If you’re like me, sometimes the prospect of working with other people on group projects can be daunting, frustrating or just downright hard work.
The complexity that comes with working with other people can often make for a very challenging experience. Regularly we believe the project would be much better if we could work on it individually.
On the flip side however, working with people in an efficient group can be an enriching experiencing. The complexity that comes with it can also bring a wealth of different skills, ideas and creative solutions to the problem at hand.
Most of the problems I have encountered in group projects have not been because there was anything wrong with the group. Most of the problems occurred because there was a lack of structure around how the group operated.
Here are five things I think every group needs to incorporate into their project in order to make it smooth, efficient and heaven forbid, perhaps FUN!!
1. Set the Group Objective
The first time the group meets you need to set an objective for the group as a whole. List out what it is you want to achieve and by what date. Sometimes this may be a no-brainer as the objective is made obvious by the assignment that you have been given. But, sometimes this can be a bit harder to define. Take the time to reach a consensus on your goal.
Having a strong objective gives the group a sense of direction. Everything the group does throughout the course of the project should be motivated by the objective. Every meeting, email, piece of work should be another step toward the objective.
2. Create an Action Plan
Once you have a firm objective, you need to break that down into smaller steps. What are the ‘actionable’ things we need to do in order to achieve our objective? By what date do we need these tasks completed?
You should take these actionable steps and mark them onto a calender so that everyone in the group is aware of what needs to be completed and by what date.
A good method for this is to use an online calender like Google’s GCal. You can set up a calender specifically for the assignment and then share it with all group members.
3. Choose an Effective Communication Method.
A lot of problems occur when communication between group members is not smooth and efficient. “Oh I didn’t get that email” is an overused excuse.
The group should agree on the preferred communication method. For a small project email may be OK. For larger projects however, group emails bring an added complexity and confusion to the groups communication. Even with the improved email systems of today that group together related emails and show them as “conversations,” it’s far to easy for a vital piece of communication to get lost in your inbox.
So for larger projects I recommend using an online forum. There are any number of sites that will host a forum for you. All you need to do is Google “create a forum” and you will have any number of options to choose from.
Alternatively, you could host a forum on your own domain. PhpBB is a good piece of free software for this.
4. Assign Roles and Designate the Work.
It’s important that members in the group have clearly assigned roles and that the work is divide according to those roles. For example one person could be a researcher whilst another could be in charge or putting the presentation together.
You can assign roles in any number of different ways, how you do is up to you. The important thing is that every member in the group is aware of their role and what’s expected from them.
5. Meet Often and for Shorter Periods of Time.
Many groups try and get together for long periods and work on the project together. In my experience these marathon sessions rarely work. They are usually the height of inefficiency and merely lead to a greater degree of frustration for the group.
Instead meet often, once or twice a week, for no more than an hour. Have a clear agenda set for the meeting and stick to it. Group meetings should be used to discuss the progress of each individuals work rather than to do the work itself.
If you do need to get together for extended periods of time to do some work collectively make sure each member is aware that this is the point of the meeting. Also make this session separate from your regular meetings. This will give the session more focus.
6. Create a System for Accountability.
Following the steps above is all well and good, but often there will be one or two people in the group who refuse to ‘pull their weight.’ It’s important for the group to hold these people accountable.
This is made a lot easier if there is a clear group objective and each person knows exactly what is expected of them and by when. Then if someone does not produce the work needed from them, they have fewer excuses. If this happens, the group has the right to confront the person to explain their actions.
If you follow the steps above then hopefully your group work will flow more easily, produce better work and make for a successful project.
What other strategies do you use to make your group projects run more smoothly?
Leave a comment and let me know.