C.T.M., LLC

Awareness While Collaborating in Groups

By Taylor Pelot, Mitch Vomhof, and Colin Makepeace

“Coming together is a beginning, Keeping together is a progress; working together is success.” - Henry Ford

What were going to teach you today

Importance of Group Collaboration Aware of your Social Styles, and how to

use them Roles in a group Characteristics of effective groups The role of the Leader/leadership

Importance

70% of all businesses work in groups in some way

The first step that guides communication is becoming aware of yourself and others

Being aware can help you answer questions

If you are unaware of what type of communication people work best in, you will be ineffective

Being Aware

Verbal

Nonverbal

Listen

Adapt

Why is this Helpful?

Mindfulness

Mindful Communicators are aware in 3 areas› Leadership Assumptions› Organizational Culture› Ethics

Relating to Others

Social Style- a pattern of communication behaviors that others observe when you interact with them.

Assertiveness- an Individuals capacity to make requests, actively disagree, express positive and negative personal feelings, and stand up for themselves without attacking another

Responsiveness- an individuals capacity to be sensitive to the communication of others, be seen as a good listener, and to make others comfortable in communicating.

4 Types of Social Styles

Amiable› Ex. Comforting, unsure, dependant,

respectful Analytical

› Ex. Critical, picky, persistent, serious Driver

› Ex. Pushy, tough, dominating, harsh, efficient

Expressive› Ex. Competent, friendly, reacting,

dramatic

Roles Within the Group

Leaders› Take charge and give direction

Responders› Talk and state opinions

Listeners› Take everything in and sit back

Consequences

Efficiency

Bad Relationships

Ineffective Work

Future Productivity

Effective Leadership

Truly care about their group members Coaching Most common characteristics

› They counseled› Excelled in their field› Gave exposure› Provided latitude› Were tough taskmasters

Consistency

Dramatize company goals and direction

Build skills and teams Spread enthusiasm Only brute consistency breeds

believability Done through mundane action

Emotional Awareness

Leadership intrinsically is an emotional process

Anger breeds nervousness and fear Excitement, energy, and enthusiasm

arouse similar feelings Studies have shown the importance of

emotional intelligence

Affective Event Theory

MBWA

Must be “outgoing” is a common misconception

Listening Teaching Facilitating Master momentum maker Spend the time

Achieving High Performance

Done with high expectations and peer reviews rather than table pounding managers

Trust› Treat them as partners› Treat them with dignity› Treat them with respect

Why Learn to Collaborate Effectively?

Grouphate – the loathing many people have for collaborating with others in groups and teams.

Teams are becoming more and more prevalent in the workplace

70% of corporations were team-based as of 2000.

Characteristics of Effective Teams

A clear, elevating goal A results-driven structure Competent team members Standards of excellence Principled leadership

Improving Group Dynamics

Develop ground rules for the group› How long are meetings?› Who sets the agenda?› Who records the results of the meeting?› What happens if a member cannot attend

a meeting? Develop a mission statement Establish group cohesiveness

Task Roles

Initiator/contributor› Generates new ideas.

Information-seeker› Asks for information about the task.

Opinion-seeker› Asks for the input from the group about its

values. Energizer

› Stimulates the group to a higher level of activity. Recorder

› Keeps a record of group actions.

Social Roles

Encourager› Praises the ideas of others.

Harmonizer› Mediates differences between group members.

Compromiser› Moves group to another position that is favored by all

group members. Standard Setter

› Suggests standards or criteria for the group to achieve. Follower

› Goes along with the group and accepts the group's ideas.

Individual Roles

Aggressor› Attacks other group members, deflates the status of

others, and other aggressive behavior. Blocker

› Resists movement by the group. Recognition seeker

› Calls attention to himself or herself. Dominator

› Asserts control over the group by manipulating the other group members.

Help seeker› Tries to gain the sympathy of the group.