Making Small Groups Work By Henry Cloud And John Townsend

My discussion this week will be based on my reaction to Rick DuFour’s video on Groups vs Teams. Rick DuFour defined a team as a group of people who work together to achieve a common goal. He further stated 3 elements a team must possess.

The book selected for the assignment is, ‘Be a people person: Effective leadership through effective relationships,’ by John C. Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell is an author, speaker, leadership expert who is internationally recognized and a pastor. He wrote books on leadership (The John Maxwell Company, n.d.). He has a doctorate in ministry and started his career as a pastor. After 14 years of preaching the word of God, he devoted himself to speaking and writing. He became a religious leader (Christian Books Previews, n.d.). Maxwell has recognized the role of interpersonal relationships in making and breaking a leader. He has also realized the importance of developing personal skills from the people (Victor Books, 2002). In his book, Maxwell explains how a person who follows can turn to a leader by connecting with people and relating to them from a biblical perspective. The author places 50 percent emphasis on others, 25 percent on self and the remaining 25 percent on God in his approach to the followers (Barnes and Noble, n.d.).

The clarity and effectiveness of purpose and the use of time was very well used in this meeting. The purpose of this meeting was very clear to both this writer and seemed to be to all group members. Group members respected that the purpose was to have meetings that were effective enough to help themselves stay sober. The group leader was very strict on keeping the group on task and did not allow much time for the group members to get off topic. The group discussions truly allowed group members to understand the purpose in being in attendance at each meeting. The time allotted for the meeting was perfect. The hour long session left just enough time for each portion of the meeting to be completed, but did not leave extra time where the group leader struggled to come up with discussion or activities for the group members to participate in. The use of time was very effective and clear to both the group leaders and group members.

Small groups are the proper environment to develop and grow disciples of Jesus. The purpose of a small group is to develop sacrificial, relational, transformed people who can continue the cycle of disciple development. Small groups must be intentional, individual and missional. There are five primary passages that can be used to form a small group ministry philosophy. Each of these passages have accompanying principles that we can apply to our small group ministries.

According to Ministry Is…, chapter 29, "A healthy Christian small group is a gathering of three to fifteen people who meet regularly together for the purpose of spiritual _____ _____

From my experience, one situation I can think of where the “groupthink” phenomenon could be applied happened when I used to be a scribe/scribe trainer. Our leads had just hired a new group of scribes and prior to starting on the floor the trainees needed to complete a classroom training course covering medical terminology, understanding of the EMR template and then pass an examination. After that then they were able to start training shifts on the floor with an experienced scribe “shadowing” them. The first time scribing on the floor can be really daunting because some providers work very fast and they can be very particular (quality/length of HPI, what& where to document certain findings) which as a newbie you wouldn’t know unless you worked

Evangelism is described as a three-way cord; building relationships, sharing the gospel, and introducing people to community. The authors encourage the Gospel and the Word to stay central, as well as community involvement and helping the needy in the name of Christ. There is a great emphasis on home groups (the authors are themselves home-group leaders), and how this practice makes church planting easier. The togetherness of this practice aids in ones spiritual growth because one cannot become holy on his

Made a Beginning Group (MAB) of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was observed in the efforts to link course readings and class lectures to real life group work. MAB was observed on October 14, 2015, at 6:00 pm. with fourteen people in attendance. The open support group meeting was located at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando on East Robinson Street and was led by one facilitator. MAB and the facilitator showed deviations from the normal group practices discussed in the class of Group Dynamics and Process. However, some familiar therapeutic factors such as Instillation of Hope, Imitative Behavior, Universality, Group Cohesiveness, and Catharsis were evident in the group’s dynamics. The observation techniques included the point of view of an observer, a hypothetical point of view as facilitator, and the observer’s reaction. Together, these observations suggest that even though MAB does not follow standard group procedures; therapeutic and helping factors occur relatively routinely.

According to the textbook, social groups are “a group that exist to provide opportunities for group member to enjoy the company of others.” (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2008, p. 238) The two types of groups she mentioned were a book club and a Biblical Training course. The difference between the two was that the book club was informal in which the 5 members of the group meet at a restaurant to enjoy dinner and discuss the book of the month. With the Biblical Training group this was a formal setting in which the group was more of a formal study group. According to the textbook, a study group, is a group that exists to help group members learn new information and ideas.” (Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy, 2008, p. 236) The study group meets bi-weekly to review the selected book chosen by the Pastor. This is a formal setting in which the Pastor opens the meeting with prayer and reviews the information on the book and backs up the information with scripture for an hour. In this type of setting, the group members only listen and take notes during the meeting and then the meeting is closed with

For this paper, I observed a staff meeting on March 8th at The Journey Metro East, the church I attend. Six people attended the meeting, including the pastor, worship leader, and children’s ministry coordinator. Throughout the two hour run time of this meeting, the staff demonstrated numerous concepts we have covered in class. Six small group communication concepts they displayed most prominently were the procedural model of problem solving (P-MOPS), group roles, group socialization, Tuckman’s model of group development, types of groups and, lastly, systems theory.

Describe how your experience of the leading, participating in, or observing groups have informed or influenced you regarding your own group leadership skills, leadership style, and perception about groups;

Group work has been a cornerstone of the social work profession and requires a variety of facilitator skills and awareness of group processes. The SSLDTM Group Program for People with Difficulties in Social Situations (Socialwork1914, 2017) provides an excellent example of a psycho-educational group co-facilitated by two female social workers, Jane and Karen. After viewing the 6th session of this 8-week program, I began to understand how the concepts of group formation/development, interpersonal dynamics, and leadership styles contribute to successful group work outcomes.

My personal philosophy of small groups is scriptural based. Acts 2:46 says, “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” As the original church began, it is obvious from Acts chapter two and particularly from verse 46 that the church met in unity in large groups. They actually used a two-fold approach of meeting in large-group meetings and then in the homes for more intimate small-group gatherings. Acts 2:46 clearly shows the church gathering in homes, eating together, and continuing the work of the ministry.

First, I discussed four of the ten “General System Concepts” in relation to a small group interaction and why they are important. I explained input, output, feedback, and integration and how they worked in small groups. Then I explained how sharing, feedback, group-discovery, and encouragement reduce Quadrants 2-4 in the Johari Window and widen Quadrant 1, by doing those things you can make you group better with communication and get more effective results. Finally, I explained how my application of a biblical word view can assist with my Johari window modifications. The bible guides us to help other and lift each other up these are simple ways to encourage and build a better group. I hope this helps you better understand group interactions.

The Avengers went through 5 stages of group development that was theorized by Bruce Tuckman. The first stage is forming, wherein the Avengers gathered at the end of the first class. Each member collected information from each other such as the individual member’s name, contact number and email address. As the professor gave a task, the members felt the tension as to who will become the leader to obtain the information needed by the professor and write in the sheet of paper. There was minimal interaction between members and everyone just focused on the questions given. M5 stood out as a leader in this group activity as he voiced out that he would write in the sheet of paper and submit it online on Moodle. The initiative to complete this task