Learning to Work With Others

Growing up as an only child, my report cards often included the same note: “does not work well with others.” For a long time, I wore that like a badge of honor. I liked the idea that I could rely on myself, finish my work independently, and take full responsibility for the outcome. If something succeeded, it was because of my effort. If it failed, I knew exactly where the fault lay.

That independence felt like strength. In reality, it was a limitation I didn’t yet recognize.

In college, I rarely sought guidance from professors. I assumed I understood the assignments and trusted my own instincts to carry me through. Looking back, I can see how much I missed. Collaboration is not just about dividing work; it is about expanding perspective. Other people see options you cannot see on your own. They ask questions you would never think to ask. They challenge assumptions you did not realize you were making.

At the time, I mistook self-sufficiency for clarity. I thought working alone meant working efficiently. What it often meant was working within the narrow boundaries of my own experience.

That began to change when I started working on larger, team-based projects. At first, collaboration felt slow and, if I’m honest, a little frustrating. Decisions took longer. Ideas had to be explained and defended. Compromise was unavoidable. But the final outcomes were consistently stronger than anything I would have produced alone.

Teammates introduced approaches I had never considered. They reframed problems in ways that made solutions clearer. They caught blind spots I did not know I had. The work improved not because we agreed on everything, but because we did not.

Over time, I noticed something else: collaboration did not dilute my creativity. It expanded it. Hearing how others think gives me more starting points, more angles, and more ways to solve a problem. My ideas do not disappear in a group; they evolve.

Today, I no longer see collaboration as a loss of control. I see it as a way to build better outcomes than any one person could create alone. Independence still matters. Accountability still matters. But the best work I have been part of has come from shared thinking, open dialogue, and a willingness to let other perspectives shape the result.

It turns out that working well with others is not about giving up your voice. It is about learning how much stronger that voice becomes when it is part of a conversation.