Audio version of "Teamwork skills: Being an effective group member" tip sheet (MP3) Show
For small groups to function effectively in a course context, students must attend to both the climate within their group and the process by which they accomplish their tasks. Critical to a healthy climate and an effective process are strong communication skills. Below you will find the basic characteristics of effective communicators, plus tips to help students with group climate and process. Although students can gain many of the skills described below through informal social interactions, they still benefit from having them made explicit. To hone their skills they also need opportunities to practice as well as to receive regular feedback on how they’re doing. Share the information below with your students, use it to set activities for them, and work to incorporate three components of feedback into your plan: instructor comments (oral and/or written), reflective group discussions and/or peer assessment, and self-reflection (see the reflection prompts in Appendix A for ideas). Communication skillsTo function successfully in a small group, students need to be able to communicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels. Effective communicators:
Regular open communication, in which group members share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings, is a must for successful group work. Unspoken assumptions and issues can be very destructive to productive group functioning. When students are willing to communicate openly with one another, a healthy climate will emerge and an effective process can be followed. Skills for a healthy group climateTo work together successfully, group members must demonstrate a sense of cohesion. Cohesion emerges as group members exhibit the following skills:
As an instructor, you can use several strategies to encourage students to develop a healthy climate within their small groups:
Skills for an effective group processBesides knowing how to develop a healthy group climate, students also need to know how to function so that they are productive and accomplish their tasks effectively. An effective process will emerge as students exhibit these skills:
As an instructor, use some of these strategies to encourage students to develop an effective process within their small groups:
Appendix A: Encouraging self-awareness and reflection in group workOne of the most important things you can do as an instructor is to have students reflect regularly on their group experiences. Their self-reflection will reinforce and further develop critical teamwork skills. Based on your objectives for the group project, create a set of prompts using the questions below. Have students then use these prompts to journal about their reactions to group climate and process. The journals encourage self-reflection and can help students see teamwork issues in new ways and create ideas for resolution. They can also provide a good basis from which students can choose comments to share with their group members in debriefing sessions. If students submit their journals periodically throughout the semester, give them feedback orally or in writing, and to the extent appropriate, discuss in class any trends that you have identified through observation or in the journals (e.g., reassure groups that many are facing similar challenges). Also, requiring all students to submit a final reflective report after the group project can help them to see the value of the teamwork expertise they have developed through practice. Climate
Process
Appendix B: “Are We a Team?” checklist (Levin & Kent, 2001)Check off the statements that accurately represent your group. Be prepared to discuss your choices afterwards with your group. Also consider ways to improve your group’s functioning, especially as it relates to the statements you did not check off.
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What is gatekeeping in group function?Gatekeepers are those group members that attempt to maintain proper communicative balance. These people also serve as the points of contact between times of official group meetings. The Recorder is the person responsible for tracking group ideas, decisions, and progress.
What is a self confessor?The self-confessor is a group member who tries to use group meetings as therapy sessions for issues not related to the group's task. Self-confessors tend to make personal self-disclosures that are unnecessarily intimate.
What are the types of roles in a group?There are four fundamental roles to consider: leader/facilitator, arbitrator/monitor, notetaker/time keeper, and devil's advocate.
What is group leadership?Group leadership is the process of providing focus and direction to a specific group of people. Leadership of this type often involves facilitating and guiding the actions of group participants as well as accepting responsibility for the outcome of the group's efforts.
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