Task of a group leader - Essay Example

Effective group leadership requires a constellation of specific personal qualities and professional practices. These personal qualities that are necessary include constancy, active listening, firm identity, confidence, spontaneity, integrity, trust, humour, and empathy. The tasks of managing or leading a group demand the understanding of the behaviour of people in groups such as task groups that are trying to solve a problem or make a decision. The group leader must be an individual with the expertise in group process and must be able to assist the group in accomplishing its objectives by correctly diagnosing how well the group is functioning as a problem solving or decision making entity and to as well intervening to alter the groups’ operating behaviour.

Ideal leadership implies a forward motion of an organisation in the positive direction.The critical capabilities of an ideal leader include; having a vision, values that constitute his or her philosophy, wisdom and courage that compose the leader’s personal composition and as well should have the trust and voice that enable them to influence others. Some vital leadership conditions that are necessary for the ideal leadership capacities include a place where the leader can hold sway, a period that calls for their leadership, a position that conveys leadership authority and a people who are ready for leadership.

It is important to note that failure in leadership is related to unfavourable conditions or inadequate capital. Ideal leadership implies a forward motion of an organisation in the positive direction.Confrontation in the course of operation is at times necessary and forms an appropriate administrative technique to ensure the safe and efficient operation of any department or group. Administrative confrontation refers to the encounter where the group leader encourages the members to acknowledge something that is painful or objectionable and if and when used appropriately, it is a powerful tool in facilitating the resolution of problematic behaviours.

Confrontation must be mastered over time through careful attention to person-centred techniques and strategies. For example, the need for direct engagement and correction must be balanced with the support and consideration for how it will affect feelings and what it will do to the relationship between the leader and the member. The most effective confrontation strategy is the direct, assertive, angry confrontation where if something gets one angry, they first have to identify the exact cause of the anger, and then identify the behaviour that is upsetting, for example maybe one member of the team acting all knowing.

Then they tell the persons directly how the behaviour makes them feel and then define the corrective action, then finally, they do healthy anger work-outs until they have exhausted the anger over the particular episode and all those involved, which is done in private and with an inanimate object. In conflict resolution, each party states goals that are mutually agreeable and agree that the problem is only solved when a solution is acceptable to both parties. They then define the problem or conflict and focus on the obstacles to the parties reaching their goals and emphasize on defining the problem in terms of mutual needs.

They then develop possible solutions and re-evaluate them and finally reach an agreement or consensus.The leader should avoid the negative effects of transference on relationships by strictly adhering to a policy of never divulging to any personal information or opinions. The main characteristic of transference is the experience of feelings to a person which do not befit that person and which actually apply to another. For an effective leadership, the leader ought to plan for the group activities in such a way that the initial interactions are meant to for introductions, reviews of the groups’ agreements and the establishment of an emotionally safe environment and positive group norms, then focusing the group towards its work.

The members should intermittently interact and rethink their behaviours and move towards productive change, with the final phases of operations involving the concentration to reaching a closure. Group agreements should be formulated to establish the expectations that group members have of each other, their leader and for the group at large. A member’s acceptance of the contract prior to entering a group thus forms an important factor that ultimately contributes to the success and prosperity of the group.

Leading a group comes with a cluster of responsibilities, which can only be managed through the use of appropriate methodologies and healthy group relations.Reference;Corey, Marianne Schneider and Corey, Gerald (2001) ‘Process and Practice’