand the other party's viewpoint.

I do realised that in a team setting, delicate balance is needed. Talk too much or contribute consistently to no good ideas, and you're out. Be too quiet and contribute not enough, and you're out. Be uneasy around and unnatural around people you work with, and you're not going to last. One setback may lead the team to always set you aside, and you will be made to feel unwanted. At least, that's what one team did to a non-stop blabbering and non-producing guy.

Sometimes people have hidden agendas in doing something. For example, Marshawn had not wanted to put on the costume and she thought that failing to present well might lead her to be fired, and that's a valid point. That however was not known to the team. The team thought she gave up on them, and she quickly got fired. When asked to justify all that, and why she refused her duty, all she said was crap. The real meaning of all that calculated acts was never revealed, pretty similar to how some people seem difficult but they would never seriously and truthfully tell you why. They definitely have something to do in them, but they would never tell you.