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\nGroup Leadership Skills: Part 5\n

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\n\nPublisher:\n\nCommunication Coach Alex Lyon\n\n\n
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\nGroup leadership skills often requires refocusing tangents in discussions. Tangents make people crazy. Your group leadership skills need to be able to handle them off-topic conversations.In Part 5 (of 5) in this collection of videos on...\nGroup leadership skills often requires refocusing tangents in discussions. Tangents make people crazy. Your group leadership skills need to be able to handle them off-topic conversations.
In Part 5 (of 5) in this collection of videos on Effective Group Communication, we look at how a leader can get a group back on track when it's on an off-topic conversation. It's 100% the leader's job to get the conversation back on track.

Ideally, he or she can do it in a polite and effective way. These 6 group leadership skills will help you refocus a team discussion without coming across as controlling or rude.

1. State the expectations clearly at the top of the meeting and give time guidelines. Good group communication skills almost require that team members know what is expected. Then they will be able to make more helpful contributions. This is a key feature of group leadership skills.

2. Remind the group of the purpose and goals of the team meeting when they get off track. If you've done #1 effectively, then this should be easy. \"Keep in mind, we've got to make a decision today about recruiting. Let's focus on that for now.\" Group leadership is often about reminding the team to focus on the work in front of you.

3. Be a verbal timer for tangents. \"Let's spend just 3 more minutes on this and then we'll need to get back to [blank].\" This is a respectful way to let people finish their comment but also refocus the team discussion back on issues that concern the whole group. You can also just do it like this, \"Let's give Sarah the last word on this topic and then get back to . . .\" If you've done #1 and #2 well, this is a gentle non-controlling way to both respect the group's process but get them off of the tangent.

4. Summarize and clarify what the group has discussed so far. By picking out the key themes of the discussion (and leaving out the tangents), you've made the focus of the progress clear. That gives team members a reference point that will help them move in the right direction. This is one of the most valuable group communication skills for leaders to develop on this list.
5. Honor the current discussion (i.e., tangent) and offer to make time later to return to that issue. \"This sounds important. Let's make some time to talk about this thoroughly at the next meeting\" or \"if there's time at the end of the meeting.\" Be sincere about this because if it is important enough for a tangent, then it probably is an important issue to at least some people on the team. Group discussion can get messy but the leader can not just make time for impromptu ideas but demonstrate respect for those ideas by making a time to discuss them fully.

6. Call on somebody who you're pretty sure will get back on track. Don't overuse this one. Still, it can come in handy if you use it when it fits the situation the best and is a great group leadership skill when used in moderation.

Bonus tip: Use humor. If it fits your personality, then you can use some light humor to get the group back on track. If we are laughing, we won't be as likely to feel \"silenced.\" Even the least focused among us will usually react well to humor if it is done naturally. Again, if it fits you. I wouldn't say that humor should be one of your main group communication skills as a leader (it can be distracting if overused) but it can come in handy, especially for the sake of variety.\n
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7:01
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Grade
Higher Ed
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Subjects
Career & Technical Education
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Media Type
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Source:
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\nCommunication Coach Alex Lyon\n\n
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Date
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2016
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Language
English
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For Teacher Use
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time, tangent
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communication skills, communication coach, communication skills training, how to communicate in groups, how to communicate in groups and teams, communication skills coach - alex lyon, group communication, effective group communication, group leadership skills, group communication skills, good group communication, good communication in groups, how to handle off-topic conversations, effective communication skills, team skills, group leadership, tangents, swerve back, give, people, today, team, discuss, funny, back, part, leader, discussion, skill, talking, make, person, talk, ways, refocus, topic, flow, start, meeting, accomplish, thing, decision, recruiting, 15 minutes, provide
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