2013 TKR: Group projects: Task oriented meetings: best practices

• Group projects: 
• Task-oriented group projects 
• Best practices for virtual worlds
• Overview

When people work together on a task, they are likely to hold meetings.  If meetings don't follow good practices, you hear:

• The meetings are just a waste of time.
• They just talk, go in circles, get nowhere.
• Lots of good ideas get ignored.

These comments are symptoms of problems in group functioning.
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Oh, yes.  I jumped to some assumptions:

• There is a project that the people at the meeting are collaborating on.
• The meeting is held to advance the project in some way.

 We are not in unknown territory here
Effective functioning in task-oriented groups: Overview 
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A few examples of training

• Facilitation training
• Facilitation courses
• Leadership styles
• Groups and teamwork

Facilitator
A facilitator is someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in the discussion. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitator
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So a person can work--get paid--as a group facilitator.  Or people who will be working in groups can learn to do the things facilitators do.   
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Or people can come together in groups without anybody doing the facilitation work.  That's how you get the results I mentioned at the top here.
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What do facilitators do?

• Use/teach  task management tools such as agenda, prioritization, and action items.
• Organize the activity into subtasks 
• Provide group maintenance roles that are needed but omitted
• Act to keep the group on its current task

Common sub-tasks in group-managed projects

• Idea generation, brainstorming.
• Goal selection, decison-making.
• Planning, allocation and monitoring of sub-tasks.
• Troubleshooting, problem-solving.

What does the leader do?

• Small groups typically work best with distributed leadership
• There are multiple leadership roles.
• Task roles are done by people capable of the current task.
• Maintenance roles are done by the facilitator or others.
• Leadership roles are filled by several people in the same discussion
• Leadership shifts to the person(s) most capable of the current task.
• When the task shifts, the leadership will probably shift.
• Leader comments

The above is an overview of skills people need if they are to contribute effectively to task-oriented groups.  
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