How to Work Effectively In a Group

Working in groups is an important skill to master as it is required in our everyday life whether it is workplace, school, or a playground. Effective group work can be extremely helpful to achieve the common goal of the group before the given deadline. There are a few key elements that need to be kept in mind while working in groups which include:

Learn about your group: Motive of the group should be clear. Different people think differently and sometimes get offended with other’s actions so, one should know the limits of their team members in order to work effectively and efficiently.

Choose a leader: “Ensure you have one student who will make decisions and divide tasks among group members. Then, identify several people who are known to produce strong work and do not mind that they are not in charge (deck, 2014).” To make it more balanced, team members can decide different leaders for a specific time period. A supervision must be present in a group who can anticipate deadlines for a certain task, ask team members about any difficulty, tackle the problems of group members and motivate others to work.

Divide work: Division of work is crucial while working in a group as each member should have a clear role that will prevent overlapping. “Split the work to be done into different tasks that make use of individual strengths. Having roles both in the execution of your tasks and in meetings / discussions can help to make a happy, effective team (Guide to Group Work).”

https://www.slideserve.com/avital/group-dynamics-helping-groups-to-work-effectively

Communication: “I think communication would be a great reliability when it comes to group projects. I know that for a fact because I’ve been in situations where there is one or two persons that either don’t speak or just don’t feel the need to share their ideas which leads to other members of the team feeling excluded, unhelpful, and even unwanted. So it’s best to try to interact with each other maybe you have a great solution but maybe the others do, it’s best to mostly never settle for less than what makes your satisfactory bar complete and if there is no better solution seek out for one and don’t stay introverted (ali, 2016).”

Equal time to everyone: Each team member has a right for equal opportunity and amount of time to express his or her opinions. This is necessary because some people do not get a chance to reveal their thoughts and the group could become a two-person debate without considering someone else’s work. This generally happens for small group discussions.

Respect everyone’s opinion: Group members communicate their opinions in a way that respects others, focusing on “What can we learn?” rather than “Who is to blame?” (Teamwork Skills: Being an Effective Group Member).

Motivate: “Group members demonstrate support for one another as they accomplish their goals. They exemplify a sense of team loyalty and both cheer on the group as a whole and help members who are experiencing difficulties (Teamwork Skills: Being an Effective Group Member).” Some people mock at other person’s opinions and thoughts that make them loose confidence in themselves. After such incident, the person is no more able to express their thoughts in future and make them feel de-motivated but instead, they should motivate others for new ideas. Each group member should feel their worth in a group work and this can be done by taking their work into consideration, appraise where needed and by supporting them.

Respectfully correct them if wrong: Sometimes a group member might not understand the context of the question asked hence, give opinion that might not be relevant to the question. In such a situation, other teammates are required to acknowledge them about the facts and make them aware about the requirement of the group work politely and without disrespecting him or pointing them.

Meeting Arrangements: In order to track group progress, regular group meetings should be held, confirming the timings from each group member, for long-term group projects. Teammates should also be honest about “how much they have done?” and “how much is left?” and should ask for help from other teammates if needed. The most important thing is to stay connected with each other via technology or in-person.

References

ali, y. (2016, November 20). 9 Ways to Work Well in a Group. Retrieved from https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk: https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/how-to-work-well-in-a-group.html

deck, a. (2014, November 06). Tips to Work Effectively in Group Projects. Retrieved from https://www.fastweb.com: https://www.fastweb.com/student-life/articles/tips-to-work-effectively-in-group-projects

Guide to Group Work. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://student.unsw.edu.au: https://student.unsw.edu.au/groupwork

Teamwork Skills: Being an Effective Group Member. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/tips-students/being-part-team/teamwork-skills-being-effective-group-member