Inviting Participation and
Interaction
Leadership often involves prompting group members to take action
or to interact with one another. This interaction can occur
within the present group or in the future. Example:
“Let's break down into small groups so that everyone can
share their ideas about how to better promote spiritual growth on
campus.” (Club / Organization)
Bouncing Back to the Group
The group's attention may naturally gravitate toward you as the
leader. However, it is often helpful for you to deflect this
attention and “bounce” the focus or energy back to the
group itself to keep interaction and involvement high. Example:
“That's a really good question. What have other people's
experiences been in this situation?” (Peer Mentor)
Recognizing Commonalities
and Promoting Consensus
Promoting involvement often involves helping group members find
similarities in ideas, interests, values, and plans. Conflicts
often arise when the group focuses on differences rather than
common ground. Identifying similarities can be used to support
common goals. Example: “It sounds like you have
different ideas about how clean you need your room to be but you
both agree that you want to work this out and maintain a
friendship. After hearing from both of you, let's agree on some
minimum standards that would be mutually agreeable.”
(Resident Advisor)
Supporting Cooperation and
Group Cohesion
As the identity of the group continues to form and strengthen, a
key leadership skill is to encourage supportive interactions and
nurture the ongoing interdependence of the members so that they
feel like they can accomplish more as a group than individually. Example:
“As we continue to lobby against tuition raises, it is
important that we show a united front. We need to make sure that
we are supporting each other and communicating the same message.
How should we present our collective point of view?”
(Student Government)
Experimenting with New
Behavior
Group learning often involves encouraging members to try new
things. Experimenting can include role plays, work sheets, or
other exercises as well as simply suggesting alternate behaviors
for members to try. Example: “Now that we've talked
about different ways to meet people on campus, I'd like to do
some role plays. Who would like to practice some of these
skills?” (Peer Educator)
Copyright © 1998 Jeff E. Brooks-Harris & Kevin G. Shollenberger. Permission is granted to copy and use this handout provided this copyright notice remains intact.
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