Group Leadership

1. Group Leadership

2. Leaders • Leaders maintain certain personal qualities; apply specific skills; implement various practices and address individuals and/or the group with informed interventions. • Leaders are bound to ethical standards. • Confidentiality and Informed Consent • Cultural Awareness • Respect • Dual Relationships • Scope of Profession • National Organization for Human Services • Association for Specialists in Group Work

3. Personal Qualities of Leaders • Think about leaders who inspire you in life. On a piece of paper, write down what it is about these leaders that you find so attractive or inspiring? • Now write down the personal strengths you believe you hold that would be useful as a leader of a group? • Are there particular qualities you would like to develop that would further assist you as a group leader? If so, what are they? Write these down as well.

4. Leader Qualities • Compassion • …nothing, no technical consideration, takes precedence over this attitude [compassion]. (Yalom/Leszcz, 2005) • Are you really invested in the welfare of others for the the welfare of others (i.e. altruistic)? • Firm Identity • Knowing ones self before knowing another (e.g. triggers, judgments, “emotional junk” [counter-transference], strengths/weaknesses, etc.) • Confidence • Demonstrated by a “groundedness” that allows a leader to move though the unpredictability of a group (comes from learned knowledge and experience).

5. Leader Qualities cont. • Integrity • Both personal and professional (tethered to ethical standards). • Trustworthiness • Leader trusting group members (so members trust themselves and others). • Group members trusting leader (so to establish a safe place for members). • Humor • Laugh with, never at. • Humor may reduce tension, relax people, help to deal with taboo topics if done with sensitivity (e.g. sex), build shared experiences, etc.

6. Leader Qualities cont. • Empathy • …the ability to identify someone else’s feelings while remaining aware that the feelings of others are distinct from one’s own. • An empathetic leader: • Communicates respect for and acceptance of clients and their feelings. • Encourages a nonjudgmental, supportive and collaborative relationship. • Sincerely compliments rather than denigrates or diminishes another person. • Tells less and listens more. • Gently persuades, while understanding that the decision to change is the client’s.

7. Skills of Leaders • Share an experience with your group that describes the best group leader you have encountered. This could have been in a counseling setting, as well as in a class, business setting or any other group. • What was the influence of this leader on you in the group? • Talk to others about the skills that this leader demonstrated that made him/her so effective. Make a list identifying the skills you have discussed.

8. Leader Skills • Communication(keystone to effective group work) • Rephrasing(i.e. paraphrasing): Restating what was said, modeling listening and responding. • Reflectingfeelings: Reflecting back what was heard but on a deeper level, unveiling an unspoken feeling. • Interpreting: Decoding underlying meaning and offering the interpretation back to group to promote greater self-understanding. • Reframing: Used to help group members to change the way they view their situation or problem.

9. Leader Skills cont. • Questioning • Use questions only when indirect means do not work, otherwise you may come across as interrogating. • “Open” versus “closed” questions will encourage elaboration. • Avoid “why” questions as people usually don’t have an answer. Instead ask with “what,” “where,” or “how.”

10. Leader Skills cont. • Self-disclosure: Making it safe for group members to reveal themselves in an honest and open way via self-disclosure. • Is there another way I can do this without putting the focus on me? • Will a group member say the same thing? • How will this help the group and its members? • Am I balanced in who I am choosing to self-disclose with? • How can I be most efficient about the disclosure so not to keep the members attention for very long?

11. Leader Skills cont. • Confronting: Subtly assisting a group member who has confronted another member to be more empathetic, to link to a similar experience/feeling or to help the confronted member to hear what is said; done in this way, confronting is an effective skill. Confrontation, as a skill, is different from intervening in a confrontation where escalated affect exists (e.g. attacks); instead this may be considered blocking. • Jill: C’mon James I'm tired of hearing that same old stuff; why don’t you finally take some responsibility for your actions and- • James: Why don’t you shut it Jill, you don’t know what its like to be me and look whose talking about taking responsibility… • Leader: ??

12. Leader Skills cont. • Summarizing: Used when transitioning from one topic/subject to another; when discussions are fractured and/or chaotic or when transition is needed in the group. • Be concise and to the point. • Encourage group members to provide the summary and leader fills in as necessary.

13. Leader Skills cont. • Linking: Involves building as many bridges and connections as you can between members, connecting their issues and fostering direct interaction. • Leader is building cohesion and trust in group by linking member s together in their common experiences. • Done by summarizing (if necessary) and by guiding (verbally/nonverbally) individual members to speak directly to one another. • Cuing: Scanning the group closely often while observing the slightest nonverbal communication (e.g. crossed arms, nodding heads, frowns, etc.) and inviting members to say things you think they may be feeling. Useful for linking.

14. Leader Skills cont. • Blocking: Stopping member interactions that are deemed inappropriate, insensitive or unnecessary. • When someone is being pressured to do or say something they do not feel ready for; • When someone is being disrespectful or abusive towards another or ridiculed or picked on; • When someone is rambling or distracting; • When someone is intellectualizing; • When someone uses a racial or cultural slur; • When someone is talking about a person or events outside the group that can’t be controlled; • Or when you just need to stop the group to allow the group to process something going on. • “I’m going to stop you right now” (with hand out).

15. Leader Skills cont. • Supporting: Applied any time a group member does something you want to reinforce enough so that they continue the behavior. • This can be done by simply acknowledging the interaction or statement when a member: • Takes a significant risk; • Says something kind or caring to another; • Discloses something personal; • Confronts another in an appropriate manner; • Ceases doing something inappropriate or distracting.

16. Leadership Practices • Actions that may be supported by a leaders qualities and skills, yet more nuanced than interventions. However, interventions also integrate various skills of the leader. • Constancy • Spontaneity • Models appropriate behavior • Uses suitable wording • Sensitivity to ethical issues • Maintains safe setting