We shall now tap into Group Leadership and Cross-cultural Counselling as part of our Guidance and Counselling series. Leaders bring to every group their personal qualities, values and life experiences. In order to promote growth in the members live, leaders need to live growth themselves. In order to foster honest self-investigation in others, leaders need to have the courage to engage in self-appraisal themselves.
You may wonder whether you have what it takes to be an effective leader, my advice is to be patient with yourself and not to demand that you immediately become the “perfect group leader”. Before you lead your first group, you will no doubt be anxious about getting the group stated and about keeping it moving. In other words you will probably be asking your self questions like these with a certain degree of trepidation.
Question like do I know enough to lead a group yet? Will I be able to get the group started? Will the group members want to come back? E.t.c. in supervising and training beginning leaders, I encourage them to recognise that these doubts and concerns are perfectly normal and that moderate anxiety can be beneficial, because it can lead to honest self-appraisal.
SOME QUALITIES OF A GROUP LEADER
These are attribute and abilities in performing his function:
(a) Knowledge of group process. The leader should know about the intrigues involved in interaction, the influence of communication, strutting power relationship, objective about the size, discussion attitudes:
– discussion pattern and how to use them. possible group objectives.
– his own roles and functions with the group.
(b) Knowledge of the problem. The leader should have a thorough understanding of the problem being discussed by the group. He should know more than the participants. Without adequate knowledge of the problem and insight into its implication, the leader cannot guide discussion on it because he would not be able to recognize when a point has been fully covered, when the group has contributed the sufficient information on which to base a decision or when it is appropriate to move from one stage to another.
(c) Ability to think fast. The leader must be mentally alert when participants are discussing a point. He should be able to engage in two processes at the same time. That is, to follow closely what sis being said and to think ahead of the group anticipating what question he should ask next to keep the discussion going. He should be able to clarify confusing contributions or tangled involvements. To restate what others have said or to summaries requires quick thinking ability.
(d) Respect of others. A good leader should have respect for other people as human beings and for their ideas. Even though not all ideas put forward by members of the group are equally meritorious, yet all should be given due respect. To respect others means more than to like them or to tolerate them but to respect them and their feelings. He should be curious about the reasons behind what others say when he is disagreement with such views.
(e) Sensitivity. The ability to respond sensitivity to others is one of the major leadership qualities. He has to be sensitive to the way things are going within the group and the feelings of the members. For example, he should recognize when some members are not happy about a particular view or when the members have reached a consensus. He must study the members constantly to read the signs on their faces and posture and promptly react to their expressed and unexpressed feelings and attitudes.
(f) Language and speech skills:: The group leader should be able to use language accurately and effectively. He should also recognise when words used by others need to be clarified and clearly define terms that may otherwise be misleading. The pitch of his voice should that enable him to be heard and understood easily, to express complete ideas clearly, objectively and swiftly.
(g) Ability to listen: A good leader should be a listener. This goes beyond mere hearing or giving of undivided attention to the speaker. It connotes being actively absorbed in what others say and gaining clear insight into what it means and may be why it was expressed in one way rather than in another. A leader that is a good listener encourages further comments because of the way the received and accepted earlier ones and is able to incorporate such ideas into later questions and summaries.
(h) Ability to be fair to all. The group leader should be impartial to all the members of the group. For example, if a sharp conflict occurs within the group, the leader should work towards restoring harmony immediately and he must not take sides even by subtle overtones in his voice or a facial grimace, which could suggest where his sympathy lies. This requires conscious efforts because it is easy to betray inner feelings by reflect signs which the person may not even be aware of.
(i) Self control. It is important for the group to have self control since his patience and forbearance are often tried. He should not lose his temper even in the face of provocation.
(j) He should be persistent and firm. A group leader should not give up easily. He should encourage the group to work hard to achieve their set goals.
i. At the same time they should possess a good sense of humour because this can bring about the required calm and ease after going through a storm of conflict.
GROUP LEADER’S FUNCTIONS
Many duties are expected to be performed by the group leader and these include: –
1. Planning. There may be any meaningful enduring group success without planning. The group leader should make sure that adequate planning is done before the group takes off. For example, the agenda should be well mapped out, taking into consideration the topic for discussion, the complexity of the problem and the time available.
2. Selection of participants. Group members could be chosen because of their interest in the problem to be discussed. At times members are made to indicate their willingness to participate in the group activities. Depending on the type of group, there may be need to choose participants form the same group to prevent intra-group differences from rendering the group ineffective.
3. Drawing up a pattern outline. An outline of what and what is to be expected should be drawn to guide the group discussion. Copies of such outline could be distributed to all participants in advance. The outline could be amended where and when necessary as to prevent dogmatism.
4. Making the resources materials available. The leader should make sure that members are well informed and exposed to current information regarding the problem at hand. Even experts who work constantly on the general subject read to prepare for maximum contribution to a particular discussion.
5. Making physical arrangements. The leader should see to the arrangement of the venue of the group meetings. He should take into consideration the time of the meetings, making sure that there is adequate light and ventilation. Comfortable straight-backed chair with paddle seat would be preferable to the over stuffed, soft loving chair that could induce dizziness. The sitting arrangement should be such that members can look directly at one another without turning their chairs this may explain the popularity of the round table notion. Members seat can also be arranged in a semi-circular form.
6. Introduction. The leader should arrange for the introduction of members and the problem to be discussed. It would be useful for the member to wear name tags or place their name plates before them until names are mastered. When presenting speakers for a symposium or debate, the leader should give each [participant a more detailed introduction. While introducing the problem for discussion, enough background information should be given on the topic to make what is to be discussed clear.
7. Guiding. This is the most important duty of the group leader. He should guide the group as it moves from the problem stage to the solution and outcome stage. He has to keep the discussion on the track and maintain steadied progress but he must do this in a direct way by encouraging not forcing, by asking for cooperation not manipulation. He should not threaten nor dictate to the group.
8. Recognizing irrelevancies and rebound. The leader should quickly recognize when a contribution is leading to an unproductive direction. A fascinating tangent may be difficult to check as the members may get carried away and may not perceive immediately that this tangential material is leading them away from the solution to the bounce back to the right track without injuring sensitivity of the member that made the wrong contribution. He can achieve the desired result without necessarily arousing resentment or feeling of failure and rejection in the member who has wandered out of bounds.
9. Clarifying and restating. The leader should make what is being discussed clear to the members so that there would not be any confusion about where they are and where they are going. An unclear statement should be cleared or restated by the speaker.
10. Asking the right questions. Part of the function of the leader is to ask the right question at the right time. To get a clear answer, the question should be clear and straight forward. He should avoid asking questions that are too broad.
11. Regulating the group procedures. The leader should exercise, at least, minimum level of control over the group to preserve orderliness and prevent chaos. He has to regulate the flow and distribution of communication and the inter-relationship of the participants. Ideally, every member should contribute to the group’s decision making process and it is the leader who should strike for balance communicative interaction. He has to be tactful, moderate the over anxious/lower zealous contributors and draw out the reluctant ones. Everyone should feel to participate; when some members become dogmatic and express extreme opinion the leader may find it desirable to make a general statement about the shared goals and objectivity but he should do this cautiously.
12. Summarising. The leader should offer transitional summarizes and then at the end of each session, he should summarise what has been discussed and the points that have been agreed upon. Such summarisation should be fair and must represent the members decision without bias. It should be clearly stated to avoid misinterpretation later.
LEADERSHIP STYLES IN CROSS-CULTURAL COUNSELLING
The leader is the most crucial factor for group effectiveness. Kurt (1944) as reported by Yalom (1975) identified three types of leadership styles- Authoritarian, Democratic and Laissez Faire.
(i) Authoritarian
The counsellor who adopts this style of leadership believes that the members know next to nothing. They do not possess the capacities to direct their thinking and actions and hence they have problems. He therefore, believes that if he directs them, gives them expert advice they will be able to develop appropriate ways of dealing with their problems and consequently change their behaviour. The teacher/counsellors may also adopt this style since he’s more likely to equate group counselling session to a teaching situation than to a counselling session.
The communication pattern of this leadership style is illustrated below. There is no interaction among members rather it is between the leader and each member. Although serious work is done by members, no in-depth explorations of members’ problems are undertaken.
(ii) Democratic
Unlike the authoritarian leadership style which is a psycho analytic model, the democratic leadership style is a humanistic or phenomenological model. The principle underlying this leadership style is that the group members have the abilities to think out solutions to their problems. He provides the facilitative atmosphere by involving all of them in exploration. They are given the opportunity to ask question for clarification, support one another, give feedback to one another. The communication pattern is illustrated below.
This type of communication pattern provides opportunity for members to develop strong interpersonal band with other members of the group. This leadership style recognizes the dignity of the individual. Once any individual is made aware that he is capable of performing any task well, he works hard to ensure that he actually achieve things for himself.
Laissez-Faire
The leader of this group sees himself as one of the group members and so does not feel he has any obligation in directing the group. The members do not deal with any real problem since they are not guided. The communication pattern is illustrated below.
The members of this group may not see the need to work hard to achieve anything since they do not have any stated objectives they are working towards.
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