 As you know in life just about everything has positives and negatives There's there's benefits to things and then there are drawbacks to things and they almost always working concert together When you add one you take away from something else And so they're they're good and bad things about virtually everything in life and the same is true of small groups There are advantages and there are certainly disadvantages to small groups as we're all aware as well So let's take a look at some of those, you know, one of the reasons we work in small groups and one of the Advantages and disadvantages to doing so as well as a couple of you know Broad tips that we can use to improve our group experiences So first let's take a look at some of the advantages some of the positives the pros the reasons we work in small groups first of all Shared decision-making that can make it easier for everybody both in the sense of you can feel more confident knowing that your decision is supported by Others and that you're sharing that load with others. You're sharing that responsibility with others You're also bringing in more perspectives in that decision-making and and it just kind of just spreads it out a little bit more It's not one individual and all the weights on them And and so it can just make decision-making a little bit easier in that sense Not necessarily the process of decision-making, of course But but the idea of decision-making can be benefited by working in a group We also have this idea of shared resources you bring in everybody brings in their own stuff you bring in not only your own physical resources and But but your own intellectual resources and you're in your you know Many hands make light work in a sense of you're all bringing things in and so you have the opportunity to share those things and work collaboratively together in an effective group you're working collaboratively and And filling in the gaps for other people you're bringing in people with skill sets that complement yours and and Working with them so that you're filling those gaps and you have those shared resources though people bring in different resources then You know some of this idea of synergy right synergy is Good idea that the one plus one equals three not just two But you know individually we might be able to do this and you can do that But when we get together we can multiply that and get even more than we could even just on our individual selves If that makes sense we push each other and can we we work together to fill the gaps we complement each other's Weaknesses we bring you know different things to the table and through all of that We drive each other to greater heights than we would achieve as as individuals as three individuals or four individuals or whatever That group effort brings that kind of exponential benefit of said synergy as well and just an exposure to diversity is another advantage to small groups it diversifies not just our Exposure to people from different cultures and different you know different nationalities and different races and things like that Which is fantastic. It broadens our exposure to that kind of diversity certainly and and broadens our world opens our world up in that regard Hopefully gives us you know We have direct experience with people from different cultures It gives us a whole new perspective on that culture and can really change the way we see people of different backgrounds Right, but also exposure to this intellectual diversity different ideas different ways of doing things that exposes us to those types of things Really broadens our horizon in that respect as well. So it just brings in new knowledge and new Interactions with people that we might not otherwise have and and just makes us a more complete Person even moving forward after that group experience is done. We still have that That knowledge and that that new information that new way of thinking That care that we carry with us even after that experience so that exposure to diversity in all forms is really really Important and a really big advantage of working in small groups Now again, we need to recognize though that there are some disadvantages some things that aren't as great about working in small groups First of all You may be in a group where it's unnecessary Where you think you have one person that has all these skills and can do this on their own and Everybody else is just kind of there for fluff right and just there to be there So you have to really identify as this group Necessary or is this a simple enough task or a specific enough task that it could be handled by one person and the rest of the people Here are really kind of Unnecessary and just kind of taking up their time. So we need to identify that that sometimes happens that the group may be unnecessary You may also encounter interpersonal challenges within a group anytime you put, you know a Group of people in a room There's the potential for these interpersonal conflicts to get in the way that you wouldn't have if you're working on your own Or maybe with just one person you get to choose But we're working with somebody who you know quite frankly brings something to the group that you may not have that you may need this person But at the same time they rub you the wrong way and just bring these Interpersonal challenges in some ways that you so that's and a disadvantage of working in groups is that you're gonna have these little conflicts You may also In a group see someone who's engaging in social loafing meaning they're just kind of Riding the coattails of the group. They're just hanging on and they're not really pitching in They're not really doing enough work and yet they're getting the credit for it because they're part of the group right there Part of that team so they're getting credit for what the team accomplishes, but they're really contributing anything. They're just kind of Again riding that wave And and and grabbing on the coattails the people that are in that group So you see that that's a disadvantage of small group that people engage in social loafing I mean, you know one final disadvantage is the potential for group think That you know all the people decide to jump off the cliff at the same time right because they all get Wrapped up in this idea that this is the right thing to do and they get blinders on toward some of the negatives that may happen You know the side of group think is one person leading the charge and and everybody falls in line Even though they're all again kind of falling off the cliff there So there's the potential for group think when you work in a group. We have to be cautious of that Now there are some things that we can do to improve our group experiences We're just going to talk broadly here because the rest of the series is going to be obviously about Specific things we can do to engage effectively in groups, but just some broad tips For just out of the gate things that we can do to improve our group experiences First of all, we can study effective techniques We can do what you're doing by following this series and and Engaging and learning about what it means to work in small groups What are some effective techniques and and tactics for working in group? How can we improve our own communication skills and and effectiveness in groups and what so we can study these things? It's these are skills we can learn we can learn how to Work better in groups and how to manage our group experiences better And so we can study these things and get better by learning about how to do these things So study effective techniques is one way that we can improve our group experiences Another thing when we're in a group we can meet as often as possible That doesn't mean we have to meet every day and that doesn't mean it has to take over our lives But we need to meet often. That's what allows us to develop those real Relational connections get to know those people and how they work and and draft off of one another share experiences things like that So we need to meet relatively often as a group if you're a group meeting once a year That's not going to be effective You got to meet not every day necessarily but as often as as you can in order to develop that group cohesiveness and really Gel together and find that shared identity. That's important in group work And then we can collaborate to establish group expectations at the very outside of a group We can get together and determine what is it? We're trying to accomplish what are what are the different roles we need filled in here And how can we best meet the needs of the group as individuals and contribute to that and develop that kind of synergy? But we can really you know establish some very specific expectations We can create we're going to talk about in other series, you know things like creating a group Charter a communication charter one of the expectations for response times in a group What are the expectations for how we will communicate and how we will collaborate even when we're not together? What are the expectations for how we will behave when we are together when we're meeting as a group? We can collaborate together to create a charter creates my expectations around What we're going to do what the expectations are and what's going to happen if people aren't following that? You know we can even determine that so we can establish our own kind of system and expectations in that work together To establish those right up front So there again good things and bad things about working as a group on the whole we find that effective groups Do better work in in complicated and complex problem-solving, you know Situations that individuals do so that's why we continue to have groups and be forced to kind of work in groups, right? So it can be effective in the right circumstances and when people put in the work But there are also disadvantages we need to recognize and try and minimize those things That's what we're going to focus on in the rest of this series some specific Details about how we can do that and tactics for doing that as we think about working in groups If you have questions about working in small groups communicating in small groups, feel free to email me I'd love to hear from you there in the meantime. I hope that you have in a Recognition of these advantages and also the disadvantages going into group with our eyes wide open But establishing some of those data and working with some of those tips and techniques that we can use to make this a more Effective experience for everyone involved in the small group