Without communication, my group cannot achieve its objectives since the behaviors of one of the group members with poor listening skills will affect the spirit of teamwork and cooperation. If employed appropriately, effective communication will play a critical role in resolving differences in our group, building faith and esteem, creating an atmosphere for idea development, and enabling problem solving. Many individuals in groups have never paid attention to several aspects of communication and they end up underperforming because the information they pass is always misinterpreted leading to conflicts and disappointments at personal and professional levels. To facilitate understanding in my group, members should be urged to take an extra effort since it does not simply rely on exchanging information, but instead it depends on understanding the message (Barker 76).
If applied effectively, communication has the potential of deepening interpersonal connections, which has an impact on the performance of the group, as it facilitates cooperation, decision-making, and problem solving. In fact, an employee is able to pass negative messages without eliciting harsh reactions if he or she employs effective communication. Communication is a combination of various skills, including non-verbal and listening skills.
Listening is the most important aspect of communication and calls on the group members to focus entirely on the narrator, avoid unnecessary interventions, and keep off from judgments. By paying attention to what is said, negative emotions can be relieved since the individual will feel appreciated. Moreover, it saves time and provides a safer environment for individual fulfillment. For a member with problems listening to the views of others, several steps have to be taken to improve the situation, as his or her interruptions might end up causing conflicts, which at times might lead to the collapse of the discussion. To ensure the member participates in the group discussion effectively, the facilitator should develop ways through which the stubborn individual will be given the chance to speak out his feelings with an aim of assisting the group understand the source of conflict that always influence him to interfere with discussions.
Through this, the group will develop stronger and deeper connections that enable understanding and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Again, the member might be dissatisfied with the way things are handled in the group, which means other members should be instructed to create a safer environment that facilitates individual fulfillment whereby ideas are expressed freely, opinions are shared easily, and individual feelings are understood (Downs 67). For some individuals, they disrupt meetings because their information processing capabilities are low. In case the stubborn member faces this challenge, the group has to develop mechanisms that would ensure information is clarified to prevent unnecessary conflicts and misinterpretations. Lastly, the group should always focus on relieving negative emotions, as this would go a long way to cool the tempers in the group. This means each member has to be given adequate opportunity to express him or herself fully.
Apart from devising mechanisms at the group level, the member should be given specialized advice at a personal level to help him fit in the group perfectly. Whenever the speaker is expressing an idea, group members have to focus on him or her fully since this would allow the understanding of nonverbal cues, which present additional information that pave way for the understanding of the individual well (Franz 98).
Works Cited
Barker, Alan. Improve Your Communication Skills. London: Kogan Page, 2013. Print
Downs, Lisa. Listening Skills Training. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press, 2008. Print.
Franz, Timothy. Group Dynamics and Team Interventions: Understanding and Improving Team Performance. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.