Essential skills for group work
In this post we will explore five key skills for successful group work. If you’re new to group work you might want to start by looking through all of our group work resources here.
The five key skills we will explore in this post are; communication, leadership, creativity, organisation and collaboration.
Communication
Groups that communicate well do more than just talk. You will also learn that some people communicate better in different ways. When working in a group you will need to be prepared to be creative with your communication strategies. Creating different ways to get people contributing to meetings, or setting up an online group chat are just some of the ways you might achieve this.
Communication skills in the group also help the members to understand each other’s ideas, and reduce the affects of conflict as it arises. When individuals in the group are having to spend too much time mediating conflicts and helping everyone ‘get on’ they are unlikely to be presenting their own ideas and ambitions especially where they may cause differing opinions and lead to potential conflict.
TIP! Where issues or conflicts arise, make a conscious effort to support those who step in to mediate. This will stop them feeling ‘it’s all up-to-them’.
Working in a challenging group? Read our post ‘Strategies for effective group work’ after this post.
Leadership
Another skill you can develop through group work is leadership. This doesn't always mean one specific individual, especially for smaller pieces of work.
Leadership is a skill and not the job of any one individual.
Leadership skills ensure that all the members of your team are motivated and working towards a common goal. There are many different ways of doing this, and those with good leaderships skills will also recognise that different approaches might be needed at various stages of a piece of work.
Sometimes strong leadership skills can be negative too. If you find yourself tempted to take ownership of every task yourself to ensure the work gets done. This will be demotivating to the group and put more pressure on you. Learning to trust that others will contribute to the success of the project and complete the tasks they have been set will free you up to concentrate fully on your own area and/or monitor the success of the project as a whole.
While leadership skills will ensure a group’s goals and aims are achieved and support challenging discussions or decisions focusing too much on the skills as an individual may mean you become too focused on your personal rather than group goals.
Creativity
Strong creative skills bring innovative ideas, and problem solving benefits but when individuals focus solely on this they may lose sight of the group’s larger goals or become a bit of a perfectionist.
Organisation
Organisational skills are vital to completing any piece of group work. They support the whole of the group’s work and ensure ideas turn into clear actions and a structured achievable plan. Deciding early on which tools you will use to plan and track your progress will help you stay organised all the way through your project, so don’t be tempted to rush this decision!
It’s also important to remember that leaving the job of organising to one individual can cause problems. An individual too focused on completing tasks can become inflexible and oppose changing the group’s original plans even when the reasons are sound.
As a group you should develop your organisational skills but remember plans need to be flexible! There will always be issues and further ideas as the group progresses.
Tip: Need help choosing tools to keeping your group work on track? Read our post ‘Tools for collaborative working’ after this post.
Collaboration
Learning to work collaboratively on tasks that may not always be your first choice is also important to ensuring the success of the group’s larger goals. Developing opportunities for collaboration will ensure everyone contributes and can see what their contribution is achieving. Group work is easier and most successful when members of the group work collaboratively and share responsibility. Think about the last group project you worked on:
- What did you contribute?
- Did you make use of the skills and experience you possess?
- Could you have done something differently to make better use of those skills?
💡 Tip: While you are contributing to group work, it is important to ensure that your contribution is distinguished from the contribution of others. Failure to clearly differentiate your input can result in plagiarism. Find out how to avoid plagiarism through good academic practice.
The ability to agree common goals and learning in order to respect the contributions of all group members is vital to the success of any group work. Everyone brings their experience and knowledge to the group and you will each benefit from this particularly in areas where you are less experienced. This ‘knowledge gain’ is likely to be increased when working with people different from yourself!
Group work is all about finding the best balance of all of the group’s skills. Consider ways you can structure meetings so that everyone can speak and in turn listen to others contributions. This will help individuals feel their contributions are valued and develop a culture of respect in the group.
💡 Tip: Remember you won’t always be able to demonstrate or work to your strengths.
Summary
Sometimes you will choose your group, and sometimes you will be assigned to a group. It is in these situations that we may need to take on tasks and responsibilities we enjoy less or are less used to for the benefit of the group’s overall success. When the group works as a team and uses the skills identified in this post, the impact on the groups success and culture will be evident.
