comm_and_you

Clarity of Goals

Page 204

Think of the worst group meeting you’ve ever attended. How would you describe that meeting? Was the conversation disorganized? Unproductive? Confusing? Did you leave the meeting with a bad feeling about working with the group again in the future? Often these reactions to a group’s communication are caused by the lack of a clear goal. To communicate productively in any group, members need goal clarity; that is, they must understand what the group’s purpose is, what goals will help the group achieve its purpose, how close the group is to achieving its goals, and whether the activities members are engaging in are helping the group move toward its goals.

Goals vary considerably from one group to another. For example, a team in one of your classes may have the simple goal of completing a fifteen-minute in-class exercise and reporting the results to the rest of the class. An urban beautification fund-raising committee may have the goal of collecting $4,000 for new landscaping at a neighborhood park.

The best way to make sure your group has clear goals is by encouraging the members to define them as a group. When members take part in establishing goals, they feel more committed to and excited about achieving those objectives. Research shows that a group is more likely to reach its goals when those goals are communicated in terms that are specific (“Raise $4,000 by the end of March”), inspiring (“Imagine our neighborhood becoming a community of choice for young families”), and prioritized (“We’ll need to focus on this goal first and then this other one next”) (O’Hair, Friedrich, & Dixon, 2002).

Once your group begins working toward its goals, encourage members to talk regularly about decisions being made and actions being taken to ensure that these support progress toward the goals.

Culture and You

Have you ever misunderstood another member of a group you were involved in because of cultural differences? If so, how did you and the other person deal with the misunderstanding?

Groups are also more likely to reach their goals if members have some autonomy in deciding how to achieve them. For example, everyone on the urban beautification committee has agreed that the group wants to raise $4,000 by the end of March. But the committee chair decides not to dictate how the group should approach this task. Instead, he invites members to brainstorm ideas for reaching the goal. By encouraging people to come up with ways to achieve the goal, a group leader ensures that members produce a wide range of ideas. And the more ideas the group explores, the more likely its members will ultimately make an informed choice about how to move forward.

Here are some additional communication strategies for effectively setting group goals (O’Hair, Friedrich, & Dixon, 2002):

Define goals in terms of problems to be solved (for example, “Our goal is to raise $4,000 to beautify Dixon Park”), not values to be embodied (“Our goal is to be good citizens of this community”). Value-based goals are vague, so it’s difficult to know if and when you’ve achieved them.
Establish clear performance standards. How will your group know when it has succeeded in reaching its goal? For example, “We will have $4,000 in our checking account by the last day of March.”
Identify the resources your group will need to accomplish its goals. Include such things as members’ time, office space, funds, and equipment. By anticipating resources, you avoid getting into a situation where your worthy goal shrivels and dies because it never received sufficient funding or attention.
Recognize contingencies that may arise. For instance, “Our goal is to have $4,000 in our account by the end of March, on the assumption that we have good weather for the fund-raising campaign we’re planning to hold on the town common.”
Determine how you will monitor and report progress toward your group’s goals. Will the group hold a weekly status meeting? Will members circulate daily e-mails to update one another?