references include

Angeline Mbida 

Group leadership 

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A group leader is a catalyst  for growth and change in the group. There are are some characteristic qualities that a leader of the group must possess such as genuineness,  courage, goodwill, caring, openness,  non-defensiveness in coping with awareness  to identify  a client’s pain, self-awareness,  commitment  to self-care, sens of humor. A group leader also has to develop foster skills ( Jacobs et al., 2016). The important group leadership skills are several such as active listening,  facilitating,  reflecting, summarizing, interpreting, linking, questioning, supporting, assessing,  modeling, evaluating, initiating and terminating. A competent counselor must have ability to be a good listener. When a counselor uses an active listening, he or she is trying to make the client to feel heard and understood. According to the textbook ” the leader can share responsibility to a very large degree, but he or she can never abdicate his or her responsibility “( Jacobs et al., 2016, p. 23). A leader has multiple functions such as providing emotional  stimulation; the leader can also serve as a model through self-disclosure. For example, in the middle school group, a leader serve as a person with ideas and information on how to make things go easier. A leader can use his or her power to influence and motivate the members of the group. The group leader uses a variety of strategies  such as clarifying, asking the members of the group  to elaborate,  repeating a certain communication  or may suggest that the group members limit their discussion to a certain topic. The group leader also has some responding skills which means that the leader responds to communication that involves contents that are not connected  or benefited to the goals of the group and the leader can exert influence over subsequent  communication patterns. By talking about the leader’s functions, one can define that leadership as the ability to make strategic decisions and use communication to mobilize a group toward achieving a common goal.

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Jacobs. E. E., Schimmel, C. J., Masson, R. L. & Harvill, R. L. (2016).  Group counseling: strategies  & skills (8th ed.) Boston, MA: Cengage. 

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Discussion Forum 3- Leadership Skills

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          In this week’s lectures, we learned different leadership skills that we can incorporate in counseling. I believe that I have tremendous skills that will help me succeed in leading a group. However, the hardest leadership skill that I have is cutting off or letting go (Jacobs, Schimmel, Masson, & Harvill, 2016). When you decide to cut someone, it can benefit the participant, and the other members involved (Jacobs, Schimmel, Masson, & Harvill, 2016). Being in this group can cause a lot of transitions that can cause a non-group member to be confused. Emotions tend to run very high due to indifference about topics, but it is very important that these feelings are discussed as soon as it emerge (Jacobs, Schimmel, Masson, & Harvill, 2016). This is cause the discussion to get back on track, reduce tension in the group, and help the group members to learn how to overcome conflict/ challenges. Therefore, this brings me to my hardest leadership skills cutting off. Cutting off someone is a hard thing to do because you do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. It can be a hard thing to do especially if you had a spiritual connection with them or invested a lot of time. When an individual is cut off, it can make them feel like their feelings are not valid or that their leaders don’t care about them (Jacobs, Schimmel, Masson, & Harvill, 2016).

        The easiest leadership I have is being able to maintain norms of the group. I am an individual that likes to follow things by the book, while staying engaged, and keeping eye contact (Corey, Corey, & Haynes, 2014). The most important thing about maintaining the norms of the group is maintaining eye contact. Maintaining eye contact is essential because it is a way for group members to build trust, establish confidence, and to show respect. It is an easy thing to do because you are just looking someone in the eyes. Also, setting the tone of group by maintaining the norms and balancing respect is another leadership skill I have. I am an empath so i can feel the energy in the room very quickly, which caused me to experience a wide range of emotions. I am a person that can be encouraging, or outgoing, but then I can be reserved and confident. Setting the tone of the group will help members want to be apart of the group and ease any fears, so that they can benefit from the lessons of the group (Jacobs et al., 2016).

References

Corey, G., Corey, M., & Haynes, R. (2014). Groups in actions: Evolution and challenges (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.

Jacobs, E., Schimmel, C., Masson, R., & Harvill, R. (2016). Group counseling: Strategies and skills (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.

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