Small Group Meeting
Group Name : St. Joseph Marello Catholic Church Youth Group
Meeting Date : 1/3/2014
Meeting Time : 10:00a.m
Location : St. Joseph Marello Catholic Church Hall
I arrived one hour before the meeting’s commencement and I had a few words with the group chairperson to introduce myself, ask permission to attend their meeting and explain the purpose of attending the meeting, which was to observe and build on my leadership and communication skills. The chairperson of the group accepted my request.
I was interested in this group since I attend church there and I like the way they usually organize their functions and presentations, which always end in success. I am not a regular participant, but this was my first time to be present at their meeting. The group officials are made up of five individuals. The Chairman who is a gentleman aged twenty-two is a bank manager at California Bank & Trust. The treasurer and the secretary are ladies and they are students of Sierra College aged twenty and nineteen respectively. The other two are a lady and a gentleman and they are official members. They run different businesses within California. The group cultural composition is governed by rules that have been set down collectively by all the group members. This includes the way they express their views and attendance time consciousness.
Questions to Be Addressed
1. What is the group’s purpose of this meeting?
The group’s meeting sought to plan and make arrangements for a trip to Laguna Beach that the church youths wanted to take for team building purpose.
2. Observe the leader or leaders and comment on their leadership style.
The Chairperson of the group who is in charge of controlling the meeting uses knowledge of group processes to plan and deliver the right structure required for the meeting to be effective. He really helped to plan the agenda that I find to be a key task for this role. He assisted the group with ideas, but the other group members decided and made the final decisions.
3. Was there an agenda? Was the agenda available to the group? Was the meeting formal or informal?
It is clear that there was an agenda that was prepared by the secretary before the meeting and was issued to all participants of the group before the meeting began. Since the meeting was pre-planned, then it is in order to state that this meeting was a formal meeting.
4. Did all of the members participate? If not, what were they doing?
Yes, all the members took part by contributing towards the agenda.
5. Was the group homogeneous in its membership or diverse?
The group membership was diverse since it had a gender balance, different occupations and skills. This gave the group a diverse way of tackling the issues as well.
6. What was the group’s task for this meeting? Was it accomplished?
The group’s task was to make arrangements and plan for a trip to Laguna Beach that they were to attend as the entire church youth group, which consisted of thirty individuals. They were to camp for three days and the group meeting was to tackle every point. At the end, they accomplished this task as they came up with a defined plan and a detailed budget.
7. What was effective about this meeting?
What I found most effective about this meeting was the timing and the durations for every process stipulated in the agenda. Also, the planned start and end time was also effective and the meeting ended as pre-planned.
8. Did the physical layout of the room affect the quality of communication?
The physical layout of the room did effect communication as the members of the group had assembled in one corner and the quality of communication was clear and superb. Six seats were set around two tables and the participants could converse easily with one another. Otherwise, if they were scattered, the quality would have been poor due to echoes, as the hall they were using was big.
9. What would you like to ask this group if given the opportunity?
I would ask them if they might consider using icebreakers during their meeting to help the participants to bond quickly and to comfortably work towards one common goal. As Moreover, I would ask them if they may consider using these icebreakers when discussing topics that are unfamiliar or new to the participants engaged.
10. What feedback would you give this group if you were hired as a communications consultant?
I would advise them that it is good to set realistic expectations of what they intend to achieve as part of meeting facilitation and planning. If their agenda becomes over ambitious, some of the participants might feel let down if they fail to achieve all of the objectives. Articulating participants’ roles and expectations might have been vital both during and before the meeting.