As a professional, you will be required to participate in group discussions on several occasions.
The purpose of this training is to not only help you keep informed on various aspects of group discussion but to also help you succeed in any group discussion under any circumstance.
This training will help you master the technique of expressing yourself, the right way.
3. • Discussing in Groups: How to discuss a topic?
– Identify the goal of Group Discussion
– Identify Soft-spoken/outspoken members
– Discuss in smaller groups
– Learn to Handle Quiet members
– Learn to Connect between group members
– Learn to ask questions
Group Discussion
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4. Identify the Goal of Group Discussion
Why do you need goals?
Goals allow members to focus on specific
objectives.
Allow members to brainstorm and talk
amongst each other.
Provide necessary information to the group
members to obtain result.
Group Discussion
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5. Identify Soft-spoken / Out-spoken members
Two main types of people in group discussion
Group members are either quiet or dominant.
Know how to handle the dominant members.
Create an opportunity for every member to
participate.
Group Discussion
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6. Learn to Discuss in smaller groups
Dominant members outweigh the quiet ones
Divide the group up into smaller groups.
Give each group a specific task to accomplish.
Keeps the discussion moving without
distractions.
Group Discussion
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7. Learn to Handle Quiet Members
Know how to handle quiet members
Quiet members use their minds to form ideas.
Encourage and help the quiet members
present their thoughts.
Allow quiet members to speak their thoughts
individually.
Group Discussion
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8. Learn to Create Connection between members
Make the connection between members.
Use of a visual aide or guide.
Assist members to bring forth relevant issues.
Group Discussion
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9. Learn to ask questions
What kind of questions should you ask?
Close-ended questions typically does not help.
Open-ended questions are best questions.
Create limitless discussion using open-ended
questions.
Group Discussion
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Group Discussion TrainingVideo 1: Discussing in GroupsWelcome to Group Discussion Self-Study Training In this series, you will learn various aspects of Group Discussion such as preparation, techniques, etiquettes, challenges and tips. As a professional, you will be required to participate in group discussions on several occasions.The purpose of this training is to not only help you keep informed on various aspects of group discussion but to also help you succeed in any group discussion under any circumstance.This training will help you master the technique of expressing yourself, the right way.
Group Discussion training consists of 17 chapters and this presentation part is based on Chapter 1 -Discussing in Groups
To begin with agroup discussion, first you need to learn how to discuss a given topic. Discussing a topic involves several aspects such as:Identifying the goal of group discussion.Identifying soft-spoken members and outspoken membersLearning to discuss in smaller groupsLearning to handle quiet membersLearning to connect between group membersLearning to ask questionsNow let us go thro each of the above listed aspects in brief.
Before you begin to discuss you must first understand the goal of group discussion. Once you realize the goal, you will be able to focus on specific objectives of group discussion.Group discussion goals can be either simple or complex goal.However the basic purpose of group discussion is to allow members to brainstorm and talk amongst each other. The main goal group discussion is to share your knowledge and provide your information to the group members.It is important to understand that you need to partake in the discussion but never overtake.
During group discussion, you will notice that there are two main types of people; First one is of soft-spoken type and the other is of outspoken type of personality; One set of people remain quiet while others are dominant. It is important to understand that both type of people are important in group discussion.However, You must know how to handle the dominant members. By learning how to handle the dominant members, you will be able to direct the discussion in a way that will open an opportunity for other members to participate and speak up. Thus by providing opportunity to people with both types of personality, the group will be able to discuss more meaningfully and will also have potential to gather more information than by allowing only the dominant members to takeover group discussion.
Let use now proceed to learn how discussing in smaller group makes an impact during group discussion.If the number of dominant members outweigh the quiet ones, You can consider dividing the group up into smaller groups. By dividing the group, you will be able to give each group a specific task to accomplish. Thus by placing dominant members in smaller groups in association with passive members will allow the discussion to gather many more ideas. This will facilitate in gathering their comments and include relevant topics to the discussion at hand. Sub-Groups will keep the discussion moving ahead and prevents outspoken members from becoming group distraction as a whole. This is because the dominant outspoken members will be active in all the Sub-Groups and the discussion is bound to become more interactive and lively.
Once you are able to divide outspoken dominant members into sub-groups, you need to learn handling the passive and quiet members.While the dominant members will be very outspoken, quiet members will, of course, be the exact opposite. Passive members generally use their mind to form ideas.Generally passive members do not speak out quickly due to shyness or a similar cause. Encourage and help the quiet members present their thoughts to the rest of the group. You can present a question to the group and then have each member answer it.You can also let the group members to speak their thoughts individually.
Often during group discussion one can notice few members who lack extensive knowledge in the topic being discussed.The discussion cannot proceed nor succeed if members are unaware how to bring forth relevant issues.There are different options you can consider for establishing connection between such members and the rest of the group.Group Leaders create this connection between members of the group. You can make use of a visual aide or guide to help members understand the concept that is being discussed and get them involved.
It is important for members and leaders alike to ask questions during group discussions.Let us know learn what kind of questions to ask during group discussion. Asking open-ended questions during group discussion generally provides the best result, that is it brings out more information. Open-ended questions allow room for endless answers because no one specific answer is final. This means the discussion is limitless and could lead in different directions. Whereas asking close-ended questions will typically lead to nowhere, close-ended does not help the group in realizing the full potential of the group.All the measures presented in this presentation basically makes an attempt to meet the basic objective of group discussion which is to allow members to brainstorm and talk amongst each other.
This concludes the first chapter of the Group Discussion training series. In the next chapter you will learn about Successful Group Discussion which deals with perspectives, conflicts and strategies involved during group discussion.