The most basic principle of group work is simple, easy to remember, and all-important: Communicate, communicate, and communicate! When in doubt, commmunicate. When not in doubt, communicate. A high school education and a few years of college have not taught your fellow group members to read mindsÑand you should not expect them to. If you have an idea, say it. In a good group, your idea will be received with the understanding that it's necessarily preliminary and tentative, and you won't have to worry about being punished for it. In a bad group, you'll quickly realize that your major task is to turn your associates into a good group.

Based upon your own experience (however limited) or even upon your hopes and fears, you know the difference between a bad group and a good group. In a bad group, participants feel little or no commitment to the group's goals. People ignore the rules and get away with it. Members compete with one another. Members are offensive, or defensive, or both. Members don't come to meetings, or they attend but withdraw from discussion and don't do any work. You're stuck with all the work and a bunch of ingrates and freeloaders.

In defense of bad groups, you should note that few groups start out with this awful set of attitudes and behaviors. They evolve into these patterns because they find that the time spent on group activities is not a rewarding and productive experience. You need to make sure that the group is rewarding and productive, both for yourself and for other members.

A good group, on the other hand, is accepting and supportive. Members share an understanding of the goals of the group, and they are committed to them. Members listen actively and carefully to one another. Members assert their own ideas without attacking the ideas of others. Good ideas are rewarded. Members look forward to partiapating because their ideas are respected. Everybody pitches in, and everybody wins.

In order to make your group a good one, you will want to follow these do's and don'ts-and to encourage your fellow group members, both implicitly and explicitly, to do the same:

Do's

1. Be considerate. Stimulate others-by asking questions and making suggestionsÑwithout pressuring them.
2. Support the ideas of other people vocally. Silence may be understood as tacit approvalÑor may be interpreted as apathy or disdain. When you like someone's idea, say so.
3. Be aware of others' feelings. If feelings are getting in the way of the issues, address the feelings first and the issues second.
4. Listen actively. Make sure that you understand the ideas of others. Paraphrase these ideas, as you understand them, in order to make sure you've got the message-and to help spur others on to refinements and new ideas.
5. Invite criticism of your own ideas and work You can help to establish an open and therefore productive atmosphere by making it clear that you know your ideas are tentative and not necessarily pefect. Give permission to others to help you refine your ideas and writing.
6. Accept that others are imperfect too. Particularly, be aware that communication breaks down in the best of groups. If someone misunderstands you, don't get exasperated or angry, and don't try to assign the blame for the breakdown in conununication. Simply restate your idea: "I guess I didn't make myself clear. What I meant to say was . . . ."
7. Feel free to disagree with the ideas of others and to critique the work of othersÑbut lay off the people. Don't identify peoples' names with ideas that you are criticizing.
8. Remember that any non-obvious ideas initially appear strangeÑbut that most of the best ideas are not immediately obvious.

1. Don't continually play the expert. Play a variety of roles.
2. Don't pressure people unnecessarily.
3. Don't punish people for their ideas.
4. Don't continue an argument after it becomes personal-either for you or for your fellow group member.
5. Don't give in too easily when your ideas are criticized. The excellence of the group is a product of constructive conflict. Don't fall prey to "groupthink"Ñ sacrificing high-level thinking for the sake of group cohesiveness.