Dealing with Problem Situations

There are various problem situations the leader of any discussion group must encounter. The first issue an individual must encounter is dealing with talkative members. A talkative person will try to always give long narrations which might deny other members a chance to talk or divert the group from the main topic. To deal with this problem, a leader should approach the talkative member or seek feedback from the rest of the group about the issue. The second problem a leader has to deal with is the dominator who tries to take every task in a group. To solve this problem, the leader needs to talk to this individual in private and thus preventing further domination. The third character a leader has to encounter is the distractor who is always seeking attention. A distractor brings unnecessary topics or asks unrelated questions to get noticed (Jacobs et al., 2012) . The leader needs to talk to the individual about the issue or ignore the person’s comments during discussions. Other problematic situations include the rescuing, the negative, the resistant, and a member who tries to get the leader. 

I have also encountered problematic situations by working with distractors, chronic talkers, and mutually hostile members. Had I been a leader in those groups, I would encourage everyone to talk, allocate each member a specific time and ignore irrelevant comments or questions. I would also generate feedback from other members in addition to talking with the problematic individuals on how their conduct affects the group negatively. Lastly, dealing with a member who tries to ‘get a leader’ is the hardest situation to handle. This character acts out of hate or the desire to undermine the leader thus lacking sincerity when commenting about an issue or asking certain questions. The person will always try to complicate matters when competing with the leader. 

Reference 

Jacobs, E., Masson, R., Harvill, R., & Schimmel, C. (2012). Group Counseling: Strategies and Skills (7th ed.). Thomson Brooks/Cole.