Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GROUP SKILLS
SKILLS FOR LEADING AND
PARTICIPATING
Some of the skills required to achieve best results from
group discussion:
Group Leadership
Membership Skills
Task functions
Maintenance Functions
Personal Functions
Task Functions
Initiating
action taken to get group members started
Clarifying or elaborating
interpreting ideas, clearing up confusions, identifying
alternatives and raising related issues
Summarizing
act of pulling together related ideas, restating suggestions
after they have been fully discussed
Consensus Seeking
act of testing whether the group is nearing conclusion or
decision
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 3 Group Skills 8
SKILLS REQUIRED (CONT…)
Implementing
involves putting the decisions into action and requires :
assigning responsibility, delegating authority, accepting
personal commitments
Devil’s advocate
act of leadership and is performed when there is a suspicion
that a group has reached agreement on an issue to quickly
and easily
Consultants
allocating consultant role for specialist or researchers to get
benefit of their work
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 3 Group Skills 9
SKILLS REQUIRED (CONT…)
Maintenance Functions
Encouraging
being responsive to others, giving them opportunity for
recognition
Compromising
allows best ideas to be adopted
Gate keeping
is a function of keeping communication channels open within the
group at all times
Setting standards
is a function of imposing and insisting on standards for the
actions of the group
Housekeeping
is about making sure that everyone is kept aware of the group’s
decisions, progress, and ‘to do’ list
Personal Functions
Self understanding
your capacity to see your own behavior, actions and reactions in
the group in an objective way
Inter-personal understanding
ability to understand the other person’s point of view
Managing conflicts
pursue an agenda which is challenging enough to draw out
each person’s differing views, but which prevents
argumentation from blocking progress and decision making
Disruptive behaviors
- learn to recognize disruptive behavior
- point out this behavior to others with good will and in time
and place which is appropriate
- be open to others pointing out your disruptive behavior
GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 3 Group Skills 13
SKILLS REQUIRED (CONT…)
Active listening
- consciously concentrating on what the other person is saying
- wait until the other person has clearly indicated that they have
finished getting their message across
- before putting your views, get conformation of your
understanding of what they have said by reflecting their message
back to them
Recognition
people work best when they feel that they belong, that their
participation is worthwhile
Disruptive behaviors
- learn to recognize disruptive behavior
- point out this behavior to others with good will and in time and
place which is appropriate
- be open to others pointing out your disruptive behavior