HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER
Title: The Handbook for Working with Difficult Groups
Competencies: team building, teamwork, team facilitation, conflict management, negotiation skills
Who benefits: team facilitators, team leaders, team members
Consultant Usage: team facilitators, resource guide of for hr professionals
What’s it about? I was in a small meeting the other day that was a waste of my time. I am sure that has never happened to you … but someday it might happen.Â
What could I have done about this group fiasco? Well I could have practice my facilitation skills. I could have just excused myself and left. I could have played with a small electronic devise … but I don’t have one. What I did do is stare into space and wonder about the dynamics that cause some groups to be so dysfunctional and what options (or hopes and dreams) there are for such groups.
When I returned safely to my quiet workspace I wondered if there was anything new on working with dysfunctional groups. I found The Handbook for Working with Difficult Groups on the Jossey-Bass book website.Â
The book’s three main topics are…
• How the group is difficult–a description of a real group and the observable phenomena that reflect the group’s difficulty.
• Why the group is difficult–an exploration of the underlying causes of the difficulty.
• What you can do about it–what you can do as a group facilitator, leader, or member to help the group.
If you are a regular reader of this Blog, you know I am a great fan of books from Jossey-Bass. This new book looks quite promising for those of you who have a professional interest in group development.Â
The book is not cheap, so you need more than a browsing interest. But for those of you out there who want to eliminate wasteful meetings or get more productivity from your groups, this might be a worthy investment.
I wish someone had read it before I went to that meeting last week.
Catch you later.
[tags] team building, teamwork, team facilitation, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley[/tags]
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
