 I imagine we've all had our fair share of good and bad experiences. You've had classes that you really enjoy and you look forward to going to. You've had classes that you kind of dread being a part of and find it difficult to sit through. You've had group experiences, undoubtedly, that are the same, right? There are groups that we just really enjoy being a part of and find very fulfilling. And then there are those groups that we just, it's a slog to get through them. It's just everything feels like an uphill battle and it's just not a positive experience, an experience that we enjoy. So that's what we want to focus on in this video. What can we do to cultivate a supportive group climate? That's really what we're getting at is group climate, positive or negative group climate. So what can we do to kind of enhance and support a positive group climate rather than a negative one? So let's start at the beginning. Let's start by talking about what is group climate? Group climate is very simply the relatively enduring tone and quality of group interaction that is experienced similarly by group members. So we're not talking about isolated individual experiences here. You can have those as well, but we're talking about just in general, what's the tone of the group? Is this a positive or negative experience for those who are involved in this group and something that they're enjoying and find fulfilling and is successful and those types of things? So just the general tone or climate of this group, what's the overall experience for the majority of those people in the group? And so we start by talking about something called cohesion, cohesion, right? Which is this stickiness, so to speak, of the group. How close is the group? How functional is the group and what level of cohesion and togetherness does this group have? And there are two types of cohesion. You break down cohesion a little bit, there's cohesion as a whole. But there's what we call task cohesion, which has to do as you might expect with how well the group comes together in accomplishing their purpose, their goal, how effective are they at doing that and how close are they experiencing the climate as part of their task and just the operation of the group in performing its function. And then there's social cohesion, which is just how close is the group, how well do they get along, the task notwithstanding. How well do they get along? This does not mean everybody has to be best friends, but are they able to interact and experience positive interactions and positive relationships as a result of that group experience or not? And are they coming together in that way as well? So we have task cohesion and social cohesion. There are a lot of benefits to cohesion. We're going to spend a lot of time on these, but just very broadly the benefits of cohesion include things like the ability to set goals easily. The group has an easier time of setting goals. You have a higher level of commitment from group members being committed to the task and committed to the group itself. You see an increase in productivity in groups with higher cohesion. You see fewer attendance issues. People aren't missing as many meetings and you're not having as much trouble getting people together. There's a greater willingness just in general among group members to listen and offer support and constructive criticism and that's an important distinction. There are lots of groups where people are more than willing to offer criticism, but as that constructive criticism is a criticism that helps the group achieve their overall goal and our group members are more willing then to listen and offer support. We see that in groups that are more cohesive. And then a higher satisfaction among members. It's not probably surprising when we think about that, that when people experience greater cohesion in a group, when a group experiences greater cohesion, people are happier in that group. They're more satisfied with their efforts both in terms of task and in their personal productivity and personal growth and there's just a general sense of higher satisfaction among group members when you have better cohesion as a part of that group. So there are lots of reasons that we should strive for cohesion including these and some others. But so that's one of our goals in creating a positive group climate is experiencing cohesion among group members, positive cohesion among group members. So what then can we do to achieve a positive group climate? What can we do to really enhance the prospect of achieving a positive group climate? One thing we need to do if we're going to do that is encourage participation. We need to encourage participation among all group members. We need to discourage social loafing, which is something we'll talk about in a different video, but encouraging participation helps people feel more involved and it helps them feel like they're a part of something and it just enhances the positivity within a group climate. So when we encourage participation among all group members, it really can enhance the possibility of achieving a positive group climate then. We can use confirming messages in communicating in a group, meaning messages that send a message of value that we value that other person, we value their ideas. This is in contrast to what we would call disconfirming messages, which send a message of a lack of value to the other person, right, that we don't value you. We don't value your input. We don't think you are a positive part of this group. That's a disconfirming message. So we need to enhance and focus on sending confirming messages and make sure that even when we are providing constructive criticism and things like that, that we're doing so in a confirming way in a way that conveys a sense of value regarding that other person. So we want to focus on confirming messages. We want to provide constructive feedback. That's come up a couple of times now. We want to provide constructive feedback. It's not to say that we can't ever disagree with somebody or offer a suggestion or whatever. We want to do so in a constructive way, in a way that builds that person up, even if we're contrasting their idea that builds that person up and that really focuses on what's going to be best for this group and for our effort and make sure we have that in mind as well when we're providing feedback, when we're receiving feedback, but we need to emphasize and focus on providing constructive feedback and then receiving feedback as such, as constructive. We need to strive for equity among members. Now equity is not the same as equality, right? Equity and equality are different things. That doesn't mean everybody has to do the same thing or be treated in exactly the same way, but we ought to be treated equitably and fairly and every group ought to have their voice heard and feel as though they are a valued member of that team and we ought to strive for that equity among members, even if it's not equality. Again, we're not looking for the same thing from each person and each person's not going to get the same thing out of the group. That's not what we're looking for. What we're looking for is equal treatment of people, equitable treatment of people and their ideas and their contributions. We find positivity in a group climate when we have clear and accepted roles. When people have a specific purpose, when they know what that is and they've accepted that role and that purpose, that can be helpful. And again, as we talked about when we talked about roles, sometimes people have multiple roles, so it's not even just a matter of this is your lane, you have to stay in it, you can't do anything else, but groups operate more efficiently and more cleanly and find greater satisfaction when there are clear and accepted roles among the group members. And finally, we've created a positive group of climate when we activate motivation. When we encourage members to be involved, when we pull people in, not just encourage participation and discussion and things like that, but when we activate people, when we give them the tools to succeed and when we put them in the best position to succeed, when we activate that kind of motivation among people and we find what it is that motivates them, then we see a positive effect on the group and the group climate. So if we want to build a positive group climate and we want to see a group where everybody's just excited to be there and everybody's contributing and pulling together in the same direction, when we activate that positive group climate, these are some things that we should focus on and seek to achieve within that group. One of the things that we see in positive groups and kind of a byproduct that also a tool to create positive groups is what we call symbolic convergence. So symbolic convergence very simply is the sense of community or group consciousness that develops in a group through non-task related communication such as stories or jokes. So when you have these shared experiences, these shared stories, these shared kind of inside jokes and things like that, it creates this sense of symbolic convergence. So symbolic convergence basically says you may have these different group members and group members may be kind of all over the place and you may even have subgroups within the group but you know you're on the same group and you have people going about their business and doing their things and you have all these individuals but then something happens, you have that shared experience, that shared joke that whatever it is that creates this common bond and touches everybody in that group. Not everybody again equally, but it touches everybody in that group so you have this sense of shared experience and something that you as a group can use symbolically to kind of pull together to create that kind of cohesion and enhance the cohesion amongst the group. So watch out for that and try and look for those and create those moments of symbolic convergence as well. So okay let's get down to some details of what can we do communicatively to develop a positive group climate. Well what we want to do is try and enhance the supportive elements of group communication and decrease or minimize the elements of defensive group communication those instances, those experiences. So when we think about, you know, there's a spectrum here of ways that we communicate that are supportive and ways that are defensive. Oftentimes there are two sides at the same coin, two ways that we can approach the same thing but will have very different impacts. So for example, if we look at the first two we have our evaluation versus description. When we have evaluation nobody really likes to be evaluated in a sense of, you know, you're doing that wrong. Oh that was terrible, that was awful, that was, you know, again sometimes we need to let people know that what they're doing may not be the best way to do it but when we communicate that in an evaluative sense like we are evaluating them, then that can create a defensive posture in that person and lead to a more negative group climate. Instead we have to focus on description and focus on, okay, here are the facts, here's what happened. Okay, when you did this, when you tried this, which is, you know, maybe okay if they tried something and we tried things, we did trial and error, but when you tried this, this was the result. So this, and we're sticking to the facts here, we're describing what happened. We're not evaluating, it's not the, hey, you jerk, you did this and you ruined everything, right? We're describing, hey, you know, when you took, so what just happened was you took this action and as a result, this is kind of what followed then, right? And we're being very descriptive in that and talking through that and saying maybe, you know, so maybe there was a, was there a different way that we could have approached that? We're describing it instead of evaluating it, that's going to create a more supportive, positive group climate, right? That's kind of supportive communication. And another set that we can look at is control, which is going to create defensive posture. Nobody likes to be controlled, right? I can tell you as the youngest to five, I really strongly resist being controlled in any way because I had it all the time growing up, my older brothers and sisters were very, I mean, not very controlled, it was a great family environment for me, but still, I'm the youngest, so I was always being told what to do and when to do it, right? I hate that, I hate being controlled, and I hate it when people are trying, I feel like they're trying to do that. I get really defensive about that, right? I close down and I just, no matter if it's, you know, cutting off my nose despite my face, if I'm being controlled, I don't like that, as opposed to a problem orientation, right? Saying, you know, here's the problem that we have, and here's the problem that's being created, and what can we do to kind of overcome that? And it could be that I am the problem, right? And so we're recognizing that, but a very problem orientation, as opposed to, hey, you're going to stop doing this and you're going to do this instead, as opposed to, hey, this is the issue we're having, and so to do that, we need to change the way things are operating. Can we look at how we might do that? And I'm ideally going to come to the realization that, oh, yeah, that means I need to change and that's fine, but there's a difference, right? And the way you approach it, and that's going to create a more supportive group climate and a positive group climate, as opposed to control, which is going to be more defensive for him. Another set we can look at is strategy versus spontaneity. So what do we mean by this? Shouldn't groups be strategic? Yes, absolutely. Groups should be strategic in the way they approach things, but we don't want to feel like people are being strategic in the way that they are managing us or communicating with us. We don't want to feel like we're being set up, right? This is like when somebody says to you, hey, what are you doing this Friday? And you think, oh, wow, they're inviting me out to do something fun. Oh, great. I'm not doing anything Friday. And then say, oh, wonderful. So you can come help me move because you're not doing anything else, right? So you can come help me. Man, you feel really set up in that instance, right? We don't want that in groups either. We don't want people to feel like there was a strategy here and people are trying to manipulate us in some ways and it kind of comes back to that control thing. We want that spontaneity. We want to feel like, OK, I'm being given the opportunity in this moment to respond and this is coming up right now. It's not that this has been, they haven't developed strategies for dealing with this and now they're just bringing it on me. This is something we're dealing with in that moment. That's spontaneity. And that will create a more supportive group environment. Neutrality versus empathy. Neutrality seems like it would be a positive thing, right? It kind of has that positive connotation, except when somebody's struggling or somebody doesn't feel understood and you're being very clinical about it, right? When you're maintaining that neutrality in the way that you communicate with them, people want empathy. I mean, we all want empathy. We want to feel like we're being heard and understood. That does not mean you have to agree with everything somebody says or endorse what they say or do, right? But empathy just indicates, I can see where you're coming from. I can see things from your perspective. That's all we want, as opposed to a colder, more neutral type of communication standpoint. That's going to lead to a more defensive posture. And then superior, superiority versus equality. Again, nobody wants to be made to feel like they are less than, right? So in a group, when you treat somebody and communicate with them in a way that indicates that you have superiority, now, if you're the boss, that's one thing, right? But even if you're the boss, that doesn't mean you always have to come out from the standpoint of I'm telling you what to do because I'm your superior and I know best. And people don't respond well to that. They want equality, right? And they want to be treated as an equal, to be as though we're on the same level, whether we are or whether or not, initially, we could come at them and come to them with a sense of equality, right? And then finally, certainty and provisionalism. You know, again, nobody likes to know it all, right? Nobody likes to know it all. So when you go to somebody and say, no, this is wrong, it is absolutely wrong, 100%. Again, whether it is or not is almost immaterial. But when you come to somebody and say, you are 100% wrong, you don't know what you're doing, I know everything. I know what's going on here. I have the answers. And again, that's going to put somebody on the defensive. Whether it's true or not is irrelevant. It's going to put somebody on the defensive, as opposed to coming to somebody and saying, you know, perhaps there was a better way to do this, or perhaps we could consider another avenue toward getting this done, or there may be a different way or a better way to do this. But people don't like to be made to feel like you know it all and they don't know anything, right? So when we communicate, we can use that sense of provisionalism as opposed to certainty. And all of those things that you see here will create that supportive kind of communication environment, which will lead to a more positive group climate then, right? When we want a positive group climate, we need those supportive communication behaviors as opposed to those that are going to create defensiveness in the other person or people. So hopefully we can take all of this, you know, as a start to create this wildly successful group, both in terms of task orientation and also social orientation. Again, you don't have to be best friends with everybody in the group, but you ought to be able to get along and not want to strangle each other when you're in the same room, right? That's going to detract from even just your task ability. So we ought to be focused on creating task and social cohesion for creating the most positive group climate that we can and also using the supportive group communication behaviors and creating that positive communication climate and group climate. Do you have questions about group climate and how to create a more positive group climate? How we can go about that? Please feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there. In the meantime, I hope this makes sense to you that we want a positive group climate. In every aspect, that's going to improve both the performance and the ability of people to survive in this group and not completely dread being there at all times. So hopefully this is giving you some insight into how we can go about creating a more positive group climate in our own groups.