Communication - the transmission of information, which may be by verbal (oral or

written) or nonverbal means (see nonverbal communication). Humans communicate

to relate and exchange ideas, knowledge, feelings, and experiences and for many
other interpersonal and social purposes.

Group communication - a dynamic process where a small number of

people engage in a conversation.

Communication processes and interaction - they are the components of

social interactions that influence the behavior and attitudes of group members. As
a process, communication involves the transmission of a message from a sender to
a receiver.

Verbal Communication - a type of communication where we use spoken

and written words to get our message and information across to the other
person.

Nonverbal Communication - silent yet powerful force in team dynamics,

often speaking volumes without a single word. It encompasses all the unspoken
signals that team members use to express ideas, emotions, and intentions.

Building Trust - his means trusting your team, your colleagues, and your
boss. Never forget that your team members are always watching and taking cues
from you – take the opportunity to show them what trust in others really looks
like. Open communication is essential for building trust.

Trust can develop differently across different cultures. Trust is also key to fostering
communication in a team. For team members to trust, they must believe
the team is competent to complete its task (team efficacy) and the
team environment is safe for all members.
Building trust in a team involves two types of behaviors: trusting and trustworthiness
(Johnson & Johnson, 137 1997). Trusting means being willing to be open with
information and sharing with others by providing help and resources. Trustworthiness
means accepting the contributions of other team members, supporting their actions,
and cooperating in assisting them.

The following are some techniques to help (re)build trust:

1. Apologize sincerely for actions that destroyed trust in the team.

2. Act trusting and demonstrate your support for others in the

team.

3. Promote cooperation in the team.

4. Review the team’s goals and gain commitment to common
actions.
5. Establish credibility by making sure that actions match words.

Psychological Safety - is a shared belief held by members of a team that it's OK

to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and
to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.

Emotional Intelligence - the ability to solve emotional problems. IT is

an important aspect of communication in team discussions and is associated
with enhanced levels of team performance and reduced team conflict.

Emotional intelligence is a critical factor in strengthening team dynamics.

As leaders, developing and demonstrating high emotional intelligence has enabled
us to align our team with our vision, communicate effectively, manage
conflicts constructively, and build a culture of trust and respect.
Emotional Intelligence includes the following four components:

1. Self-awareness —the ability to identify, understand, and discuss

one’s emotions

2. Empathy —the ability to perceive, recognize, and experience others’ emotions

3. Emotional regulation —the ability to regulate one’s emotions and control

the expression of emotions

4. Relationship management —the ability to respond to others’ emotions

with respect and concern for the relationship.

Facilitating Team Meetings

meetings are where teams share information, make decisions, solve problems,
and make sense of their purpose. While a well-structured meeting can actually save
time and improve effectiveness of a team, many teams choose not to invest the time
in preparing an effective agenda nor managing the participation of members.

Guidelines for organizing and conducting effective meetings:

1. Only have a meeting when there is no other alternative. Consider the tasks that
need to be accomplished and determine if a meeting is truly necessary. Use
alternatives when appropriate

2. Distribute an agenda several days before the meeting. Meetings function more
effectively when they are planned in advance and meeting participants enjoy
meetings more when they have a clear objective

3. Keep the meeting on time. People often dislike meetings because they go off topic
and run late. Assign a team member to be a timekeeper whose job is to keep the
meeting on schedule and end on time
4. Manage disruptive behaviors. Disruptive team members may dominate
the discussion, be overly talkative, or be rude to other team members. All
 team members share responsibility for handling difficult members; it is not
just the job of the leader to maintain the flow of the meeting.

5. Summarize important discussions and decisions. The leader must keep

team members focused on the agenda topics. To keep the group process
flowing, the leader should stop after discussion of each major agenda item
and summarize the team’s conclusions.

6. Evaluate the group process at the end of each meeting. The team should evaluate
the effectiveness of meetings to identify how the meeting operated, whether there
are areas for improvement, and if the meeting objectives were achieved.

7. Distribute minutes of the meeting. Lack of follow-through on what is discussed is

another predictor of dissatisfaction with team meetings. Indeed, it can be
frustrating when a member assigned with completing a task comes to the meeting
and announces that they forgot they were supposed to do that.

Techniques that can improve a team’s ability to accept feedback about

its performance:

1. Focus on the future. Focusing on the past makes people defensive. Focus
the information on how to improve future performance.

2. Focus on specific behaviors. Providing general information does not help

the team identify the changes needed in its behavior.

3. Focus on learning and problem solving. The information provided

should help the team improve, not just focus on its deficiencies.

4. Manage feelings. When emotions become disruptive to the operation of

the team, they must be managed effectively

5. Stay neutral. People have a right to their feelings. The team

should encourage and acknowledge the expression of feelings.

6. Understand feelings rather than evaluate them. All team members should
be sensitive to verbal and nonverbal messages. When dealing with
 emotional issues, it is best to ask questions and seek information to better
understand the feelings.

7. Process feelings in the group. When the team’s operation is disrupted

by emotions, the team should stop and be silent briefly to cool down. Once
that has happened, the task-related issues should be discussed as a group.

Cooperation - is working with each other towards a particular goal. It is often

described as assistance with someone having the same goal as yours. Cooperation is
crucial for our society to develop and grow.

Competition - a social situation in which individuals believe their goals are negatively
related to others' goals.

Teamwork - the ability of members in a group to work together, anticipate and meet
each other's demands, develop an understanding, have a common goal, communicate
effectively and build confidence. All human beings are highly interdependent on one
another and that is how survival becomes possible.

Why Are People in Teams Competitive?

Culture
Personality
Organizational Rewards

Intergroup Competition - when a group of individuals work together to compete

with other groups

Benefits of Cooperation: Why Getting Along Matters

a) Self-Awareness and Reputation
b) Emotional Intelligence
c) Status
d) Acceptance
 e) Engagement
f) Performance

2 Problems With Cooperation:

1. Conformity
2. Unhealthy Agreement

Symptoms of Unhealthy Agreement:

1. Team members feel angry about the decisions the team is making.
2. Team members agree in private that the team is making bad decisions.
3. The team is breaking up into subgroups that blame others for the team’s
problems.
4. People fail to speak up in meetings or fail to communicate their real opinions.

What do we mean when we say identity? Identity is:

o The distinguishing character or personality of an individual.

o The relation established by psychological identification.
o The condition of being the same with something described or
asserted.
o The sameness of essential or generic character in different instances.

Personal Identity VS. Social Identity?

Our personal identity is how we perceive ourselves, but our social identity is how
others perceive us. People recognize us by our characteristics within our t own,
school, career or another community context. Society will identify each person
from these characteristics, then place the individual in a collective group with
others that share those characteristics. Some social identities might be defined by
our marital, financial, occupational, religious or behavioral status.

Social Identity Map

It is a sum of parts that define who we are based on our affiliation with social
groups that define our identity.
3 Different Levels of Social Identity Map
Core, Chosen, Given

Core: Elemental traits, behaviors and attitudes that make us unique as an

individual e.g. behaviors, values, beliefs etc.

Chosen: Characteristics that we can choose to describe our status, traits and
skills e.g. occupation, political affiliation, hobbies, place of residence etc.

Given: Attributes or conditions that we have no control over e.g. age, gender,
place of birth, physical characteristics etc.

Isolation
The condition of being separated and having time for yourself completely alone

Inclusion
means that the members of an environment feel that they are valued, respected, and
included regardless of their background or identity.

Individualism
a social psychological term that refers to the ways in which people identify themselves
and focus their goals. the idea that a person should act on their own uniqueness and
fulfill their personal desires.

Collectivism
the tendency to view oneself as a member of a larger (family or social) group, rather
than as an isolated, independent being. a social or cultural tradition, ideology, or
personal outlook that emphasizes the unity of the group or community rather than each
person's individuality.
Personal Identity is about how you see yourself as “different” from those around
you. The markers are often the things we choose to define us throughout our lives -
team affiliation, musical tastes, style.

Social identity refers to people's self-categorizations in relation to their group

memberships (the “we”). These categorizations are often assigned to us or something
we are born into. Social identities tell how you are like others—they connote similarity
rather than difference. Some identities carry a different “privilege valance” or
“oppression valance” than others.

Benefits of Isolation
Solitude gets a bad rap because it's often equated with loneliness. But research has
found real benefits to doing things alone.1 It allows you to enjoy activities you love at
your own pace and in your own way, for instance. There are also mental health benefits
of being alone, enabling you to learn more about yourself and reflect on your
experiences.

 Even for a social animal, solitude can have its benefits.

 Solitary does not necessarily mean lonely.
 Having solid social relationships but choosing to be solitary for a time can fend
off loneliness.

1. Improved sleep quality

2. Time to focus on setting goals
3. Increased Productivity
4. Reduced stress
5. More in tune with yourself and others
6. More time to do what makes you happy
7. Have more time to focus on self-discovery

Negative Effects of Isolation

Being alone may leave individuals more vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation,
which can affect their health and well-being. Studies show that loneliness and social
isolation are associated with higher risks for health problems such as heart disease,
depression, and cognitive decline.

Ostracism – being ignored and excluded by individuals or groups – threatens

individuals' psychological and physical well-being (Williams and Nida 2011). Ostracizing
behaviors can be subtle – averted eye gaze, or overt – being completely nonresponsive
to the person's presence

Five (5) characteristic stress responses: FREEZE, FIGHT, FLIGHT, TEND, or BE-
FRIEND.

Fight or Flight Response

- Some become hostile and aggressive when rejected by others
- Others accept their rejection passively and withdraw from the group

Tend and Be-Friend Response

- Characterized by increased nurturing, protective, and supportive behaviors (tending)
and by seeking out behaviors to other people (be-friending)
- Women are more likely than men to respond to exclusion by - tending

Sociometer Theory
proposes that self-esteem is a psychological gauge of the degree to which people
perceive that they are relationally valued and socially accepted by other people.

Group – emphasizes human relation skills

Encounter Group – emphasizes personal growth and development, improvement of

interpersonal communication, and relationship through the experimental process
Task-oriented Group – focuses on the work of the group in its interpersonal process

Organization Group – where the primary objective is growth skills of leaders

Team Building Group – designed to develop more united and effective working
members

Synanon Group of Games – tends to emphasize an almost violent attach on the

defenses of the participants

Satisfaction – reward
Cohesiveness – forces acting on the group member to remain in the group
(commitment)
Compatibility – the ability of people to develop harmonious relationships with one
another
Norms – adherence to uniform patterns of behavior of the group; the set of standard
followed by the group

Social Climate – emotional atmosphere of the group which may be characterized by

warm or cold acceptance, hostilities, being detached or relaxed

Reference group – any group that has a normative effect on behavior or standard of
the group

Factors Affecting Group Acitivity:

1. Size of the group
2. Threat reduction and degree of intimacy
3. Distributive leadership with focus of control on group activity
4. Goal formation
5. Flexibility
6. Consensus and degree of solidarity
7. Process awareness and continue evaluation