HARNESSING GROUP DYNAMICS FOR GREATER PRODUCTIVITY

Any experienced supervisor knows that groups either work for you or against you--sometimes at the same time! The processes of group dynamics--how people behave in groups and how the group itself behaves--are closely tied to group productivity, a critical issue today.

Successful supervisors don't take groups for granted, but instead proactively seek out ways to harness their productive potential. Half the battle is understanding the processes of group dynamics well enough to develop intelligent strategies for managing groups.

TEN PRINCIPLES, TEN STRATEGIES

Let's explore ten principles of group dynamics and ten complementary strategies for harnessing group productivity.

Principle #1. Groups don't like uncertainty, so they lean heavily toward consensus-building. A group mindset, or personality, naturally emerges built around the shared perceptions, experiences, and biases of members. Over time, this mindset acts as a "gyroscope" that produces groupthink.

Strategy: Since supervisors can't expect most employees to exercise a great deal of independent thinking and individuality during group deliberations, a conscious effort must be made to solicit feedback from individual group members, perhaps away from the group as a whole.

Principle #2. Groups tend to have a false sense of vision and objectivity as they deliberate. Members act as though the groups has clearly identified goals and well-defined plans and procedures when in actuality these are usually fuzzy and sloppily thought through.

Strategy. Supervisors must nail down goals and plans before group activities get underway. These must be specific, measurable, and frequently communicated. The supervisor must move decisively during group meetings to challenge fuzzy thinking, incomplete background analysis, and biased motives.

Principle #3. Group members tend to take information--both oral and written--at face value. This facilitates consensus-building and creates the appearance of rationality (careful and objective thinking), even though the information may be incomplete, inaccurate, or purely subjective.

(Pre-Meeting Research)

Strategy: Supervisors must do their homework before and after group meetings to insure that information is reliable. This entails asking a lot of questions, challenging assumptions, and carrying out behind-the-scenes research.

Principle #4. Ironically most groups make sparse use of participative management in making decisions and doing work. The headlong rush to reach consensus is generally so strong that little attention is devoted to smoking out individual opinions and encouraging dissenting viewpoints. Group members fear they will "hold up the proceedings," "impede progress," or "rock the boat." Unless they hold strong, passionate viewpoints about a particular issue, they tend to simply swallow any doubts or misgivings they might have.

(Probing for Feedback)

Strategy: The discerning group leader will create ways for members to sound off during meetings, such as calling on them be name, probing beneath the surface for comments, praising forthright exchanges, and not rushing into voting. Supervisors should also make a point to get an informal earful from group members away from formal deliberations.

Principle #5. Groups often operate with a poor sense of timing, either reaching decisions and taking action prematurely or procrastinating. Sometimes no action is taken at all, as group members equate the meeting with productivity.

Strategy: Supervisors must pay careful attention not only to the how and why of group undertakings but also to the when. This requires a sense of timing that comes only from experience and being in close touch with the daily operating realities--in short, management by walking around.

Principle #6. Groups over-rely on informal leaders to influence member thinking and move things along. These informal leaders emerge as the result of their personalities, technical competence, or status in the organization. Group members tend to subconsciously defer to them so that decisions can be reached with minimum controversy and maximum popularity. Decisions popular people back for generally popular decisions.

Strategy: Supervisors must strive to develop enough rapport with informal leaders to cultivate their behind-the-scenes support. The best way to generate grass-roots support for an idea is to first win over the informal leaders and then rely on them to sell team members one-on-one.

Principle #7. Groups are much more likely to focus on process (parliamentary procedure, systems and procedures, agendas, minutes, etc.) than on their mission. This is because process pursuits are easier to pursue, are more short-run in orientation, and are rooted in the comfortable traditions of the organization. Many groups seek to justify their existence and productivity by pointing to the number of times they've met, the volume of minutes recorded, and whether or not a quorum was present.

(Ends and Means)

Strategy: Supervisors must keep the organization's purpose and missions before the group at all times and not assume that "everyone knows what we're doing and why we're doing it." Holding meetings and following bureaucratic precedent do not necessarily accomplish anything of real substance. Supervisors must help their groups see beyond the mere appearance of success by focusing on ends rather than means.

Principle #8. Most group members are gun-shy about impeding the group momentum process, so they hesitate to ask questions, postpone voting, or request additional information. This is a major underlying cause of "group juggernaut": group deliberations that run over people who get in the way.

Strategy: The supervisor must act as a restraining factor or governor on group deliberations by requiring that background homework be completed before group meetings; by slowing down the voting process; and by talking informally with group members away from meetings to probe for hidden feelings and agendas that might put deliberations in a different light.

Principle #9. Group members tend to assume that everyone else in the group is well-informed about deliberations, sympathetic to the mission, and pleased with the group's work. Such assumptions are not always justified. Unfortunately, this usually doesn't become apparent until project implementation begins and the perplexed supervisor encounters lackluster effort and marginal results.

Strategy: Supervisors must constantly stress individual accountability within groups by insisting that members who back a proposal pledge their enthusiastic commitment to its implementation. The supervisor must clearly signal that a vote in favor of a proposal stipulates personal commitment and action. It may also be necessary to occasionally poke and prod employees to buy into the group's mission.

(The Bottom Line)

Principle #10. There is a fundamental difference between a group and a team. Groups meet; teams produce.

Strategy: Supervisors must define themselves as producers, not bureaucrats. While bureaucrats preside, producers lead; while bureaucrats follow precedent, producers set precedent; while bureaucrats focus on means, producers focus on ends. Team-building emerges as the very foundation of productivity. A team exists when individual employees can be more productive working with the team than they can working on their own.