Communication and Leadership
Abstract
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has seventeen regular attending members. We are all athletes so we have a common interest in sports. I’m also interested in gaining experience in leadership skills and being on this committee offers me a chance to use them both in my department and in the community. Nine of the group members are men and eight are women. Although some of the literature on communication mentions a difference between how men and women communicate it is not obvious in this group. The student leader and faculty leader of the group help set the agenda and keep discussions focused. The leadership style of the student leader is to encourage communication by being a good listener and keeping to the agenda of each meeting. When there is a problem the faculty leader steps in to put a positive spin on the discussion and invites more comment from all the group members. One group member has a communication style of interrupting a lot and another member wants to talk about unimportant details. A face to face meeting between the committee leader and each of these two members separately to talk about communication styles should be enough to help the meetings progress more smoothly.
(keywords: leadership, small group analysis, small group communication, group decision making, group dynamic, group discussion)
Communication: Small Group Analysis
Analysis of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)
I enjoy participating in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) although during the first two meetings the group dynamics seemed strange to me. I have become quite comfortable with most of the people in the group even when I see them on campus. Taking a communications class about small groups has helped me understand the dynamics in the group. At first I would lose patience with the faculty member for not taking charge of the meeting when some people took us off track. I had the idea that good leadership meant telling us what we should do. I also found the student leader to be passive sometimes. Now I realize that there is more than one way to be a good leader and get results.
I have challenged myself to observe the group dynamics more carefully. I suspect that the faculty leader and the student leader are more in control of the meeting than it seems. I theorize that my first impressions of the leadership style of the student leader was wrong and that really he has a leadership style that is effective.
Group Description
Beebe and Masterson (2011) define small group communication as “interaction among a small group of people who share a common purpose or goal, who feel a sense of belonging to the group, and who exert influence on one another” (p. 2). The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) meets the criteria of this definition. The group is composed of seventeen members from different departments of the school. One faculty leader, the Director of Women’s Basketball, joins us for each of the advisory committee meetings mainly in case we need to know something about university rules. The leader of the group is from Men’s Basketball. The secretary is from Women’s Tennis. I represent Men’s Tennis. Other representatives include people from Women’s Soccer, Men’s Track, Women’s Track and other sports. The main members that show up regularly number seventeen and include nine men and eight women. I mention the sex of the members because gender is the basis of many studies in communication and leadership (Faes, Swinnen & Sellinx, 2009, 8).
The committee has several goals. One goal is to get more students to attend the upcoming sports events so a Flock Night is being planned. Other goals have to do with building a relationship with the community. We try to come up with ideas on how athletes can be positive role models in the community. Local community services are discussed so we can find opportunities to get involved with area projects.
A recent committee goal is to help make a smooth transition from membership in the National Association of Inter-Collegiate Athletics (NAIA) to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A lot of rule changes will be initiated and we want to avoid as much confusion in the department as possible.
Members of the group are all about the same age. Two of the members in the committee grew up in the area so they offer a lot of good advice about how we can interact with the community. We have visited some elementary schools to work with children during their gym class on different sports techniques. Some of the members have given talks to different age groups about team work, cooperation, playing fair and how sports are a way to be good role models. D’Abate (2010) has concluded “that having multiple developmental interactions (i.e., internships, collaborative projects, and mentoring) as part of a management education curriculum may be what is desired” for success post college (p. 1). The activities in the community are very good for involvement in multiple developmental interactions.
We have also worked with two community organizations that help out kids that are more or less on the edge of society. They have problems at home and problems in school. Two of the committee members organized a team of university students to visit the organizations once a month. That has been a very successful project. The main goal of the visits is to teach the kids a particular sport: the rules, playing techniques and teamwork. Then another goal was added because the kids wanted to go to the games when their college mentors were playing. So the project grew into a way for kids to come to our games. It works out really well for the kids and for the athletes, too. It’s great to have them in the crowd because they are good cheerleaders and don’t cause any trouble.
Analysis of Communication and Leadership Group Dynamics
Shankman and Allen (2010) have suggestions that describe the different elements and the interactions that are going on in a group. They call paying attention and learning about a group gaining “group savvy” (p. 21). They also describe what to notice such as the different roles people play, the group rituals, the symbols and the space, both physically and in relation to the Athletic Department. (pp. 20-1) I would say that one of our group symbols is using the language of sports. We use some athletic slang that people in other departments like math or physics wouldn’t understand. The rest of the information I have included throughout the paper.
The student leader and faculty leader of the group help set the agenda and keep discussions focused. The leadership style of the student leader is to encourage communication by being a good listener but because of the dynamics in the group sometimes he loses patience. The leader doesn’t blow up or anything, he sort of throws up his hands and gives himself a break from talking. He seems to be frustrated because he wants to keep to the meeting agenda and has run out of strategies for dealing with people in the group that pull the meeting off track from the established agenda. Maybe he is putting too much pressure on himself.
At this point the faculty leader steps in to get different opinions on the discussion and invites more comment from all the group members. The faculty leader generally stays out of the discussion unless she has an important point to make. The group has healthy and energetic discussions for the most part. Although some group members are more quiet than others everyone makes at least two or three comments at each meeting. Discussions are informative. Decisions are made by consensus. Once decisions are made the group members are satisfied that they have had their fair share of time to air their opinion even if they did not agree with the final decision during the discussion.
Unfortunately there are a couple of obstacles that slow the progress of the positive aspects of the group which I just outlined. One of the female members of the group has a tendency to interrupt others who are speaking. Maybe she is just excited about the projects; she has a lot of good energy. But when she needs clarification for each item (whether it is part of the meeting’s agenda or not) the meeting get bogged down.
A male member of the group does not read about the rule changes on his own so he wants details explained to him as to how and why the rules are being changed. Usually we don’t go into every detail because we need to talk about how our athletes will be affected by the new rules. Sometimes we suggest why the rules are different in the NCAA than they are in the NAIA. Often he wants to argue about whether changing to the NCAA is really better than staying with the NAIA. We have gone over the pros and cons of the change many times in the past. Now that the decision has been made to join the NCAA there is no point in discussing whether the change is good or bad.
The interaction of the group with these members can give the leader a challenge especially if he is tired from practice or stressed out. Sometimes he does lose patience in a quiet way so at that point the faculty member steps in to help refocus the meeting back to the meeting’s agenda.
The committee leader isn’t a “lone wolf” type of a leader who demands total acceptance of his rule of law. He is willing to work in a cooperative leadership role along with the faculty leader. Both of them have a way of including a group member or two when trying to refocus the group and take the attention away from issues that slow down the meeting. If one of them tried to tell a group member, “We aren’t going to talk about that now” or “Quit interrupting” it would probably only make matters worse by causing tension.
Communication Techniques to Meet Group Goals
I had some discomfort when I first started to observe the group and take notes. I felt that I was spying on them. I read some articles on computer automated video and that made me more comfortable in relaxing and detaching as an artificial intelligence is detached, although I still participated. Cohn & Sayette, (2010) have concluded that “facial image analysis suggests that deployment of automated facial image analysis in behavioral research may be close at hand” (p. 1097). This is an interesting concept which makes me think that understanding a person by paying attention to their facial expressions may be easier than I had assumed.
A technique that the leader of the group should continue to develop is to think of the members of the group as his collaborators. Myers, Smith, Eidsness, Bogdan, Zackery, Thompson, Schoo and Johnson (2009) have concluded that working in “a small group provides students with exposure to real life skills such as conflict management, resource management, and interpersonal skills development” (p. 595). Their research focuses on slackers in a group but generally speaking their point about the real life skills that can be practiced in a small group setting is accurate. We are all in the group together and need to take responsibility for whether or not we reach the goals we set for ourselves.
When a problem in group communication rises the leader can remember he does not have to take the whole responsibility of making the group work. It is not all on his back. Not only the faculty leader but also the group works cooperatively to keep the meetings moving along. Burchard (2008) recommends that group leaders take three steps to form a better relationship with the group as collaborators by getting “to know people individually, forming even smaller groups and checking the goals of the group” against what he learns (p. 85).
Because the interruptions and attention of a couple of group member are slowing the meetings down something needs to be done to help them change their behavior and becoming part of the team. Some of the members get defensive if they feel old decisions are being questioned. In a case like that I suggest that the group leader spend some one-on-one time with each member trying to understand what they like and dislike about the committee. This will give the leader time to listen to their suggestions.
For example the woman who interrupts may be just really excited and not understand that some people’s feelings are hurt when they are interrupted. In a lot of families the group dynamics are such that everybody is always talking at the same time; interrupting each other is the way they communicate. She could be from that type of family. She could be trying to find away to state a goal by using the discussions on the table as a gateway conversation. Maybe she is anxious and nervous about fitting into the group. She is younger than everyone else and that could be what she is feeling. An individual meeting with the leader might be just what she needs to gain confidence and work more as team player within the group.
The man who seems to want to go into the details of the rules change hasn’t indicated why talking about this is so important to him. It would be good for the leader to have a coffee with him to find out the reasons. It could be important, something in the rules change that really affects him as an athlete. Or it could be that the group member is tired and stressed. Or sometimes people have a way of thinking about subjects in detail and it isn’t in their nature to step back and see the big picture. For some people change is hard. A face-to-face talk could solve any problems more easily than at the meetings.
In general I would remind the group that listening and speaking are both important. One is just as important as the other. Quality listening saves a lot of time in small groups who need to come up with activities and make decisions together. Also I would mention that it helps to keep your eye on the goal so that projects keep moving ahead.
Speaking up is important too. There is one member especially that seems to really “power up” when he has something to say. It is nerve-wracking at first to speak up when you are with a group of strangers. One technique is to keep in my mind that some of the people in the group will end up being your friends. This can relieve some of the anxiety of speaking up in the group.
Also the group can remember that the group’s goals can be reached by a lot of different ways. There is no one perfect way. In fact in a group like the SAAC the more ideas that are shared the better. There are a lot of ways that have already been used for athletes to interact with the community, for example. New ideas are great for motivating and getting a group excited about meeting a goal. Sometimes an idea that seems silly to you can spark an idea that the whole group will be able to build upon.
Have a clear, consistent message for each meeting is important. Maybe having an agenda written out as a hand-out would be useful.
Conclusion
The SAAC is a great group and we have accomplished some good things already this semester. I want our other projects to be just as successful, especially Flock Night which is coming up soon. The group is a good group in general. The fact that some are men and some are women isn’t important to anyone. We are able to communicate as athletes with each other.
The only problem I see is that the meetings get slowed down with some tensions which can make meeting time-goals difficult. The two biggest challenges are to stop interrupting in the meetings and stop getting into discussions about irrelevant details. The main purpose of shifting the group behavior to a bigger emphasis on teamwork is to stay on target for meeting the agenda. Now tightening up the plans for Flock Night is the top goal. An easy way to make the agenda of each meeting clear to all the members is to pass around a handout at the start meeting.
The two members of the group that derail the progress in meetings should have a face-to-face meeting with the leader. He will be able to better understand why they behave in the meetings like they do and maybe nudge them to change a little for the sake of the committee. One person is in the habit of interrupting other people. The other is concentrating on unimportant details that don’t fit in with the agenda of the committee. If they are able to share their thoughts with him on a one-to-one basis that will help them feel respected and give them a chance to talk about whatever they have on their mind. A face-to-face with the leader is better than talking about it in the meetings. If the discussions happened during a meeting the two members might feel ‘picked on’ and would probably feel embarrassed in front of everyone.
I suggest that this is a problem for leadership to deal with in order to get any really solid and positive results. Since the members are already in athletic teams, helping them to shift the same ideas of teamwork to the committee should be easy.
Ciporen (2010) has concluded that Permanent Transformative Leadership “involves cognition (becoming more discriminating and reflective), affect (increased emotional capacity for change and openness), and values (being more inclusive and appreciative of the value of difference)” (p. 189). So I really challenged myself with the thesis I first proposed in this paper.
My thesis that the leadership style of the student leader was passive turned out to be false. I observed that the leader used skills that are simple and quiet. These work well in a small group setting. The student leader is great with people who are polite, smart and energized.
There is the problem that we all have heavy practice schedules and homework. So even though we may be great when we are at our best, sometimes we are just plain tired out. That is when teamwork within the committee can really boost the output and help meet the goals we have set.
I’d like to conclude with the most important quote I read during my research. This thought helped me understand the importance of this assignment. It’s a quote from Gregory Hale (2009) one of the editors of InTech. “Don't think for a moment leadership only resides in the corner office. Leadership ability doesn't always lie with the boss. Leadership responsibility often falls to everyone” (p. 1).
References
Beebe, S. A. & Masterson, J. T. (2011). Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices. 10th Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Burchard, B. (2008). The Student Leadership Guide 4th Ed. Garden City, NY: Morgan James Publishing.
Ciporen, Rachel. (2010). The role of personally transformative learning in leadership development: a case study. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies. 17 (2) 177-191. doi: 10.1177/154805181036854
Cohn, J. F. and Sayette, M. A. (2010). Spontaneous Facial Expression in a Small Group Can Be Automatically Measured: an Initial Demonstration. Behavior Research Methods. 42: 4, 1079. Retrieved from http://ebscohost.com.
D'Abate, Caroline. (2010). Developmental interactions for business students: do they make a difference? Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies. Retrieved December 13, 2011 from HighBeam Research.
Faes, W., Swinnen, G. and Snellinx, R. (2010). Gender influences on purchasing negotiation objectives, outcomes, communication patterns. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. 16: 88-98 Retrieved from
Hale, Gregory. (2007). Strive for leadership. InTech. Instrument Society Of America NC. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
Myers, S. A., Smith, N. A. Eidsness, M. A., Bogdan, L. M ., Zackery, B. A., Thompson, M. R., Schoo, M. E. and Johnson, A. N. (2009). Dealing with Slackers in College Classroom Work Groups. College Student Journal. 43(2) p. 592+. Retrieved from
Shankman, M. L. and Allen, S. J. (2010). Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for Students: Development Guide. San Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass.
Field Notes
We’re in a classroom near the equipment room in the athletics department. No drinks or food is served during the meeting but people have brought stuff to drink. People keep jumping and down to go to the vending machines. Ed and Dion are wolfing down sandwiches like they are starving.
There is a lot of junk stored in there along the front of the room where there is a small blackboard. A desk is at the front of the room centered like in other classrooms. Heather just sat down there. She takes notes at the meeting.
There are a couple of tables that are about the size of the teacher’s desk but easy to move so those are arranged in front of the desk. Rick, the leader sits behind one of the tables. But he didn’t stay there long. Now he is in front of the table kind of sitting on it. He has papers in his hands so seems to be ready to start. He’s closer to the group members when he is front of the table and he has really long legs that reach into the room
The rest of us are in three rows more or less in a semi circle around him. We’re sitting in student desks close to each other. Desks not in a straight line kind of turned to make it easier to see people when they are talking.
Erin the faculty leader sat near Rick but a little behind to the side at the other table. She smiles and chats with everyone. She sets a friendly tone for the start of the meeting. She has something to say to everyone. Very inclusive person.
People quiet down without the leader say anything, just looking over his papers. The rest of us are sitting close together except for the guys that are eating like wolves.
The leader is casual, not pushy. Flock night
Jesse, Teresa and Trent giving up-date. Jesse has info from student activities office. Teresa grew up here talking about off campus students, get them message
Dan wants to change the subject to talk about a rule he heard a rumor about Rick says, “I hear what you are saying Dan but now we need to deal with Flock Night. . .” Dan sort of slumps back into his seat. Flock night isn’t a project he is involved with until somebody tells him what to do. He ‘s the type of volunteer that at an event he’ll do whatever he is asked to do.
The woman that interrupts just interrupted Teresa. Teresa is very sensitive about that. More than other people. Her eyes get big and she squishes up her mouth, but the person that interrupted isn’t paying attention.
The leaders says, Yeah, we should talk about that but we need to hear the rest of what Teresa has to say” Teresa just perked up and everything fine. Like nothing happened
Weird the woman just interrupted Teresa again Different people start talking about ideas. Teresa is disappointed. Her face looks like she wonders if she did something wrong
Some of ideas talked about are good ones. Heather scribbling away. Leader is smiling Glad all going well Ideas are always good
Problem though that the meeting only lasts for ten more minutes.
The leader has tried to get people’s attention to finish up on some stuff. He must be tired today, he just tries quietly but doesn’t get the job done.
The faculty leader walks up to lean on the table next to the leader. She says, Rick what’s next on the agenda? The leader gets us on to talking about the rules for men’s and women’s BB. Some stuff has come up about that. That people need to know. Dan is all ears now
The talk about rules that are changing is over now. Rick tells everybody a short list of what was talked about today. Just the highlights. He makes sure the Flock night planning is under control Then says we better have one extra meeting One week before flock night. Committee will gives each of us some duty or activity to do for Flock Night at that meeting. Meeting adjourned
Analytic Memo
I looked over my notes from the observations at the meeting. I realize that Rick has leadership qualities I had not appreciated before. Even though he is a quiet type of guy he isn’t passive, he is just really patient.
This is a really good group. The great thing about hanging out at the meetings is that everybody is super into sports. They like sports and most of them like other people. Nobody seems really to be shy. Some people are quiet but don’t think they are shy. When Rick asks for ideas or volunteers over the semester all the committee members are there for him to do what needs to be done.
Erin is a great faculty leader. She isn’t bossy, doesn’t set rules and she makes everybody feel that they are a welcome part of the group.
Rick needs some advice on one to one with a couple of the members Before the meeting where I took notes I thought about the dynamics of the past meetings. I think what I wrote is pretty accurate.
I have thought of some suggestions on leadership that I’ll make to Rick in the memo. My main conclusion for the reflection part is that Rick is a good person, people like to follow him and he has a clear vision to stay on the goals. I don’t think he has thought about using one to one meetings with group members to help boost up teamwork in the committee meetings. I’m going to suggest that to him.
Analytic Memo
Date: November 21, 2011
Subject: SAAC meeting Cooperation in meetings
To: Student Leader of SAAC
From: Me
Introduction
The SAAC is a great group and we have accomplished some good things already this semester. I want our other projects to be just as successful, especially Flock Night which is coming up soon. The only problem I see is it difficult to stay on agenda because a couple of the members aren’t seeing the big picture. Once plans are tightened up for Flock Night and that comes off successfully other people’s interests will be met. I hope you will be open to some pointers in dealing with a couple of members who have a tendency to draw the group off the agenda.
Key Points
You are a good leader and I’m amazed at how much we accomplish in the group. You are treating everyone in the same way and always allow time for everyone to enter into discussions. One of the members (K) has a tendency to interrupt rather than wait to be recognized when she wants to talk. Another member (D) has a tendency to get the committee bogged down in talking about details that aren’t part of the committee’s agenda. Sometimes people could use some one to one face time with the leader. Their feelings can be aired out. It also gives the leader a chance to nudge people one at a time back into a teamwork mode when at the committee meetings.
When you have time to take each of these members out for a coffee, separately, I bet you will find that after having a face to face conversation with them about the meetings things will go really well in the committee meetings. They should be able to talk to you about their behavior without any pushiness on your part. If you understand them better that will help meetings stay on task.
Details
I observed the meeting yesterday and took notes of how the dynamics of the group were demonstrated in terms of leadership and cooperation of the members. You have a good leadership style that helps us accomplish good projects. I noticed that K and D had a tendency to slowdown the meetings when given a chance. They don’t realize what they are doing I don’t think. Some people have a tendency to think globally or focus on details. When K interrupts often it is to try to pinpoint clarification on some detail of what the speaker was saying. D is very interested in the details of new rules.
Have you ever considered taking each of them out for a chat over coffee? Sometimes when a leader of a group has 30 minutes to an hour one-to-one time with a group member that can sort out problems at meetings before they get too big,
This would be a technique that would allow you to talk to about getting into more of a teamwork state of mind during the meetings. There doesn’t need to be any blame or labeling. K might not understand that she is interrupting. Or she may not think that there is anything wrong with interrupting. She seems to be energetic and excited about being in the group. If people interrupted her she probably wouldn’t care but some people like T are very sensitive about that kind of thing. D is a very detail oriented person. He may not even have considered that reaching the goals of the committee can be looked at from a global point of view.
Maybe I missed something in my observations that I didn’t note. If you feel that is the case let me know and we can get together to talk about this more. If you feel than the above suggestions aren’t actions you want to take I will be happy to get with you to brainstorm other ideas.
