Working Through Group Problems
Guidelines for reacting to group problems
- Anticipate and prevent
group problems whever possible
- If a group spends time
developing itself into a team, many problems can be anticipated
and prevented.
- Get to know each
other
- Establish ground
rules
- Discuss norms
for group behavior
- Agree to an
improvement plan
- Think of each problem as a
group problem
- Neither over-react nor
under-react
- Your team must learn
to differentiate between fleeting disruptions and chronic
behaviors.
- A range of responses can include:
- Do nothing
(non-intervention, appropriate for fleeting disruptions)
- Off-line conversation
(minimal intervention) outside the group meeting, using constructive
feedback techniques
- Impersonal group time (low intervention) inside
the group meeting, focusing attention on the problem, not the
offender
- Off-line
confrontation (medium intervention) outside the group meeting, which is
similar to off-line conversation, but more assertive
- In-group
confrontation (high intervention), but with constructive feedback
techniques