Group discussion and leadership Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Group discussion and leadership - Research Paper Example The best leaders in any environment are transformational leaders since they are inspiring and have the capacity to empower and develop the confidence of their followers. Therefore, when a leader embodies such traits their followers tend to respect them more and this results in more successful teams. Group facilitation often requires one to have strong leadership attributes so they can not only control and manage the group but also discipline and act as the mediator when there are problems between the members (AHRQ 11). A leader should strive to set an example for the members and thus they should exemplify the attributes that the want the members of their group to embrace (Wright 30). For instance, if one wants group members to be diligent and punctual they should ensure they engender these virtues so they set an example thereby leading from the front. When a leader walks the talk, his followers are likely to admire and copy them as opposed to when they just issue instructions and ord ers without adhering to them and expecting their followers to comply. When facilitating a group it is crucial that the leader is well informed on the subject matter; however, not implying that they should necessarily be more knowledgeable than everyone else should, but they should at least have the basic information. A good leader must be competent in the field they expect to lead otherwise they will lose their authority and respect and as a result, their effectiveness and legitimacy as leaders would be seriously jeopardized (Bui). During my experience as a group leader, I was not very keen on gathering the prerequisite information and I made the mistake of assuming that since everyone else will have carried out his or her own background research, I would not be conspicuous in my ignorance. This turned out to be a costly assumption since most of the members had either carried out narrow research and some completely neglected theirs. Thus, during one of the meetings I realized that t he majority of the members expected the few diligent researchers to do the legwork for the rest of the group that was contrary to our group’s rules. Normally, I would have heavily reprimanded them, but in this case I was no different from them and when they realized I had not done my part they seemed to feel justified in their non-compliance. Additionally one should be a good time manager so that they can manage the activities of the group and divide the time efficiently so that each activity and each member is allocated enough time. Facilitation further calls for one to be a very good listener, as in this case they can understand the needs of the individuals in the group by listening objectively without interrupting or being judgmental. Therefore, one can discern the members concerns and learn to listen for and spot common grounds, and use them to create unity by taking advantage opinions or views shared by all the members. Much of a facilitator’s job involves plannin g and organizing; thus, to effectively lead a group one must have good managerial skills so they can plan ahead for group activities as well as prepare contingencies by considering all possible scenarios. I believe I presented most of the qualities mentioned herein apart from the aforementioned incident where I had neglected my research, as I always planned for the group activities, researched exhaustively on the subject and even prepared other activities just in case the initial plans did not materialize. During my