Deck 6: Initial Stage of a Group

Question 1

Initial Session. For this exercise six students volunteer to assume the roles of group members at an initial group session, and two volunteer to take on the roles of coleaders. Have the coleaders begin by giving a brief orientation explaining the group's purpose, the role of the leader, the rights and responsibilities of the members, the ground rules, group process procedures, and any other pertinent information they might actually give in the first session of a group. The members then express their expectations and fears, and the leaders try to deal with them. This lasts for approximately half an hour, and the class members then describe what they saw occurring in the group. The group members describe how they felt during the session and offer suggestions for the coleaders. The coleaders can discuss with each other the nature of their experience and how well they feel they did, either before any of the feedback or afterward.

Answer 1

During the orientation session or initial session, the group members will have mixed feelings. The members will not open easily with other members. They don't trust the leaders fully and would not be sure whether the attending the group will benefit them. The members will be shy to talk and express their feelings to other members. They will be new to the group environment and will hesitate to express their past experience with the group. They may want a quick resolution to their problem and will not think about others. Leaders' behavior is very important to change the mindset of the members. The members will create the impression of their leader. Once the orientation session will be over, the members will know more about their leaders, about the group, goal of the group, rules and regulations etc. Based on the atmosphere of the group, the members will get adjusted. The members are not sure whom to trust and are learning how to respect others. They will learn how to care about others' feelings and they can get accepted by the group. They will not disclose much about themselves at orientation stage.
The leaders' experience will be based on the members experience and the feedback given by them. At the beginning of the orientation session the leader will be focused in giving important information about the group structure and format. The leader will get to know the members and also disclose about them to the members. This is done in order to build trust and confidence in group members. The leader will act responsibly by motivating members to express their feelings. The orientation stage will be challenging for the leaders because they have not build trust of the members completely. They need to extend support and guidance to the members to participate actively.
The leader needs to accept feedback from the members positively. The leader should act in a sensible way by working on the feedback so that they can get connected to members easily. The feedback provided at orientation stage also gives the idea what the members expect from the leaders and group therapy.

Question 2

Here are some suggestions for making the best use of this chapter along with the initial stage segment of the first program, Evolution of a Group. If you are not viewing the DVD ( Groups in Action ) in class or working with this program, skip the following exercises.
Group Characteristics of the Initial Stage. Think about how the characteristics described in this chapter are evident in the initial stage of the group depicted in the DVD. What are the members anxious about, and how safe did most of them feel from the very beginning? What early concerns did the members voice? Are there any potential hidden agendas? If so, what might they be? What process is being employed to help the members get acquainted?

Answer 2

NO ANSWER

Question 3

The Beginning Stage of a Group. This exercise can be used to get group members acquainted with one another, but you can practice it in class to see how it works. The class breaks into dyads and selects new partners every 10 minutes. Each time you change partners, consider a new question or issue. The main purpose of the exercise is to get members to contact all the other members of the group and to begin to reveal themselves to others. We encourage you to add your own questions or statements to this list of issues:
• Discuss your reservations about the value of groups.
• What do you fear about groups?
• What do you most want from a group experience?
• Discuss how much trust you have in your group. Do you feel like getting involved? What are some things that contribute to your trust or mistrust?
• Decide which of the two of you is dominant. Does each of you feel satisfied with his or her position?
• Tell your partner how you imagine you would feel if you were to colead a group with him or her.

Answer 3

• The reservations about the value of groups are only possible if the trust is build. Without trust the group will not perform effectively. The trust is build if members express their feelings with each other, understand their mindset and respect their views and ideas. In order to express their feelings, the members need to know about each other and this can be done by effective self-disclosure process. This can also help them to get accepted easily by the group.
• The only fear that members will have from the groups is not maintaining confidentiality about various aspects of their life. Too much self-disclosure will also be risky sometimes. Members come from different cultural backgrounds. Revealing about their personal life to other members might affect them adversely. Thus it is very important to reveal information that is appropriate for the session and ensure that confidentiality is considered strictly.
• The experience and learning from the group should help the members to overcome difficult situation in day to day life, implement the learning to handle issues and act positively in difficult situations.
• The trust factor can only be build once the members will express feelings with each other, understand each others' needs, resolve conflict appropriately and respect each others' ideas. Once the trust is build members will participate actively in group activities because of cohesion and acceptance of group.
There are few things that contribute to trust. They are:-
• Members do not fear to express feelings.
• Members giving more focus to themselves rather than others.
• Revealing personal information in self-disclosure process to connect effectively.
• Members will be goal-oriented.
Things that contribute to mistrust are:-
• Anger and suspicion with members and not expressing their feelings.
• Members not clear about their need or too much expressive and does not match to the needs of other members.
• Focusing more on their issue and not giving importance to others' concern.
• In order to gain trust and connect effectively, members need to participate equally in group activities. Being dominative to other members may not help in building trust and connection. If one member is dominant on the other, the later will not satisfied because they have not expressed their feelings to the other member effectively. Participating collaboratively with the other member will give satisfaction to both.
• The member can express their feelings of working together with other member as coleader. They will be happy and satisfied if they have build trust on each other. In order to lead a group, they need to understand each others' ability as a leader, each others' strengths and weaknesses and how they can divide the responsibilities.

Question 4

Here are some suggestions for making the best use of this chapter along with the initial stage segment of the first program, Evolution of a Group. If you are not viewing the DVD ( Groups in Action ) in class or working with this program, skip the following exercises.
Creating Trust: Leader and Member Roles. Trust issues are never settled once and for all. As you view the first section of the DVD, how would you describe the level of trust during the initial stage in this group? Think about ideas for facilitating trust in groups you will lead. What factors do you think are likely to lead to trust? What would it take for you to feel a sense of trust in a group? What are the major barriers to the development of trust? What are some specific fears members raised, and how were these fears dealt with during this initial session? What did you learn about some ways to create trust in a group by viewing the early phase of this group?

Question 5

Meeting With Your Coleader. Select a person in your class with whom you might like to colead a group. Explore with your partner some of the following dimensions of a group during the initial stage:
• How would both of you assist the members in getting the most from this group? Would you be inclined to discuss any guidelines that would help them be active members?
• How would the two of you attempt to build trust during the initial phase of this group?
• How much structuring would each of you be inclined to do early in a group? Do both of you agree on the degree of structure that would help a group function effectively?
• Whose responsibility is it if the group flounders? What might you do if the group seemed to be lost at the first session?
• What are some specific procedures each of you might use to help members define their personal goals regarding what they want to explore in a group?

Question 6

Here are some suggestions for making the best use of this chapter along with the initial stage segment of the first program, Evolution of a Group. If you are not viewing the DVD ( Groups in Action ) in class or working with this program, skip the following exercises.
Identifying and Clarifying Goals. If you were leading this group, would you have a clear sense of what the members wanted to get from the group experience?

Question 7

Brainstorming About Ways of Creating Trust. In small groups explore as many ideas and ways you can think of that might facilitate the establishment of trust in your group. What factors do you think are likely to lead to trust? What would it take for you to feel a sense of trust in a group? What do you see as the major barriers to the development of trust?

Question 8

Here are some suggestions for making the best use of this chapter along with the initial stage segment of the first program, Evolution of a Group. If you are not viewing the DVD ( Groups in Action ) in class or working with this program, skip the following exercises.
Group Process Concepts at the Initial Stage. Structuring is an important process during the early phase of a group. What kind of structuring did you observe us providing? How might you provide a different kind of structuring if you were leading or cofacilitating this group? How did we deal with the issue of cultural diversity that emerged early in the life of the group? What specific norms are we actively attempting to shape early in this group?

Question 9

Assessing Your Group. If there is an experiential group associated with your group class, assess the degree to which the characteristics of your group are similar to the initial stage described in this chapter. What is the atmosphere like in your group? What kind of group participant are you? What is your degree of satisfaction with your group? Are there steps you can take to bring about any changes you may want to see in your group? To what degree is trust being established, and what is the safety level in the group? What kinds of norms are being formed at this early stage?

Question 10

Here are some suggestions for making the best use of this chapter along with the initial stage segment of the first program, Evolution of a Group. If you are not viewing the DVD ( Groups in Action ) in class or working with this program, skip the following exercises.
Opening and Closing Group Sessions. Notice the use of the check-in and the checkout procedures in the DVD. What techniques would you use to open a session in a group you are leading? What did you learn about leader interventions in getting members to check in and state how they would like to use time for a session? What specific techniques for ending a session did you read about and also observe in the DVD? What are some lessons you are learning about the importance of bringing a group session to a close?

Question 11

Here are some suggestions for making the best use of this chapter along with the initial stage segment of the first program, Evolution of a Group. If you are not viewing the DVD ( Groups in Action ) in class or working with this program, skip the following exercises.
Using the Workbook With the DVD. If you are using the DVD and workbook, refer to Part 2: Initial Stage of the workbook and complete all the exercises. Reading this section and addressing the questions will help you conceptualize group process by integrating the text with the DVD and the workbook.