Does your group have these "willingness traits"?

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Is your group destined for success or failure because of attitudes?

A bi-weekly pamphlet titled The Professor in the Classroom recently said that, for a group to be successful, its members need four specific "willingness" traits:

Willingness to . . .

1. Willingness to accept everyone in the group.
   Good group members don't wait to see who measures up.
   They don't wait to see where someone stands before accepting him or her.
   
   
2. Willingness to learn from each other.
   Good group members recognize that everyone brings strengths to the group. They are not control freaks like Bossy
   
   
3. Willingness to share ideas, power, expertise and the floor.
   Good group members don't talk people to death like Wordy
   
   
4. Willingness to stay focused.
   Good group members commit to staying on task. They are not like Jokey.

How to brainstorm

Advertising executive Alex Osborn originated the term "brainstorming" in 1941 to describe that widely-used creative problem solving technique. Osborn said four four rules were essential to the group dynamics of effective brainstorming:

1. No criticism of ideas. People have trouble thinking creatively if they believe they will be judged.
2. Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas. If anything goes, group members can feel free to make connections they might not have considered before. This can yield surprisingly insightful results.
3. Go for large quantities of ideas. Don't give people time to self-evaluate or discard ideas before they are spoken.
4. Build on each other's ideas. A whole group can be "smarter" than its individual members. Applying several brains to an idea can expand the concept in exciting ways.

Groups can be very effective even if they may not always seem efficient.

Check out these unwelcome group members.

Working on a case study?

Is your group working to present a case study in class? Case studies can be great learning tools if . . . [ read more ]

SNU missions course materials and syllabi

Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008  |  Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 405-491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: November 7, 2005 |  URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/traits.htm