What are the advantages of the ability to work independently

Background Professional autonomy is a key concept in understanding nurses’ roles in delivering patient care. Recent research exploring the role of autonomy in the nursing work environment indicated that English and American nurses had differing perceptions of autonomy. This qualitative study aimed to explore the understanding and experiences of autonomy of nurses working in England. Methods A descriptive phenomenological analysis of data from 48 semi-structured interviews with registered nurses from two National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (purposive sample) was used to explore the concept of autonomy. Results Six themes were identified: working independently; working in a team; having professional skills and knowledge; involvement in autonomy; boundaries around autonomy; and developing autonomy requires support. A key finding was that nurses related autonomy to their clinical work and to the immediate work environment of their ward, rather than to a wider professional context. Nurses also perceived that autonomy could be turned off and on rather than comprising an integrated aspect of nursing. Conclusions Findings suggest that nurses in England, as framed by the sample, had a local ward-focused view of autonomy in comparison to nurses in America, who were reported to relate autonomy to a wider involvement in hospital level committees. Findings further indicate that autonomy was practiced occasionally, rather than incorporated into practice. Findings highlight the nee...

Last week, I started a tricky conversation with my coworkers. I stated that I prefer to work independently. Sometimes, it’s so much better to work alone–and in a private environment. At Toggl Track, we have a very cool office–and the option to some of us feel the need to work alone (or at least, in separate boxes). When people have lots of freedom and contact with others, some of us crave a little privacy. After talking with my colleagues about the pros and cons of teamwork and independent work, I decided to share our insights with you. Working as part of a team gain energy the more they interact with others. These folks typically enjoy working in groups. They communicate well with others and thrive in active, high-energy workplaces. If you like to work in a team, you probably love teamwork. You thrive in cooperative, integrative, and friendly work environments. You rely on your team members to help you solve problems, answer questions, and increase your work efficiency. You share struggles and successes with your peers–and celebrate group achievements. Working as a team pays off handsomely for many groups. What they say is often true, and two heads areoften better than one. Each person has a limited set of skills and a finite knowledge base. We need others’ help (and unique perspectives) to solve difficult problems and see beyond our blind spots. Team members benefit greatly from sharing challenges and ideas. We’re all individuals; we each offer our special talents to our...

One of the abilities that most faculty mentors (and employers, folks!) desire to cultivate in their undergraduate charges is independence. In this section, we’ll discuss some strategies that will help you learn how to become a self-motivated, self-regulating independent scientist. You will find that the principles you learn here are foundational to lifelong learning, professional growth, development, and long term career satisfaction. They will stand you in good stead in your life no matter your specific choice of career or career path. A good place to begin is by carefully thinking about your own learning style. Useful questions to think about include: • Do you like to work independently or do you need a more structured environment? • Are you self-motivated or do you need regular feedback in order to make progress? • Do you work best at your own pace or when prodded by others? What does it mean to be independent? It means: • Becoming self-aware, self-monitoring and self-correcting; • Knowing what you need to do; • Taking the initiative rather than waiting to be told what to do; • Doing what is asked to the best of your ability, without the need for external prodding, and working until the job is completed; • Learning to work at a pace that you can sustain; • Taking ownership of your mistakes without looking for excuses; and • Refusing to let self-doubt or negative emotions due to negative past experiences take you off course. Key to being independent is your: • Self-aware...

In 99% of jobs you’ll have some colleagues. You’ll have a supervisor or a manager–someone you will report to, and often also some subordinates–people who will report to you. But it doesn’t mean that you won’t have to work independently at all. Having colleagues doesn’t necessarily mean sharing an office, let alone tasks with them. You’ll be on your own, sometimes just for an hour a day, and sometimes for vast majority of your working time. It depends on the job, your position in the organization, and many other variables. But it will always happen, and hence it is logical that you may face at least some questions about working independently, while interviewing for any decent job. In this post we will look at 7 such questions. Let’s start! Table of Contents • • • • • • • Tell us about a time when you had to solve a problem on you own. The first one is a classic, scenario-based question. Regardless of your former jobs, you had to solve some problems. And they wonder whether you managed to do it on your own. They key is to demonstrate (while narrating a situation from your past) that you can do that, that you do not panic, and won’t stay put until you have a chance to talk to your manager. It can be any problem–you struggled to meet a deadline, had a conflict with someone, something on your computer didn’t work, you struggled to find a solution to this or that issue, etc. Just describe how you approached the problem, and what exactly you did while trying to solve it on your o...