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This site goes over great strategies to use in group work.

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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Many faculty now have students do some graded work in groups. The task may be, for example, preparation of a paper or report, collection and analysis of data, a presentation supported with visuals, or creation of a website. Faculty make these assignments with high expectations. They want the groups to produce quality work-better than what the students could do individually-and they want the students to learn how to work productively with others. Sometimes those expectations are realized, but most of the time there is room for improvement-sometimes lots of it. To that end, below is a set of suggestions for improving group projects. A list in the article referenced below provided a starting place for these recommendations.

1. Emphasize the importance of teamwork-
Before the groups are formed and the task is set out, teachers should make clear why this particular assignment is being done in groups. Students are still regularly reporting in survey data that teachers use groups so they don't have to teach or have as much work to grade. Most of us are using groups because employers in many fields want employees who can work with others they don't know, may not like, who hold different views, and possess different skills and capabilities.
2. Teach teamwork skills-Most students don't come to group work knowing how to function effectively in groups. Whether in handouts, online resources, or discussions in class, teachers need to talk about the responsibilities members have to the group (such as how sometimes individual goals and priorities must be relinquished in favor of group goals) and about what members have the right to expect from their groups. Students need strategies for dealing with members who are not doing their fair share. They need ideas about constructively resolving disagreement. They need advice on time management.

3. Use team-building exercises to build cohesive groups-Members need the chance to get to know each other, and they should be encouraged to talk about how they'd like to work together. Sometimes a discussion of worst group experiences makes clear to everyone that there are behaviors to avoid. This might be followed with a discussion of what individual members need from the group in order to do their best work. Things like picking a group name and creating a logo also help create a sense of identity for the group, which in turn fosters the commitment groups need from their members in order to succeed.

4. Thoughtfully consider group formation-Most students prefer forming their own groups, and in some studies these groups are more productive. In other research, students in these groups "enjoy" the experience of working together, but they don't always get a lot done. In most professional contexts, people don't get to choose their project partners. If the goal is for students to learn how to work with others whom they don't know, then the teacher should form the groups. There are many ways groups can be formed and many criteria that can be used to assemble groups. Groups should be formed in a way that furthers the learning goals of the group activity.

5. Make the workload reasonable and the goals clear-Yes, the task can be larger than what one individual can complete. But students without a lot of group work experience may struggle with large, complex tasks. Whatever the task, the teacher's goals and objectives should be clear. Students shouldn't have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing.

6. Consider roles for group members-Not all the literature recommends assigning roles, although some does. Roles can emerge on their own as members see what functions the group needs and step up to fill those roles. However, this doesn't always happen when students are new to group work. The teacher can decide on the necessary roles and suggest them to a group with the group deciding who does what. The teacher can assign the roles, but should realize that assigning roles doesn't guarantee that students will assume those roles. Assigned roles can stay the same or they can rotate. However they're implemented, roles are taken more seriously if groups are required to report who filled what role in the group.

7. Provide some class time for meetings-It is very hard for students to orchestrate their schedules. Part of what they need to be taught about group work is the importance of coming to meetings with an agenda-some expectation about what needs to get done. They also need to know that significant amounts of work can be done in short periods of time, provided the group knows what needs to be done next. Working online is also increasingly an option, but being able to convene even briefly in class gives groups the chance to touch base and get organized for the next steps.

8. Request interim reports and group process feedback-One of the group's first tasks ought to be the creation of a time line-what they expect to have done by when. That time line should guide instructor requests for progress reports from the group, and the reports should be supported with evidence. It's not good enough for the group to say it's collecting references. A list of references collected should be submitted with the report. Students should report individually on how well the group is working together, including their contributions to the group. Ask students what else could they contribute that would make the group function even more effectively.

9. Require individual members to keep track of their contributions-The final project should include a report from every member identifying their contribution to the project. If two members report contributing the same thing, the teacher defers to the student who has evidence that supports what the student claims to have done.

10. Include peer assessment in the evaluation process-What a student claims to have contributed to the group and its final product can also be verified with a peer assessment in which members rate or rank (or both) the contributions of others. A formative peer assessment early in the process can help members redress what the group might identify as problems they are experiencing at this stage.

Students, like the rest of us, aren't born knowing how to work well in a group. Fortunately, it's a skill that can be taught and learned. Teacher design and management of group work on projects can do much to ensure that the lessons students learn about working with others are the ones that will serve them well the next time they work in groups.

Reference: Hansen, R.S. (2006). Benefits and problems with student teams: Suggestions for improving team projects. Journal of Education for Business, September/October, 11-19.

Reprinted from Improving Group Projects. The Teaching Professor, 27.6 (2013): 4-5. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved.

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10 Recommendations for Improving Group Work

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Many faculty now have students do some graded work in groups. The task may be, for example, preparation of a paper or report, collection and analysis of data, a presentation supported with visuals, or creation of a website. Faculty make these assignments with high expectations.

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Here's a step by step method of group work.

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Implementing Group Work in the Classroom | Centre for Teaching Excellence

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Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making sk

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Here are some methods to have a very effective group.

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Many students, particularly if they are new to college, don't like group assignments and projects. They might say they "work better by themselves" and be wary of irresponsible members of their group dragging down their grade. Or they may feel group projects take too much time and slow down the progression of the class. This blog post by a student- 5 Reasons I Hate Group Projects-or the results of this survey of just one class might sound familiar to many faculty assigning in-class group work and longer-term projects in their courses.

We all recognize that learning how to work effectively in groups is an essential skill that will be used by students in practically every career in the private sector or academia. But, with the hesitancy of students towards group work and how it might impact their grade, how do we make group in-class work, assignments, or long-term projects beneficial and even exciting to students?

The methods and ideas in this blog post have been compiled from Duke faculty faculty who we have consulted with as part of our work in the CIT or have participated in one of our programs, such as the Fellows.Also included are ideas from colleagues at other universities with whom we have talked at conferences and other venues about group work practices in their own classrooms.
Have clear goals and purpose
Students want to know why they are being assigned certain kinds of work - how it fits into the larger goals of the class and the overall assessment of their performance in the course.Make sure you explain your goals for assigning in-class group work or projects in the course.Your syllabus might include:

Information on the importance of developing skills in group work and how this benefits the students in the topics presented in the course.

Examples of how this type of group work will be used in the discipline outside of the classroom.

How the assignment or project benefits from multiple perspectives or dividing the work among more than one person.

Some faculty give students the option to come to a consensus on the specifics of how group work will count in the course, within certain parameters.This can help students feel they have some control over their own learning process and and can put less emphasis on grades and more on the importance of learning the skills of working in groups.
Choose the right assignment
Some in-class activities, short assignments or projects are not suitable for working in groups.To ensure student success, choose the right class activity or assignment for groups.

Would the workload of the project or activity require more than one person to finish it properly?

Is this something where multiple perspectives create a greater whole?

Does this draw on knowledge and skills that are spread out among the students?

Will the group process used in the activity or project give students a tangible benefit to learning in and engagement with the course?

Help students learn the skills of working in groups
Students in your course may have never been asked to work in groups before.If they have worked in groups in previous courses, they may have had bad experiences that color their reaction to group work in your course.They may have never had the resources and support to make group assignments and projects a compelling experience for them in a class.

One of the most important things you can do as an instructor is to consider all of the skills that go into working in groups and to design your activities and assignments with an eye towards developing those skills.

In a group assignment, students may be asked to break down a project into steps, plan strategy, plan their time, and coordinate efforts in the context of a group of people they may have never met before.( This site has a fuller list of all of the skills involved in successfully navigating any kind of group activity or project.)

Consider these ideas to help your students learn group work skills in your course.

Give a short pre-survey to your class about their previous work in groups to gauge areas where they might need help: ask about what they liked best and least about group work, dynamics of groups they have worked in, time management, communication skills or other areas important in the assignment you are designing.

Allow time in class for students in groups to get to know each other.This can be a simple as brief introductions for an in-class active learning activity to a short interim or draft assignment as a prelude to a longer project that spans several weeks in a course.

Based on the activity you are designing and the skills that would be involved in working as a group, assemble some links to web resources that students can draw on for more information, such as sites that explain how to delegate and share responsibilities, conflict resolution, or planning a project and time management.

Have a plan for clarifying questions or possible problems that may emerge with an assignment or project.Are there ways you can ask questions or get draft material to spot areas where students are having difficulty understanding the assignment or having difficulty with group dynamics that might impact the work later?

Designing the assignment or project
The actual design of the class activity or project can help the students transition into group work processes and gain confidence with the skills involved in group dynamics.When designing your assignment, consider these ideas.

Break the assignment down into steps or stages to help students become familiar with the process of planning the project as a group.

Suggest roles for participants in each group to encourage building expertise and expertise and to illustrate ways to divide responsibility for the work.

Use interim drafts for longer projects to help students manage their time and goals and spot early problems with group projects.

Limit their resources (such as giving them material to work with or certain subsets of information) to encourage more close cooperation.

Encourage diversity in groups to spread experience and skill levels and to get students to work with colleagues in the course who they may not know.

Promote individual responsibility
Students always worry about how the performance of other students in a group project might impact their grade.A way to allay those fears is to build individual responsibility into both the course grade and the logistics of group work.

Build "slack days" into the course.Allow a pre-arranged number of days when individuals have to "step away" from group work to focus on other classes or campus events.Individual students claim "slack days" in advance, informing both the members of their group and the instructor.Encourage students to work out how the group members will deal with conflicting dates if more than one student in a group wants to claim the same dates.

Combine a group grade with an individual grade for independent write-ups, journal entries, and reflections.

Have students assess their fellow group members.Teammates is an online application that can automate this process.

If you are having students assume roles in group class activities and projects, have them change roles in different parts of the class or project so that one student isn't always "stuck" doing one task for the group.

Gather feedback
To improve your group class activities and assignments, gather reflective feedback from students on what is and isn't working.You can also share good feedback with future classes to help them understand the value of the activities they're working on in groups.

For in-class activities, have students jot down thoughts at the end of class on a sheet of paper or large notecard for a "one minute paper".

At the end of a larger project, or at key points when you have them submit drafts, ask the studentsfor an "assignment wrapper"-a short reflection on the assignment or short answers to a series of questions.

Further resources Information for faculty
Working in Groups: A Note to Faculty and a Quick Guide for Students (Harvard Center for Teaching and Learning)

Best practices for designing group projects (Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon)

5 tips for improving group projects (Colorado State TILT)

Planning group projects (University of Washington Center for Instructional Development and Research)

Team working skills (University of Kent Careers and Employability Service)
From a university employment site; includes group work scenarios that students have been asked about or to do during employment interviews and ideas for assessing strengths in group work settings.

Barkley, E.F., Cross, K.P., and Major, C.H. (2005). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R., & Smith, K. (1998). Active learning: Cooperation in the college classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Thompson, L.L. (2004). Making the team: A guide for managers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.
Information for students
10 tips for working effectively in groups (Vancouver Island University Learning Matters)

5 tips for surviving group projects (Uttica College Nursing student blog)

Teamwork skills: being an effective group member (University of Waterloo Centre for Teaching Excellence)

5 ways to survive a group project in college (HBCU Lifestyle)

Group project tips for online courses (Drexel Online)

10 Tips for Working in Student Teams (My College Success Story)

Group Writing (Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill)

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: How to Manage Group Projects (USC Libraries Research Guide)

Group Writing (Texas A&M University Writing Center)

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Ideas for Great Group Work - Duke Learning Innovation

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Many students, particularly if they are new to college, don't like group assignments and projects. They might say they "work better by themselves" and be wary of irresponsible members of their group dragging down their grade. Or they may feel group projects take too much time and slow down the progression of the class.

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Here are some great ways to support your group while you work together.

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When thinking back over my career so far, I've noticed certain parts that stand out. Some of those involve being stressed. Periods of stress that had me sleeping poorly, thinking about work continuously and feeling anxious.

Surprisingly, the times when I experienced the most stress were notduring the most high profile projects, tightest deadlines or when dealing with the most senior people. The times I felt the most stressed were when I lacked support from my manager.

Your team need your support so they don't feel the same way.

1. Support Your Team by Reviewing Work Frequently

Don't be a seagull manager, only meeting with your team when there is a crisis. Don't leave your team working on the big report for two months and then review it right at the end. Be sure to check in with your team early and often.

Leaving your team to work alone until you come in and criticise their work will lead to increased stress and failure.

Book regular progress meetings to understand how your team members are going.

2. Support Your Team by Standing Up For Them

Sometimes, people will attack your team. Whilst it is important that you try to understand any issues, your default position should be that you stand up for your team. If you don't, then you probably have trust issues which need to be fixed.

Read more about that here: 3 Ways That a Lack of Trust is Ruining Your Team

Of course, you can't just ignore problems your team may have caused. Even so, your team needs to see that you are willing to stick up for them, when needed.

If your team sees you back off or contradict them at the first sign of conflict, they'll begin to feel exposed.

3. Support Your Team By Communicating Accountability

When you delegate accountability for a function of your team, it needs to be communicated clearly. The worst thing you can do is tell your team member that they are accountable, but not tell anybody else. This puts them in a situation where they have to convince others that they are in charge.

Make it easy for your team member when you delegate accountability to them. Tell the team member they are accountable. Then tell the people they are working with. This removes a lot of infighting that can occur as part of delegating accountability.

4. Support Your Team By Setting Standards

Working in a team without any standards is difficult for everybody. It's difficult for the leader, because the team members will produce variable outcomes. It's difficult for team members because they don't have direction.

You need to support your team by setting standards for the work that you do. If your team works on technical tasks, make sure technical standards are in place.

On creative tasks, standardise the process, rather than the creative output. This will increase their confidence and give them some "guard rails" to follow.

In the chart below, you can see that if you have performance standards in place, you can more easily see whether your team is meeting them. Anything below the line is a cause for concern and may indicate an area where you need to provide more support.

5. Support Your Team By Being Easily Available

Some leaders are difficult to contact. Sometimes this is the nature of their position. Regardless, you need to ensure that you provide your team with frequent opportunities to talk to you.

Set times when you will be available and stick to them. Make yourself available to your team so they have opportunities to discuss and confirm things with you.

You may think that you are showing trust by allowing your team just to "get on with it" without you. Your team may just feel like you're never around and don't care about them.

6. Support Your Team By Developing Their Skills

A team that isn't learning is stagnating. Teams that aren't given opportunities to develop their skills may suffer from a lack of confidence to perform at their best.

It's up to you to provide opportunities to learn through mentoring, training or on the job coaching. Targeting areas where team members are lacking confidence is a good starting point.

Cross training your team is also very important. Cross training means spreading skills and experience throughout your team. This removes the problem of "Tim is the only person who knows anything about this and he just quit." Oops!

Cross training also allows your team members to work with colleagues to solve problems, rather than feeling like they're the only person who can understand them.

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Do you know any other good ways to support your team? Let me know in the comments below!

Alternatively, if you'd like to know more or need some help on this topic, simply send me a private message through my contact page:
https://www.thoughtfulleader.com/contact/

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6 Great Ways to Support Your Team - ThoughtfulLeader.com

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When thinking back over my career so far, I've noticed certain parts that stand out. Some of those involve being stressed. Periods of stress that had me sleeping poorly, thinking about work continuously and feeling anxious. Surprisingly, the times when I experienced the most stress were notduring the most high profile projects, tightest deadlines or when dealing with the most senior people.

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This discusses being supportive of all group members by setting goals with groups and accomplishing those goals.

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Audio version of "Teamwork skills: Being an effective group member" tip sheet (MP3)
For small groups to function effectively in a course context, students must attend to both the climate within their group and the process by which they accomplish their tasks. Critical to a healthy climate and an effective process are strong communication skills. Below you will find the basic characteristics of effective communicators, plus tips to help students with group climate and process.

Although students can gain many of the skills described below through informal social interactions, they still benefit from having them made explicit. To hone their skills they also need opportunities to practice as well as to receive regular feedback on how they're doing. Share the information below with your students, use it to set activities for them, and work to incorporate three components of feedback into your plan: instructor comments (oral and/or written), reflective group discussions and/or peer assessment, and self-reflection (see the reflection prompts in Appendix A for ideas).

Communication skills

To function successfully in a small group, students need to be able to communicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels. Effective communicators:

can explain their own ideas

express their feelings in an open but non-threatening way

listen carefully to others

ask questions to clarify others' ideas and emotions

can sense how others feel based on their nonverbal communication

will initiate conversations about group climate or process if they sense tensions brewing

reflect on the activities and interactions of their group and encourage other group members to do so as well

Regular open communication, in which group members share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings, is a must for successful group work. Unspoken assumptions and issues can be very destructive to productive group functioning. When students are willing to communicate openly with one another, a healthy climate will emerge and an effective process can be followed.

Skills for a healthy group climate

To work together successfully, group members must demonstrate a sense of cohesion. Cohesion emerges as group members exhibit the following skills:

Openness: Group members are willing to get to know one another, particularly those with different interests and backgrounds. They are open to new ideas, diverse viewpoints, and the variety of individuals present within the group. They listen to others and elicit their ideas. They know how to balance the need for cohesion within a group with the need for individual expression.

Trust and self-disclosure: Group members trust one another enough to share their own ideas and feelings. A sense of mutual trust develops only to the extent that everyone is willing to self-disclose and be honest yet respectful. Trust also grows as group members demonstrate personal accountability for the tasks they have been assigned.

Support: Group members demonstrate support for one another as they accomplish their goals. They exemplify a sense of team loyalty and both cheer on the group as a whole and help members who are experiencing difficulties. They view one another not as competitors (which is common within a typically individualistic educational system) but as collaborators.

Respect: Group members communicate their opinions in a way that respects others, focusing on "What can we learn?" rather than "Who is to blame?" See constructive feedback in the process section for more details.

As an instructor, you can use several strategies to encourage students to develop a healthy climate within their small groups:

Assign students into diverse groups so that they encounter others with different backgrounds and interests.

Design activities that break the ice, promote awareness of differences within the group, encourage reflection on the stresses of working within a group, and point out the demands of working in a group.

Have students participate in trust challenges. For example, try the trust-fall, in which individual group members fall backward off a table and are caught by their fellow group members. Or blindfold individual students, and have their group members guide them orally through an obstacle course.

Encourage students to participate willingly and ask questions of others. To encourage listening skills and ensure that everyone in the group speaks, try the "circle of voices" exercise. See Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) teaching tip "Group Work in the Classroom: Types of Small Groups".

After students have worked in their groups for a couple of weeks, have them fill in a "Are we a team?" checklist individually, then discuss their answers within their group. Have them repeat this exercise when they have completed their task. See appendix B for an example of this checklist.

Skills for an effective group process

Besides knowing how to develop a healthy group climate, students also need to know how to function so that they are productive and accomplish their tasks effectively. An effective process will emerge as students exhibit these skills:

Individual responsibility and accountability: All group members agree on what needs to be done and by whom. Each student then determines what he or she needs to do and takes responsibility to complete the task(s). They can be held accountable for their tasks, and they hold others accountable for theirs.

Constructive Feedback: Group members are able to give and receive feedback about group ideas. Giving constructive feedback requires focusing on ideas and behaviours, instead of individuals, being as positive as possible, and offering suggestions for improvement. Receiving feedback requires listening well, asking for clarification if the comment is unclear, and being open to change and other ideas.

Problem solving: Group members help the group to develop and use strategies central to their group goals. As such, they can facilitate group decision making and deal productively with conflict. In extreme cases, they know when to approach the professor for additional advice and help.

Management and organization: Group members know how to plan and manage a task, how to manage their time, and how to run a meeting. For example, they ensure that meeting goals are set, that an agenda is created and followed, and that everyone has an opportunity to participate. They stay focused on the task and help others to do so too.

Knowledge of roles: Group members know which roles can be filled within a group (e.g., facilitator, idea-generator, summarizer, evaluator, mediator, encourager, recorder) and are aware of which role(s) they and others are best suited for. They are also willing to rotate roles to maximize their own and others' group learning experience.

As an instructor, use some of these strategies to encourage students to develop an effective process within their small groups:

Design the group task so that the students must work together. Group members will be more motivated and committed to working together if they are given a group mark; if you choose to evaluate in this way, be sure to make your expectations extremely clear. See the CTE teaching tip sheet "Methods for Assessing Group Work" for additional ideas.

Once students are in groups, have them develop, as one of their early assignments, a group contract in which they articulate ground rules and group goals. See the teaching tip "Making Group Contracts" for details. Be sure that groups discuss how they will respond to various scenarios such as absentee or late group members and those who do not complete their assigned tasks.

Distribute a list of decision-making methods and strategies for conflict resolution. The CTE teaching tip sheet "Group Decision Making" is a good place to start. Have each group articulate, based on this list, a set of strategies for decision making and conflict resolution; this list should become part of the group contract. You may also want to offer yourself as an impartial arbitrator in emergency situations, but encourage students to work out problems among themselves.

Provide students with guidelines for running a meeting, such as setting and following an agenda, specifying time limits, and monitoring progress on the agenda. Consult the CTE teaching tip sheet "Meeting Strategies to Help Prepare Students for Group Work" for additional suggestions.

Teach students effective methods for giving and receiving feedback. For sample methods, see the teaching tip "Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback". Create an assignment that involves them giving feedback to group members, and make it part of their final grade.

To help students recognize and make the most of their own and one another's preferred roles, outline with them a list of team roles (see the teaching tip "Group Roles" for one such list), have them determine which role(s) suits them best, and give them time to discuss within their groups how their particular role(s) will complement those of other group members. Requiring them to rotate their roles helps them to expand their skills set.

Appendix A: encouraging self-awareness and reflection in group work

One of the most important things you can do as an instructor is to have students reflect regularly on their group experiences. Their self-reflection will reinforce and further develop critical teamwork skills. Based on your objectives for the group project, create a set of prompts using the questions below. Have students then use these prompts to journal about their reactions to group climate and process. The journals encourage self-reflection and can help students see teamwork issues in new ways and create ideas for resolution. They can also provide a good basis from which students can choose comments to share with their group members in debriefing sessions. If students submit their journals periodically throughout the semester, give them feedback orally or in writing, and to the extent appropriate, discuss in class any trends that you have identified through observation or in the journals (e.g., reassure groups that many are facing similar challenges). Also, requiring all students to submit a final reflective report after the group project can help them to see the value of the teamwork expertise they have developed through practice.

Climate

Process

What are your group's ground rules and goals? What changes to these rules and goals might improve the functioning of your group?

How is everyone encouraged to stay accountable to the tasks they have been assigned?

To what extent do you and others follow the feedback methods laid out in class? How could you and your group members improve the way you give and receive feedback?

To what extent does your group reflect on how well its goals are being achieved? How would more (or less) discussion about goals help or hinder your group's functioning?

How are decisions made in your group? Who is involved and in which ways? What has been effective about the processes you have used? How could your decision-making processes be improved?

What happens if a group member is unhappy or uncomfortable with a decision made by the group?

What conflicts have arisen within your group? How (if at all) have the conflicts been resolved? What role do you play in resolving these conflicts? What could you (or others) do to improve your group's ability to deal productively with conflict?

How do your meetings typically proceed? What do you accomplish and in how much time? What is effective about your group functioning during meetings? What changes would improve your meetings?

Who has emerged as the leader in your group? Which other roles do you see team members playing? Which role(s) do you play? Which role do you prefer and why?

Appendix B: "Are We a Team?" checklist (Levin & Kent, 2001)

Check off the statements that accurately represent your group. Be prepared to discuss your choices afterwards with your group. Also consider ways to improve your group's functioning, especially as it relates to the statements you did not check off.

We all show equal commitment to our objective.

We all take part in deciding how work should be allocated.

We are committed to helping each other learn.

We acknowledge good contributions from team members.

We handle disagreements and conflicts constructively within the team.

We are able to give constructive criticism to one another and to accept it ourselves.

We all turn up to meetings and stay to the end.

We are good at making sure that everyone knows what's going on.

When one of us is under pressure, others offer to help him or her.

We trust each other.

We remain united even when we disagree.

We support each other to outsiders.

We feel comfortable and relaxed with one another.

Resources and References

Bosworth, K. (1994). Developing Collaborative Skills in College Students. New Directions for Teaching and Learning,
59. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. pp. 25-31.

Breslow, L. (1998). Teaching Teamwork Skills, Part 2. Teach Talk, X, 5.

Hills, H. (2001). Team-Based Learning. Burlington, VT: Gower.

Levin, P. (2002). Teamwork tutoring: Helping students working on group projects to develop teamwork skills.

Levin, P., and Kent, I. (2001). Draft manual on teamwork tutoring: 28 questions and answers for academics on teamwork in universities.

Reynolds, M. (1994). Groupwork in Education and Training. London: Kogan Page.

Silberman, M. (1996). Active Learning: 101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

More Resources

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Teamwork Skills: Being an Effective Group Member | Centre for Teaching Excellence

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Audio version of "Teamwork skills: Being an effective group member" tip sheet (MP3) For small groups to function effectively in a course context, students must attend to both the climate within their group and the process by which they accomplish their tasks. Critical to a healthy climate and an effective process are strong communication skills.

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This article talks about how to support the group members in class by handing out roles and being supportive of them

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From online teaching resources to in-room consultations, the Center for Teaching and Learning supports instructors by helping them take their teaching to the next level.

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This talks about holding each member to a high standard and assuring they're doing their part.

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John* was doing his best to be calm, but his frustration was palpable. Jeanine was explaining that there was little chance her group was going to make the numbers for this quarter. "Honestly?" she said. "The numbers weren't realistic to begin with. It was really unlikely that we were going to make them."

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The Right Way to Hold People Accountable

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This paper discusses effective group work and sharing work.

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This article discusses measuring accountability in each group member.

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As we approach the end of our series on creating accountability in your life, we've covered topics such as how to better understand yourself and set your goals, how to start forming habits to reach those goals as well as creating a system of accountability to ensure that you actually reach those goals. Now we'd like to talk a little more in-depth about the system of accountability-about how to measure accountability and to check that your accountability system is working for you and actually helping you to reach your goals (as well as helping you to set the right goals). Measure Accountability Once you have an accountability system in place, you need to ensure that it's working for you as well as for everyone else in the group (if you have one). The Covey Institute (based on the writings and ideas of Stephen R Covey) calls this concept "The Cadence of Accountability"-you can see their summary of this idea in this short video. You may have heard the term "cadence" to describe the idea of a rhythmic flow of sounds, words, and intonations; For example [clickToTweet tweet="'I'm swimming in your cadences that you permeate my very language.' - David Levithan " quote="'I'm swimming in your cadences that you permeate my very language.' - David Levithan " theme="style6″] In this case, the word "cadence" is being used to describe the rhythmic flow of regular accountability meetings with your group. Ideally, the accountability meetings are fairly brief but frequent (weekly, at the very least). These accountability meetings give you the chance to check in, both to make sure that you are all achieving results, as well as to make sure that every member in the accountability group is working for each other. As mentioned in the video, you should report on your progress of the past commitments you made in previous meetings, you should measure, review and update your scoreboard, and you should make new commitments for moving forward into the next week. Here is a cute karate student giving you his version of what it means to him.

Your accountability group should never function from the "top down," but should instead center around a goal (or goals) that everyone is committed to. Your cadence of accountability is where you review your last group of commitments, learn from the successes and failures of the various commitments, and then plan for the following week. What's important here is that the meetings are rhythmic and regular; sticking to a set schedule is the best way to ensure success in your accountability groups.

Why are some tasks not getting done? The tasks thatdidn't get done will obviously get a little more attention in your meetings, as you try to understand why not. There are a variety of reasons why certain tasks might not get completed in a set time frame, and accountability is about more than just chastising each other for failing to achieve certain goals or tasks. It's about taking some time to ask yourself why you didn't complete something-getting to the root of the problem so you can fix it in the future.

Were they not deemed important enough? If this is the case, it might be time to start rethinking your goals and asking yourself why you've set these goals and why you've chosen to complete these particular tasks. If the goal truly is really important to you, then you may need to start adjusting your thought patterns in order to view the tasks with the right level of importance, to see how crucial this particular task may be to achieving your long-term vision. However, in some cases, a specific goal may have been formed with a misguided intent-this particular task may be superfluous or unnecessary, in which case the goal may need to be ditched or re-envisioned in order to create a goal that aligns more closely with your values and the ideals that are most important to you.

Were they too ambitious? Ambition is good, but was it a smart goal? Everyone differs a little on how high you should set your standard of achievement when setting goals, and it can be hard to find that magic spot-set your goals too easy, and you won't achieve real growth or success; too difficult, and you'll get discouraged when you can't achieve them. If you're struggling to complete the tasks you've set for yourself, then you might need to work on breaking it down into something a bit smaller and more achievable.

Was no time allocated to complete them? Maybe you just didn't set up a concrete plan for precisely when you were going to complete a specific task. "I'll get around to it," you can even buy a T-shirt with this phrase and its tagged under procrastination. "I'll do it soon," or "It will get done eventually" are all phrases that pretty much translate into a task not getting done. If you want to actually get something done, you need to set aside an exact time to complete your activity and then when it's time to do it-do it! No excuses.

Did something come up unexpectedly that got you off-schedule? Life happens, and we can't always be in control of the crazy stuff that happens to our schedules and throws things helter-skelter. You might start your week out with all the best intentions, but new responsibilities, commitments, and distractions may arise throughout the week that prevent you from accomplishing all your goals and scheduled tasks for the week. However, if this "something comes up" distraction is happening frequently, and consistently pushing back a specific task, then that task probably needs to be added to the top of your priorities to ensure that it actually gets done.

Remember: you have set goals that are really important to you, so even if the tasks in achieving those goals are difficult to do, it's vital that you work on them before spending time on the easier and less beneficial tasks, otherwise you won't achieve your bigger goals. Noelle Frederico over at The Working Single Mom talks about this in one of her Daily Discussions - she explains that if you really want something, you have to really go after it - even if that means going to "war" on yourself in order to get rid of any distractions or excuses that are stopping you from achieving the success you desire. Racheal Cook, MBA, speaks in this podcast about how we should think about setting goals at the start of a new year. She advises that before we start setting new goals, we should first review our previous year and look at what we've already achieved and how we can plan to repeat that success in the future. This kind of review should also be incorporated into the discussions you're having in your accountability groups. [clickToTweet tweet="'You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome.' - Booker T. Washington" quote="'You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.' - Booker T. Washington" theme="style6″] Accountability the Right Way There's a right and a wrong way to hold people accountable, as Peter Bregman addresses in this article on the Harvard Business Review. It's not about getting angry at each other or about begging and pleading with each other to get work done; it's not about feeling guilty or even just taking blame when things get done. Accountability is about taking responsibility in an efficient and clear way to ensure that tasks get done. In his article, Bregman makes the case that clarity is the most important aspect when you measure accountability, and he details 5 different aspects of accountability where clarity is needed: you need to have clear expectations, clear capability, clear measurement, clear feedback, and clear consequences. If your group is not working for you, step back as a team and ask yourselves: are you failing each other in any of these 5 elements of clarity? If you're not communicating clearly about your expectations of each other or your own capabilities of completing tasks; if you're not giving clear feedback, using a clear measurement system, or setting clear consequences-then your accountability group isn't functioning at maximum capability.
This is why it's so important to create a cadence of accountability, with rhythmic, regular check-ins with each other-so that you are both constantly and consistently reviewing each other to make sure that you are doing what you need to do in a way that is beneficial and helpful to everyone in the group. The Harvard Business Review isn't the only source talking about the importance of clear expectations and clear definitions of goals and responsibilities. In this Xconomy opinion piece about Cultivating Accountability in the Workplace, the first item on the list emphasizes the importance of clearly-defined roles, responsibilities, and goals. If you don't start out with clearly-defined tasks, then you won't really have anything to hold yourself accountable for, as you won't know exactly what is supposed to be done when by whom. Clarity is everything! In the same article, Shellye Archambeau discusses the need to provide empowerment in order to reach goals-just as we have discussed the importance of creating a personal system of both rewards and consequences, Archambeau writes that a workplace should:
"...establish a system of rewards and incentives. If certain employees complete projects well and on time, make sure that they are recognized, valued, and encouraged. As a bootstrapped startup, you may not be able to offer over-the-top rewards, but you can at least laud an employee's efforts in a company forum. The key is to let employees know that their efforts are appreciated."
Though this is written in the context of workplace dynamics between manager and employees, this is applicable to any accountability group. Make sure that you are properly recognizing each other's successes in order to reinforce the positive behavior that is getting you closer to achieving your goals. If your accountability group isn't recognizing each other's achievements as well as pinpointing your struggles and working to fix the problems, then your group isn't fully doing its job and needs to step up the game. Again, we can't stress enough how this all comes back to constant monitoring of your accountability system. Meeting frequently and regularly with an unfailing rhythmic certainty is the key to assessing your accountability system and ensuring that you all remain on track with your goals and that you're all doing your part to hold each other accountable. The truth is, "accountability" is more than just a buzzword. Accountability in the workplace should in fact become a core part of your culture, as discussed in this blog post by Warren Tanner - it means that everyone is involved in creating trust, setting goals, working together to achieve successes, etc. For maximum business success for everyone involved, accountability needs to be a daily habit and routine that benefits everyone. So, lets circle back to talk about those tasks that don't always get done, as we mentioned at the beginning of this post. . With all this extra knowledge in mind, can you and your accountability group or partner identify what the reason was for not getting them done? Perhaps it was one of the reasons mentioned in this post, or perhaps it was something else entirely. Whatever the reasons, finding them out will help you get to the source of the problems you may struggle with in getting work done, and will help you get on track to actually completing your goals. If you need some help with prioritizing your goals, this post can help you with prioritizing your goals. There is a list of questions here that can help you know which goals are most important to you and your life, and can help you determine what order you need to work through them (based on importance as well as the time frame you want/need to complete them in). Some more helpful advice on prioritizing your goals can be found over at Jolly Guru, where they talk about dividing your tasks into the four categories of "urgent and important," "urgent but not important," "important but not urgent," and "not important and not urgent" - and dividing your time appropriately among all four categories. Accountability in Scrum Definition and use of the word scrum Another way to think about accountability is to think about the idea of "scrum." The term "scrum," which is now used in project management, originates from the idea of "scrum" in rugby-a formation of 8 men on each side all pushing against each other in the right direction. " Scrum is an agile software development model based on multiple small teams working in an intensive and interdependent manner. The term is named for the scrum (or scrummage) formation in rugby, which is used to restart the game after an event that causes play to stop, such as an infringement."

For a helpful infographic about how accountability works in scrum, check it out here on the Scrum Alliance website:
Unlike responsibility, which is doing the work, accountability is making sure the work gets done (or being able to explain why it didn't get done). For instance, the ScrumMaster is accountable for resolving impediments. However, this does not necessarily mean she resolves all impediments herself. She will frequently need to coordinate with another individual or group, such as IT or Purchasing, who will do the heavy lifting and be responsible for the action that eventually resolves the impediment.
This idea of accountability vs. responsibility leads well into our next idea...the idea of business vs. busyness. SET SOME BENCHMARKS

In his blog, Torben Rick gives a SIMPLE acronym on how to keep people accountable and to ensure that jobs get done: Set expectations, Invite Commitment, Measure Progress, Provide Feedback, Link to Consequences, and Evaluate Effectiveness. As you can see, this acronym breaks effective accountability down into a multi-step process, and your first step is to set those expectations (or benchmarks) of where you want to reach. From there, you move forward to the next steps, working together, and as you make progress towards your goals, the final step in the SIMPLE acronym asks you to evaluate the effectiveness of what you're doing. These steps are not an isolated, one-time action; as you continually evaluate the effectiveness of your actions within your accountability group, you can begin again with the cycle as you gradually determine the best methods to accomplish your goals and to hold each other accountable. [clickToTweet tweet=""The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness." ― John C. Maxwell" quote=""The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness." ― John C. Maxwell" theme="style6″] Are You In Business or Busyness? So many business owners get to the end of the day, week, month, or even year and feel completely exhausted-and because of this exhaustion, they initially think that they must have achieved a lot; after all, they wouldn't be so tired if they weren't working so hard. However, on closer reflection, these business owners may often find that after so much work, they have very little to show in terms of real progress towards their actual goals. This is because often what they are really doing is just the easy, routine, comfortable tasks. Unless they can find a way to do these more efficiently (or outsource them to others), they may never reach the next business level where they are the conductor in the orchestra-and not just the person playing third clarinet.

Everyone's goals and aspirations are different but most business owners at some point want to achieve the aims of:

A - Working on tasks that really excite them (often called flow) B - Working on strategic goals that create real exponential growth C - Feel that they run the business and not the other way around

In order to get to that stage in your business, you need to actually put in the hard work required to meet your goals and get to work on the "big ideas" instead of the mundane, easy tasks that you're used to filling your time with every day. This is where your accountability system comes in: a good accountability system should be able to help you organize and prioritize the tasks that need to get done and who they need to get done by. You can't do everything by yourself; you'll inevitably end up falling short somewhere. That's why it's so important to develop a team-a team that enables you to prioritize what you need to invest your own time and energy into, as well as giving each member of the team a set of tasks that are well-suited to their own strengths and skills. In summary... The main idea that we're getting at here is that it's not just enough to set your goals once and then leave them by the wayside without thinking about them every day. Nor is it enough to have one meeting with an accountability group and then blow each other off for a couple months down the road until you meet again. In order to achieve real success towards meeting your goals and living out your dreams, you have to work on it every day. You need to monitor yourself and your progress towards those goals, and you also need to check in with your accountability group frequently and regularly in order to insure that the system of accountability is actually doing its job and helping each of its members to live out their visions and find their own successes. Continuous monitoring and alertness will ensure that your goals are working for you and that your accountability system is actually benefiting you-and not just becoming a set of chores that get slogged through haphazardly and unhelpfully. We'll be wrapping the series up in our final post, where we talk about how to take all these ideas that we've been exploring and make them into a continuous, habitual loop as part of your daily life.

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