Optimizing group efforts at work

Dear Reader If you re working on a group project how can you ensure you re not doing all of the work Ah it s a common conundrum In an ideal world you ll collaborate with colleagues and crush the project you re working on Each person will contribute to the project equally as trust and rapport builds and the end outcome is quite an accomplishment High fives all around Unfortunately the converse situation happens too and you may know it too well You re assigned a group project and specific people check out others don t do any work or they do it so poorly that you end up picking up the slack The workload is imbalanced you may grow resentful and it s unpleasant Thankfully there are techniques to try to prevent this situation from occurring Colin M Fisher Ph D organizational expert associate professor of organizations and innovation at University College London s School of Management and author of The Collective Edge Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups disclosed The collective edge is the advantage of working in effective groups groups that not only get the job done but also satisfy our need to belong Fisher who announced the the majority effective groups have between three and seven members pointed out three things people usually want to gain from their groups The first involves completing a task they couldn t do alone The next one is all about accomplishing an individual goal such as impressing a boss or learning a skill Lastly they want to feel a sense of belonging that others like and respect them The first step to getting the the bulk from a group is being clear with yourself about which of these matters largest part Groups tend to work best according to Fisher when members focus on the common denominator Essentially it s about what they all have in common which usually is the task Proactively doing your part and helping others with theirs is the best way to complete it A productive group also builds trust and liking which supports feeling a sense of belonging and makes it more likely others will endorsement you in achieving your individual goals explained Fisher As for the million-dollar question how can you work on a group project without doing all of the work if everyone slacks off There are specific techniques to prevent this scenario from happening The best prevention is to ensure the group s goals are clear everyone has meaningful whole pieces of work not repetitive boring or fragmented tasks and roles and responsibilities are clear and documented commented Fisher In a well-functioning group these goals and responsibilities should be shared regularly they are discussed in meetings put into meeting notes and distributed to all members While that s the perfect scenario if anything is unclear you can ask questions Fisher recommended asking how your group will contribute I just want to be sure we re on the same page I ll work on the user guide this week and share a rough draft Wednesday What about you This can set a precedent to document everyone s responsibilities in an email summary So what if someone s still not pulling their weight Talk to them about it In a meeting you can say something like Hey I was expecting we d have a full slide deck by in current times What was your understanding stated Fisher Hopefully that sparks a discussion about what our goals are what our individual roles and responsibilities are in accomplishing those goals and if you feel like you ve been doing more to make that known You might want to say something to set boundaries and expectations to indicate you were doing as much as you can handle but you re unable to continue at this pace and workload Fisher recommended stating something similar and then asking Can we brainstorm solutions to distribute the work differently Tribune News Function