Always the best part of group work, right?
Back in high school, I used to HATE group work because I would always get stuck in those groups where everyone would look at me and say “Well Julia, what 
do we do?”, or even worse, they would just sit there and wait until someone told them what they were going to be doing. I would always despise this because it turned into a project that I was running that everyone else would get credit for. Since I myself wanted a good mark, I would end up doing most of the work anyway. Don’t say I didn’t try, either. I would always ask the other group members if they had any ideas, input, etc. and I would continue to get blank stares. Then I was right back where I started. Doing the majority of the project solo. Grrrr…….
ANYWAY…throughout the years of strenuous group work, I developed some skills for getting other people to contribute to these group projects. I believe the main ones are taking control, listening, and asking questions.
If no-one stepped up to take control, I fulfilled this role. I find that it’s hard for a group to function without some form of control. If there is no-one starting things off, bringing up discussions, asking questions, etc. then nothing gets done. Due to the fact that I was in crappy groups in high school, I have a lot of experience with this to the point where it almost becomes second nature to me.
Hearing what other people in the group have to say (if they say anything at all) is key because that’s what makes it 
GROUP work, not YOU work. To be clear, I don’t mean just listening to the other people talk, I mean actively listening. This involves hearing what the other person has to contribute, understanding what they mean, and responding. Initially, I had issues with listening because I was in so many unfortunate situations that I started to believe that no-one had anything intelligent to contribute and I was going to be forced to do it all myself anyway. Yes, I recognize that this isn’t exactly a nice way of thinking, but believe me, I was in a LOT of s***ty groups. As my peers grew older and a bit more mature, their ideas began to appear and I discovered that these people actually had really good ideas!
When you ask a question, it opens the floor for the rest of the group to contribute. This is super important, like listening, because it almost forces the other group members to speak. When you ask a question and nobody answers, everyone starts to feel awkward so someone speaks to break the silence. Sometimes you end up in groups where no-one breaks that awkward silence. That’s fun. Most of the time, asking questions is a great facilitator and I’ve learned how to use this tactic for getting other group members to speak. I think it works pretty well.
Signing off in 3…2…1…
*click*
Julia Wice 