Manage Group Discussions Effectively: Skills for Stronger Teams

Key takeaways

Managing group discussions effectively allows your team to hear diverse perspectives, explore new ideas, and align on goals and deadlines. Here are some important things to know:

• A global survey found that employees spend 42 percent of their time collaborating with others, suggesting a need to manage group discussions effectively [1].

• Creating an inclusive environment, maintaining constructive discussions, and fostering participant engagement help establish an effective group discussion environment.

• You can tailor your group discussion strategy to best fit your team's environment, leadership style, and discussion questions.

Learn strategies to manage group discussions effectively, so you can turn conversations into productive tools for problem-solving and decision-making. When you're ready to further develop these skills, consider a leadership course like the Leading People and Teams Specialization from the University of Michigan to learn how to inspire and motivate individuals, manage talent, influence without authority, and lead teams.

What it means to manage group discussions effectively

When you manage group discussions effectively, everyone has a chance to contribute, listen, and build on one another’s ideas. Participants can express their thoughts openly, even if they are not yet fully formed, in an environment that is encouraging and respectful. 

One hallmark of an effective discussion is that participants can share different viewpoints while staying focused on collaborating to achieve the strongest result. The purpose of the meeting should be clear, and members should be working together to find the best path forward as a team. Generally, you can divide meeting purposes into decision-making meetings, creative solutions and coordination meetings, and information-sharing meetings. 

No matter the purpose, effective discussion management ensures that meetings remain constructive, inclusive, and focused on outcomes. If your group has a spirited debate about a particular topic, the debates should be in good humor and based on the content of ideas rather than personalities. 

How you can use this management skill in practice

Depending on your field, you might be expected to regularly use effective group discussion management techniques. For example, as a mental health counselor, coalition coordinator, board of directors leader, or health educator, this may be a vital part of your job. 

Beyond these roles, the ability to effectively manage group discussions translates into everyday professional situations, whether you’re leading a one-time discussion or an ongoing series. With employees devoting 42 percent of their work time to collaboration, effective facilitation is key to making that time count [1]. For example, you may use this skill to:

• Explore new arrangements with diverse stakeholders

• Build teamwork skills

• Solve an ongoing problem

• Resolve a conflict

• Discuss policy changes

• Decide on next steps

• Start a new initiative

Across roles and purposes, in team meetings, you can facilitate group discussions in a way that ensures all voices are heard, summarizes key points for team cohesion, and keeps the group focused on action items. By doing this, you help keep your projects on track and team engagement high.

Creative ways to engage groups during discussions? 

To creatively engage groups, consider rapid ideation techniques like mind mapping and brainwriting to generate lots of ideas quickly and get creative energy flowing. You can also try visual tools, such as sticky notes, to help encourage participation and sort through ideas. In addition, if you want to create a more open and personal environment, storytelling or real-world examples can spark discussion by connecting the topic to participants’ own experiences.

Appropriate and effective techniques for managing group discussion

Facilitating group discussions relies on a series of strategies you can use to encourage different types of team members to participate productively. Knowing when and how to use each strategy can help you build a toolkit that works across various kinds of teams. 

As a group discussion leader, three of your primary goals are likely to be creating an inclusive environment, facilitating productive discussions, and encouraging participants to contribute. Consider the following techniques for each.

Tips to create an inclusive environment 

Before beginning, consider reflecting on what you bring to the group, what participants bring to the group, and how each person’s perspective can contribute to the overall success of the project. 

As you begin the session, try to provide an opportunity for participants to introduce themselves. This can help people become more comfortable sharing with the group. Provide clear intentions to your audience regarding the discussion objectives and your role. 

Throughout the session, use inclusive language and provide ample space for participants to think and contribute ideas. If a participant’s intent is unclear, ask for clarification. Recognize that not all participants have the same experiences or expectations, and try to facilitate conversation without making assumptions or over-generalizing. If you notice dominant voices, try to encourage others to contribute or explore alternative formats, such as having members pair up and share their thoughts.

Tips to keep discussions constructive

To ensure discussions are constructive, a few ground rules can help to facilitate a positive environment. 

As you begin the session, encourage participants to share personal experiences rather than making general statements, and support any counterpoints with evidence and respectful delivery. Highlight the value of diverse perspectives and the importance of each member contributing their thoughts.

Throughout the session, step back and allow the discussion to progress naturally, so long as the direction is productive. If the conversation becomes adversarial, you can step in to gently realign the conversation to the task and help to facilitate effective conflict resolution. 

Tips to support participants

To encourage participants and support their contributions throughout the discussion, you can take a few steps to set a comfortable scene and keep the conversation positive.

As you begin the session, set the stage for a relaxed and open environment by providing food and drinks, relevant materials, and sharing any background information you’ve learned that could help get the conversation started. You should clarify the topic as you begin the session, and you might even start out with a simple question to generate group ideas.

Throughout the session, you can write participant comments on the whiteboard, ask follow-up questions, and revisit past contributions to bring them into present discussions. In some cases, you might encourage participants to share their reactions or build on the ideas of others. If the group hits a block, you can open a brainstorming session for how you might collectively find the answer. When working with diverse personalities and perspectives, you might have situations where team members clash. Through effective group discussion management, such as addressing the issue quickly and ensuring everyone feels valued, you can help your team work through disagreements productively. 

Benefits and challenges of managing group discussions 

While group discussions are a great way to build team spirit and combine diverse perspectives, you may encounter a few challenges along the way. A few benefits and challenges to consider include:

Benefits

• Promotes a deeper understanding of the topic

• Helps to maintain team focus and opens communication channels

• Builds relationships and trust across teams

• Promotes a sense of ownership over the project and team success

• Provides a space for every team member to have a voice

Challenges

• Group discussions require coordination, motivation, and time allocation. If you don’t have infrastructure in place to support these conversations, it can be challenging.

• Loud voices may dominate large group discussions. In some cases, you may benefit from smaller group or table discussions.

• One viewpoint may override others unless you intentionally make sure other points of view can be comfortably voiced.

Examples of effective group discussions in practice

Group discussions take many forms across industries and purposes, but they share the common goal of bringing teams together to achieve a shared objective. Not only will you likely feel a positive effect from an effective group discussion, but the outcomes are often measurable in practice. For example, in health care, research shows that effective team collaboration reduces preventable adverse drug reactions, lowers morbidity and mortality rates, and optimizes medication dosing [2].

When engaging stakeholders, an effective group discussion might look like a focus or working group (typically four to 12 members) facilitated by a moderator. You would likely use predetermined questions or relevant materials to get discussions going and redirect them as necessary to stay on task. For example, if you were designing a product, you might have a prototype available to encourage stakeholders to discuss abstract ideas, design requirements, and contextual considerations. 

Best practices for leaders and project managers

As a leader, being able to facilitate effective discussions helps to build trust, give participants a sense of ownership, and increase the likelihood of your team reaching a consensus on complex topics. To be an effective leader in a group discussion scenario, it’s important to determine whether a directive or non-directive style is more appropriate for a given meeting. A directive style may work best when you have limited time, a sensitive topic, or you need to make clear decisions quickly, while a non-directive style can help with brainstorming and encourage creativity.

As a leader, some steps to help you begin include:

1. Create an intentional environment: Be intentional with the space you choose, the resources you provide, and how you begin the discussion.

2. Decide on a leadership style and ground rules: Consider the level of involvement you will have in the discussion, set ground rules to encourage positive conversation, and facilitate introductions between new members. 

3. Be intentional with goals and topics: You can guide the discussion by setting an agenda or session goal, then helping to kick off the discussion with introductory topics or questions.

4. Follow with notes and summaries: After the discussion is over, you can follow up with summary notes and action items to keep the team momentum moving forward.

What are the three C's of group discussions?

To have healthy teamwork, your team can focus on the three C’s: communication, conflict, and climate. This means that your team can communicate thoughts and ideas clearly, navigate conflicts respectfully, and foster a climate of trust within the team.

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