COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT NOTES by David L. Hill, Community Development Specialist

Vol.1 No. 1 January 1997 GUIDELINES FOR GROUP WORK

Goals--Basis for Group Action
Have your ever been involved in a group that "went astray"? You tried, everyone tried, but no one could get the discussion back on track. While many creative ideas were suggested, most were wasted, forgotten or tabled for future situations. Group members became restless, some irritated and attendance was often poor. Does this seem to describe your meeting? Does your group for some reason seem to have no strong sense of direction for activities or for the group in general? Are you meeting to pay lip service to a purpose long forgotten and seldom acted upon? If group actions and activities are part of a well-planned progression toward group goals, participants will find them useful and rewarding. If members don't have clear understanding or have different definitions of group goals, both meetings and group efforts will fall apart. If group members have a clear understanding of their goals and are working together toward these goals, getting together will be viewed as valuable time.

Goals--Yours, Mine and Ours
Individuals participate in organizations for two important reasons: personal satisfaction and to help develop their communities. Organizations can be effective only when individuals are constructive members. Constructive members know and share group goals and are willing to share the responsibilities to forward these goals.

Setting Group Goals
What exactly are group goals? How does a group arrive at them? How do we know they are the right goals? Group goals are a combination of the individual goals of all the group members. It is the individual members acting together who set group goals. All group members should participate in discussing and defining group goals. If they are involved, they will be more cooperative and committed to achieving the group's goals.

Putting Action Into Goals
Have you ever been involved in a group or committee that has well-defined goals but never does anything with them? Typical of this committee are goals that lip service is paid to, but no action evolves. Or, one or two people in the group really make all the decisions and everyone else is expected to rubber stamp their actions. The purpose of a group or committee is the reason people "rally round." It is a pulling together of personal interests. But to have group goals come alive, the long-range goals need to be made "bite size." Plans for specific actions that can be worked on at each meeting need to be presented. To build one activity on another, it is important to consider timing and intermediate activities. Where does the group need to be in six months to achieve its goal. What "bite size" pieces does it take to add up to this goal? What needs to be done at the next meeting to form the link in the chain to successfully accomplish the goal?

Keys of Group Goals
Group goals provide direction for activities and pull together group effort. Group goals form the basis to resolve conflict for the best interest of group action. Group goals form the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of group efforts.

For additional information about Group Functioning Skills contact University Extension Centers.

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