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Providing Support for Student Independence through Scaffolded Instruction - Martha J. Larkin, 2001

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Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement

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You're working on a big project. It's taking weeks. Even months. And you're going it alone.

At first, you were excited. Jazzed. You poured energy and commitment into it along with your heart and soul.

But admit it. After a while, you lost focus. You had a week or two when you didn't take action, and it fell to the back of the queue. You didn't just feel alone with the project, you felt lonely.

Now you're behind. Really behind.

And you have no idea how you're going to catch up.

Use Peer Pressure to Your Advantage

But there is a way to maintain your commitment. To keep your energy and enthusiasm high, and feel like you're no longer alone.

We're taught to think of succumbing to peer pressure as a flaw, but our dislike of letting others down can actually be a powerful motivator.

An accountability group-in which a small bunch of people share their goals, report back on their progress and hold each other accountable-is a fantastic way of getting things done.

A great example of this is the annual "" (National Novel Writing Month) event, during which participants commit to writing 50,000 words in a single month. Accountability is built in: daily word count updates, regional writing groups, forums and buddies are all designed as ways to check in and report back.

But this tactic doesn't just work for writing novels; it can be applied to any sort of goal from losing weight to running a business. You can create your own accountability group to create the check-ins and support that will enable your version of success.

And you can set the group up right from the start to make it as effective as possible, ensuring that everyone achieves their goals without friction, hassle or extra work.

To get serious results, you need to keep just a few things in mind.

1. Don't (Just) Invite People You Like

It can be tempting to invite only your closest friends, or those you get along best with at work. But sometimes friends have a hard time offering constructive criticism, and a little distance and objectivity from group members can be helpful-when encouraging each other to focus more, for instance, or calling each other out on a lack of progress.

Accountability groups may not suit everyone-they work best for people who are driven to meet external obligations (try Gretchen Rubin's 'Four Tendencies' framework to see how you and your potential group members respond to expectations). So keep this in mind when extending invitations to join your group.

And don't just invite friends-go out to your wider network. Use social media and any interest groups you belong to, and set clear expectations (see #2 below) so that invitees can screen themselves in or out. You're only looking for 6-8 people, so choose wisely.

2. Ensure Everyone Knows What to Expect (and What's Expected)

When you invite people to join your accountability group, describe its purpose clearly so everyone understands the "psychological contract" of the group.

Keep its focus front and center, and be sure you are inviting in people who will actively participate.

Also be clear about what the group isn't. For example, mastermind groups are commonly confused with accountability groups.

In a mastermind (an idea based on Napoleon Hill's 1937 book Think and Grow Rich), the group meets regularly to share and work on challenges using the power of the group.

In an accountability group, the focus is more individually action-oriented. Members may suggest ideas or solutions to issues, but the main purpose of the group is to encourage action by holding each other accountable to their set goals.

A written description or group contract can be helpful. For example: "The group's goal is to encourage regular action from each member. Everyone will post weekly goals, and report back at the end of the week on what they did and didn't achieve."

3. Take Charge and Keep Everyone on Board

Although the collective energy is what makes this method work, someone does need to run the group. Someone must:

* structure it

* ask the group for updates

* give a gentle nudge if a member hasn't checked in for a week or two

* ask members diplomatically if they really want to be there if they've stopped checking in.

This requires drive, commitment and probably a small dose of bossiness-balanced-with-tact. It isn't for everyone . . . but there are advantages. For me, running my own group has meant that I'm not only committed to my goals as a member, but I also know I'd be letting people down if I didn't put up the posts to let everyone share their updates.

If you want to contribute rather than run the group, find someone else to do this for you to ensure that consistency is maintained.

4. Avoid Letting Style Outweigh Accessibility

Don't overcomplicate things.

While setting up a recent group, I got lost down a rabbit hole of possibilities and I held everyone up by a week or so while I did research on the growing number of "accountability apps" out there (e.g., or ). These apps can be powerful, game-ifying your experience or helping you to structure it, but they can also add another layer of complexity.

Know your audience. In my group, for instance, not everyone uses their mobile devices religiously but everyone has a Facebook account. I resisted at first, wanting to use an environment specifically designed for accountability, but in the end I realized that clarity, accessibility and ease of use were more important than style and fun features. So I set up a private Facebook group, and this has proven extremely effective.

5. Keep Your Setup Simple...

...and stay simple.

In my current group, I put up a thread on Mondays saying something like "Accountability Goals Week Commencing <date>: Post your goals here."

I state the date so that people know which thread is the right one for the week, and I use a photo to make it pop out of their newsfeeds. (I also use bad jokes like posting a picture of a mountain and asking "what mountains are you going to climb this week," but that may just be me...)

On Sunday I post another photo with this: "Goals update week commending <date>: How did you do this week? Share with the group here."

This sharing makes up 80% of the activity in the group. We try to keep it clean and distraction-free (no cat posts here!) so that our purpose-achieving our goals-is always at the heart of the group.

We've had the occasional thread on "learnings," about what kind of goals have and haven't worked for us in terms of the group and goal-setting, and sometimes the odd question or support thread. This is an opportunity to connect with others and know you have a supportive community around you while not heading off into the weeds.

6. Keep Goals Smart and Stupid

Help the group shape personal goals that are "SMART":

S pecific - Rather than "work on my course," say "work on module 2 of my writing course."

M easurable - Can you tell when you have achieved the goal? For example "complete module 2.1 and 2.2 of my online writing course."

A ttainable - The goal should be achievable (even if it's a stretch).

R elevant - Each small goal should relate to whatever your bigger goals are.

T ime-bound - Be clear when you will complete each goal.

But also keep each goal "stupid"-as in, "Keep it Simple, Stupid." Overly complex goals can drain your energy while you work out what it was you were supposed to be doing.

A "stupid" goal, with too many different aspects which also aren't specified clearly, might be: "complete and do well in this week's course module, get home admin tasks done, and do rest of my day job work. Get better at presentation skills and do non-fiction reading." A SMART goal would be "By Friday, complete modules 2.1. and 2.2, submit homework and get feedback from my professor on my performance."

7. Agree on Consequences (but Tolerate Failure)

The group's energy is crucial, so if you have people who have stopped checking in, ask them if they're still interested in being there. Try setting up the consequences of non-participation up front. For example, my group has a "rule" (pinned to the top of our Facebook page) that "if you don't post anything for two weeks (unless you've told us all you're away), then you'll be gently released from the group."

But be flexible. Everyone will have bad weeks where they don't achieve their goals, or busy weeks where they fail to check in. A small nudge may be enough to help them refocus. If not, give them some private feedback to ask if they really want to be there.

Get Serious Results (and Keep Your Sense of Humor)

Run well, an accountability group can be fantastic for making progress over time on your goals. It will force you to look strategically at the week ahead and establish clear priorities that you can check back in on if you start to procrastinate or become overwhelmed about what to do next.

And after a bad week, you'll have a community of people who will support you, and will remind you to wipe the slate clean.

That way you can start each week fresh, with a smile.

A great accountability group will help you keep on top of your projects, not only letting you catch up but get ahead.

Choose your group wisely and set it up well, and you will be ready to achieve some serious results.

Ellen Bard's mission is to help you shine more brightly in business and life. She has a fancy degree, works with those who want to be productive but still kind to themselves, and loves all things that sparkle. For more ideas on self-compassionate productivity, grab her free pdf "101 Ideas to Boost Your Creativity, Have Fun, and Play. "

Erin shows overscheduled, overwhelmed women how to do less so that they can achieve more. Traditional productivity books-written by men-barely touch the tangle of cultural pressures that women feel when facing down a to-do list. How to Get Sh*t Done will teach you how to zero in on the three areas of your life where you want to excel, and then it will show you how to off-load, outsource, or just stop giving a damn about the rest.

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How to Set Up an Accountability Group and Get Serious Results

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You're working on a big project. It's taking weeks. Even months. And you're going it alone. At first, you were excited. Jazzed. You poured energy and commitment into it along with your heart and soul. But admit it. After a while, you lost focus.

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Humans are social creatures, and group dynamics make us do fascinating things. I doubt I would have run naked in the snow once in college if my friends hadn't done it too. In a more sober fashion, I cranked out the draft of a novel in 2013 because I had to check in with my writing partner every Friday to say I'd written 2,000 words. When we are answering to other people, we can do things we can't do on our own.

That's the theory behind accountability groups-small groups united around everyone achieving a common goal. Ginni Chen of iDoneThis, a product that helps workplace teams be accountable to each other, notes that "you can actually see, concretely, what everyone's doing and it makes you feel like you have to keep up."

Chen set up scores of accountability groups for an iDoneThis project in January 2012, uniting users who wanted to quit smoking, drink less, exercise, and so forth. Tracking these groups gave her insight into what makes a group work. Likewise, I talked to Samir Singh, co-founder of Make.me, a multi-player game centered around self-improvement goals. Having observed hundreds of accountability interactions for product development, he's also seen what makes such groups effective.

Here are six key things you need to do to make your accountability group succeed.

You need an objective definition of success. "Be healthier" can't be tracked. "Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day" can. Big goals should be broken into discrete, measurable chunks. "Finish my dissertation" becomes "Work for an hour on my dissertation, three mornings per week." Your goal also needs to be realistic. Life will prevent everyone in your group from exercising every day, but holding yourselves accountable to visiting the gym four times per week will then let you give people pats on the back for additional sessions.

It's a funny thing about self-improvement-you'd think it would be for people whose lives are a mess. But as I've learned from marketing my own self-help books, the average reader already has a great life. He just wants to make it better. Likewise, your accountability partners should have a track record of achieving difficult things. You want people who value discipline, and need a group to instill more of it.

Singh suggests that groups need four or more people for resiliency-that is, to keep functioning if one person drops out. But one note of caution: Be careful about including your spouse in your accountability group. If you join a group together, include several other people, so the dynamics of your relationship do not dictate the group's.

Someone needs to track progress and remind people to check in. A game/app like MakeMe can do this for you, and paid accountability groups (e.g. Savor the Success's " Savor Success Circles ") will facilitate this as part of their value proposition. But if you're pulling a group together on your own, someone-probably you-will need to take this on.

Groups work best when people feel most connected. "We as a culture, walk around with the wrong mental picture in our minds about how people achieve," says Singh. We don't succeed because we fear failure. Instead, "The closer together the group feels, the more likely it is that the individuals will achieve." We do amazing things when we feel others are invested in our doing them.

Consequently, groups where everyone simply checks in once a week with "success" or "fail" aren't going to be as motivational as ones where you're posting photos of you at the gym or flossing or eating your vegan lunch. You want to be able to share your struggles too. So set up an email list or a private social networking group to facilitate this, and if you're the leader, post a lot. Hopefully, others will too.

Once you understand point four, you can understand this paradox of accountability groups: "You need a way to make it okay for people to fail," says Singh. "Failure cannot be fatal." While you'd think that one-and-done consequences would lead to success, they don't. New habits are hard. Since sharing struggles brings people together, you need a group where everyone brainstorms how to solve the problem if one member smokes a cigarette after a fight with his girlfriend, or skips the gym because his boss kept him late.

As Chen puts it, "When it's going well, you don't feel lonely. Your own approval is enough." It's when things fall apart that you actually need the group to get you back on the wagon.

Someone who hits the gym three times one week when the group is pledging four times is in a different category from someone who doesn't go at all. Eventually, your group needs consequences if people aren't trying, because these free riders upset group dynamics. MakeMe has a "make or break" card group members can play on these occasions. The recalcitrant member is given one more chance not to let the group down. If she does, she's out.

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What You Need To Know To Create An Accountability Group That Works

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Humans are social creatures, and group dynamics make us do fascinating things. I doubt I would have run naked in the snow once in college if my friends hadn't done it too. In a more sober fashion, I cranked out the draft of a novel in 2013 because I had to check in with my writing partner every Friday to say I'd written 2,000 words.

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All for one and one for all. This is the code that bonds D'Artagnan and his compatriots. But the Musketeers' motto is about more than their honor; it expresses their understanding that the group draws its strength from the success of its individual members. Each is at once accountable to himself and to his fellow Musketeers.

Accountability has acquired a somewhat negative connotation in the past decade. In some circles, the word is now associated with sanctions; in fact, accountability is synonymous with responsibility. This is the meaning we have in mind for this chapter's exploration of individual and group accountability. Just as Dumas's Musketeers held themselves accountable to one another, each member of a productive work group shares a sense of responsibility to the other members.

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Ensuring Individual and Group Accountability

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All for one and one for all. This is the code that bonds D'Artagnan and his compatriots. But the Musketeers' motto is about more than their honor; it expresses their understanding that the group draws its strength from the success of its individual members. Each is at once accountable to himself and to his fellow Musketeers.

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This video shows four of the five student groups. Students have several products they are creating as part of a "Living Things" science project. In this video the students are dividing up work among group members and putting deadlines down on their calendars.

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We talk a lot about personal productivity tools at Lifehacker, but sometimes you're not the only person who needs to get things done for a project or job to be a success. Whether you're trying to organize a home renovation, organize a little league team, plan a family vacation, or get everyone at the office working on the same projects and priorities, there are plenty of great tools to help.

We have some of our own, and we'll share them in the discussions below, but instead of just throwing a list of items together, we want you to share your own with us too, on the same terms. Here's how to format your favorite collaboration app or tool:

1. Include a picture! Show us what the tool looks like, or at least give us a logo. A little visual interest never hurt anyone.

2. One tool per comment please! Let's keep it simple and easy to read-if you have multiple apps or services, add them as separate comments!

3. Try not to repeat apps! If you see someone who's already shared your pick, click the star or reply to their comment to give it a boost!

4. Tell us how why it works for you. Herding cats is difficult-how did the app work for you, and what did you use it for? Do you pay for it, or is it free to use? Why do you like it?

So then, let's begin! We'll get you started with some of our favorite time-saving tricks in the discussions, but we're really interested in yours, so fire away.
Title photo by Laias (Shutterstock) and Kapreski (Shutterstock).

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The Best Collaboration Tools for Small Groups and Teams

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We talk a lot about personal productivity tools at Lifehacker, but sometimes you're not the only person who needs to get things done for a project or job to be a success.

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As more and more apps utilize the cloud's file-storing and -sharing capabilities, remote team collaboration becomes even easier.

There are hundred of apps that claim to "increase productivity" and "optimize company workflow," but how many apps actually do? We've selected a list of 8 apps that actually make your workday easier, and team collaboration more enjoyable in the process.

Did we miss any of your favorite team collaboration apps? If so, please let us know in the comments section below.

Dropbox is the quintessential app for file-sharing and document collaboration. Through Dropbox, you can share PDFs, files and folders. When you star a file, you can access it offline later on.

The free app comes with 2.5 GB of free storage space, with options to upgrade your account at a flat rate of $100 per year for 100 GB of space. Dropbox also offers 250 MB of storage for free when you complete five out of seven Getting Started tasks.

Flow makes project management incredibly easy and collaborative. Many business apps try to do too much, resulting in an overwhelming and stress-inducing experience. Flow's clean, simple design, however, brings a zen-like peace of mind to task management. Plan a project by creating a folder, adding in lists for each project component and writing in an itemized task for each list. You can delegate tasks to co-workers via email, even if the person you're delegating the task to doesn't have a Flow account.

The activity log helps everyone involved in a project see when someone is assigned a task and when someone completes it.

Evernote's Skitch app lets you edit photos or snapshots with colorful shapes, arrows and text. With Skitch, you can caption pictures, circle meeting spots on a map or annotate a PDF document.

This app is ideal if you work in any kind of visually creative field. From planning concert brochures to laying out next month's magazine cover, Skitch makes it easy to communicate visually.

The Sales Cloud Image courtesy of Evernote
Salesforce offers an array of options for business-related apps that run on the cloud for seamless work-integration and collaboration.

is Salesforce's CRM app. Its Leaderboard feature shows each sales team member's rank. It also comes with access to a prioritized list of your top leads so that you can see them all on one page. The Sales Cloud also includes a page with customer contact information and links to their social profile so you can monitor their interaction with your brand on social media.

Social.com is a social advertising management app and is part of Salesforce's Social Marketing platform. This app helps you manage all of your ad campaigns across every social media platform, from Twitter to Facebook. Social.com helps you target a specific audience and time of day in order to maximize your social reach. It automatically runs higher performing ads, so you get the most out of your campaigns. The Salesforce Marketing Cloud recently expanded its "listening" power to China and Russia through deals with each country's primary social network.
Image courtesy of Microsoft
The Service Cloud is Salesforce's Customer Service app. It brings together all of your company's customer support into one place and then directs certain issues to the appropriate channel, whether it's to a 1-800 number, email address or social media channel. If there's any problems fixing a problem, the Service Cloud has a task status feature that you can "Escalate" in order to alert your coworkers of the issue and solve the problem collaboratively. You can even facetime with customers through the app. The Weekly Agent Productivity feature provides incentive to solve situations quickly, while the customer satisfaction metrics let you know how good of a job your team is doing.

Dynamics Business Analyzer is Microsoft's free CRM app. The app requires Windows 8 or Windows RT to run, and features a colorful metrics dashboard so you can copy, edit, view and refresh reports directly on your desktop. You can customize which reports you want to include on the dashboard, ranging from gross profit reports to sales per month reports. This app integrates with the Windows 8 edition of Lync so that co-workers can collaborate directly on the reports.

The Google Apps for Business suite includes the Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides for collaboration in the cloud. Google offers a free 30-day trial and charges $5 per employee.

Google Hangouts is also a popular business app by Google. Hangouts are especially useful if you have employees who work remotely, as they can participate virtually in meetings and brainstorm sessions. You can share photos or emojis and add up to 10 friends per hangout.

Tempo is a calendar management tool that pulls in contextual information about your daily events - from contact information to driving directions. Every day, Tempo generates a daily schedule that you can preview either in calendar or list view.

Tempo is not specifically targeted toward businesses, but it can be especially helpful for pulling in email information about meetings or corporate events. The app comes with built-in Foursquare and Yelp integration, so locating your meeting is painless.
Image via iStockPhoto, akindo
Evernote Business breaks down communication barriers between departments. This democratization of knowledge facilliates collaborative problem solving, which drives faster solutions. Evernote Business also makes it easier for customer feedback to influence strategy.

Evernote Business easily integrates with your existing Evernote account and grants you access to Evernote Premium. With a Premium account, you get access to 2 GB of personal memory a month, and your company gets an extra 2 GM to share in Business Notebooks.

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As more and more apps utilize the cloud's file-storing and -sharing capabilities, remote team collaboration becomes even easier. There are hundred of apps that claim to "increase productivity" and "optimize company workflow," but how many apps actually do? We've selected a list of 8 apps that actually make your workday easier, and team collaboration more enjoyable in the process.

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Working together in a group can be a great experience or a terrible one. Which way it goes depends, to a large extent, on the quality of the communication among group members and the respect they show for each other. Here are a few guidelines for making your group work successful.

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Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

"More hands make for lighter work." "Two heads are better than one." "The more the merrier."

These adages speak to the potential groups have to be more productive, creative, and motivated than individuals on their own.

Benefits for students

Group projects can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world (Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale, 2005). Positive group experiences, moreover, have been shown to contribute to student learning, retention and overall college success (Astin, 1997; Tinto, 1998; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006).

Properly structured, group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both group and individual work, including the ability to:

Break complex tasks into parts and steps

Plan and manage time

Refine understanding through discussion and explanation

Give and receive feedback on performance

Challenge assumptions

Develop stronger communication skills.

Group projects can also help students develop skills specific to collaborative efforts, allowing students to...

Tackle more complex problems than they could on their own.

Delegate roles and responsibilities.

Share diverse perspectives.

Pool knowledge and skills.

Hold one another (and be held) accountable.

Receive social support and encouragement to take risks.

Develop new approaches to resolving differences.

Establish a shared identity with other group members.

Find effective peers to emulate.

Develop their own voice and perspectives in relation to peers.

While the potential learning benefits of group work are significant, simply assigning group work is no guarantee that these goals will be achieved. In fact, group projects can - and often do - backfire badly when they are not designed, supervised, and assessed in a way that promotes meaningful teamwork and deep collaboration.

Benefits for instructors

Faculty can often assign more complex, authentic problems to groups of students than they could to individuals. Group work also introduces more unpredictability in teaching, since groups may approach tasks and solve problems in novel, interesting ways. This can be refreshing for instructors. Additionally, group assignments can be useful when there are a limited number of viable project topics to distribute among students. And they can reduce the number of final products instructors have to grade.

Whatever the benefits in terms of teaching, instructors should take care only to assign as group work tasks that truly fulfill the learning objectives of the course and lend themselves to collaboration. Instructors should also be aware that group projects can add work for faculty at different points in the semester and introduce its own grading complexities.

References

Astin, A. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Caruso, H.M., & Wooley, A.W. (2008). Harnessing the power of emergent interdependence to promote diverse team collaboration. Diversity and Groups. 11, 245-266.

Mannix, E., & Neale, M.A. (2005). What differences make a difference? The promise and reality of diverse teams in organizations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 6(2), 31-55.

National Survey of Student Engagement Report. (2006). http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report/docs/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report.pdf.

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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What are the benefits of group work? - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University