Discussion 02: Building a Group
Please note: In order to successfully complete the program, you must respond to this post. Your comment/response should answer the questions/show that you completed the given activity (if any). Read the post carefully and implement the learning in the chat rooms. If you didn't participate in Discussion 01: Introduction to Group Support, then check here!
Welcome back, crew! In this discussion, we will learn about building a group.
As you have observed and noticed, some chat rooms are the busiest space while some are pretty quiet or slow. That means many factors contribute to a group building. It could be the topic, time of the day, members already there, social anxiety, facilitator, and so on. Each one of them has a critical role to keep the room active and supportive.
The first thing to acknowledge: 7Cups is a global platform. We are available to 189 countries and we have users who speak more than 140+ languages. That is, we have a large group of diversified members and have demographic and cultural differences. But, the challenge is how to connect them?
So, to do that, we structured and created certain rules and policies in order to facilitate group interaction. One of them is to use English as a common language to communicate. As per the research, 20% of the Earth's population speaks English, that is, the highest percentage for a language used for communication followed by the Mandarin language.
Then, we placed the chatroom rules regarding what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior in the chatroom so we are able to ensure the room is well moderated, safe, healthy, and compassionate space to connect and interact to get and provide support to each other.
That means in order to build a group, you need to identify the common grounds, and based on that you can structure a group for group support. Anxiety Support Room, for example, serves the purpose to support the members struggling with anxiety or to share the progress they make and what is working for them. Sharing Circle Room, another example, serves the purpose of the most structured and uninterrupted space to share and vent.
So, how as a group specialist/ facilitator, leader, one sets up the group is crucially important for its success. One needs to have an eye for details, structural features of a group to ensure a good environment for participation. It is important to reduce the unproductive anxiety, foster compassionate interaction among the members, increase the likelihood of good attendance and active participation, therapeutic processes, and discourage any unhealthy cliques to build a healthy group.
Discussion: Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms? What did you learn?
Activity: Respond to at least two of your fellow trainees' comments with thoughts on their share.
After fulfilling the requirements of this post, please check out the next discussion here! Ensure to implement the learning from these discussions in the chat rooms to build and support the group. You must take part in the brainstorming/activities given in all of these discussions to successfully complete the program.
@ASilentObserver
I have experienced that its easy for the trolls to derail the whole process in the beginning. Also people are hesitant to be the first to share their thoughts sometimes.
@@ASilentObserver
It usually takes a minute for a new group to make progress and to get a few people to share or participate. Groups can start off very rowdy but after a few minutes usually calms down and everyone gets on track. Groups can cause a lot of anxiety and excitement
@Endure777
I agree with you it usually takes a few times to figure out how to run a group chat but also try to make it yours if that makes sense.
@Endure777 Those unfortunate times can be stressful to deal with for sure, even if the mod isn't present when a troll incident takes place.
I also agree that that there are users who can be hesitant at first especially if they are new comers. I think it's good for the host to also answer their own questions depending on the topic so that it'll help give an idea for other participants of how they can formulate their own responses during a discussion.
Discussion: Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms. What did you learn? A challenge I have is when I am in a group and hosting or just in the group texting some of them are very fast pace for me especially when I have a learning disability and fast pace is hard for me to keep up. Something I do is if I am hosting I tell them to hold on and can people please stop typing for a minute while I organize the group and 99 percent of the time it works and then the chat starts. If I am just texting I usually will look at the previous chats to see what we are on and make my responses short but also complete so that others can understand me.
@blissfulTouch29 I definitely agree with you, some conversations with a lot of users can be hard to keep up if they are multiple messages being sent at the same time. I can understand that it affects a lot of other people who don't type as fast or have disabilities.
@OakSerenity
thank you
@blissfulTouch29 I understand, it is very difficult to keep up with an excited group chat that is well engaged in the chat.
I love how you are aware of your challenge and how you work with it.
By focusing on the solution instead of what the problem is,
you just took your challenge and made it into a positive thing.
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@blissfulTouch29 Sometimes rooms can definitely be too fast which can be quite overwhelming, especially when hosting a session. I hope you take care of yourself after any tiring session. (:
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms? What did you learn?
Well, I've mostly had my hosting experiences done in the Sharing Circle as an on-spot host prior to coming to this program. I like that it is more structured compared to other support chatrooms, but it can still be quite challenging to manage and keep the session going smoothly. One of those challenges would be facilitating an uninterrupted share. This can difficult when there are new comers or other users hopping in and out, and not know entirely what's happening at the moment when they decide to fully join in. I've already prepared my own texts to copy and paste there stating briefly that this particular user requests to have their share uninterrupted. But not all members tend to follow through that as some can be trolls or not simply following the guidelines. Another challenge is having members know when to start queueing up to share for the session. I've witnessed this many times that some members just hop in to SC and immediately place their message for queueing when the queue isn't even opened yet. Situations like this often create distraction from running the session smoothly and can prevent other members from participating.
Besides SC, I've recently hosted a pop up discussion for the first time this week. I'd say my challenge that I've found from there was making sure that each member's response was accounted for amidst the active running conversation between multiple members in the chatroom. I often had to scroll just to be sure I didn't miss out any responses shared by each participant since the discussion was very active. The session went great overall for my first time hosting a new type of discussion with enough users engaging.
I learned that hosting group discussions in general definitely requires your full attention and time to look after users that are participating and making sure they understood what the topic is about and how they can participate without feeling left out or confused. It can definitely feel rewarding when one would help host a group session and make other participants feel like they have a place to belong.
@OakSerenity thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic, I like your plan for the share circle!
@OakSerenity Your insights about the need for full attention and clear communication in hosting group discussions resonate with the importance of fostering an inclusive and supportive environment. Your commitment to making participants feel valued and included contributes significantly to the success of these sessions. Keep up the great work! 💜
@OakSerenity
SC definitely does provide a more structure feel to sessions compared to some of the other types. I personally also started off in SC before going into pop-ups and other sub-coms. In fast paced sessions we do often need to use the scroll feature, or more generic responses like "great responses everyone!" rather than focusing on one person at a time.
Discussion: Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms? What did you learn?
One challenge I have seen is that, when there are some more outgoing personalities, other members seem to stop engaging as well or even become upset. To tackle this I had to consistently invite people to join the conversation and after a while they did.
As someone whom is part of a subcommunity, The dilemma at hand is the team leader disappears alot so it creates a lot of havoc, because it feels like the members are running it being the group leaders instead of the team leader themselves. Which can be challenging but I always understand that some people need a moment to decompress
Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms?
What did you learn?
To get new members to engage in the group chat and feel as a part of the group.
They often aren't sure of what to do or say, afraid of saying something wrong or anything like that.
What I always do is to focus on remaining welcoming to all those who enter,
I ask those who enter how they are doing as well, so they don't have to "break the ice".
And then focus on include them in the chat when they show interest,
sometimes people want to lurk to get an idea of how everything works.
And that's okay, but when they show that they want to actively chat and be a part of it,
then I feel that it's important to help them achieve that.
What I learned:
We can all be a part of a solution, by having the mindset of being welcoming and accepting.
If everyone stays open to welcome those who enter, show them more attention than just a greeting,
there are greater odds that positive bonds will be made amongst everyone in the chat and
those who enter the chat as well.
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@AnnaSilverberg
Always impressed with how all the posts you write are so well formatted and colorful!! 😄 But yeah, people tend to have far better experiences in chatrooms when we take initiative to invite them into the conversation, more than a simple greeting. This is especially true for those who are new to chatrooms and not familiar with how things work.
@ASilentObserver One challenge I faced while building a group in the chatrooms was balancing participation levels among members. It's natural for some individuals to be more vocal while others prefer observing or listening. Striking the right balance to ensure everyone feels included and encouraged to share was a delicate task. I learned the importance of creating a welcoming atmosphere that values both active contributors and those who prefer a more passive role. Introducing structured activities or prompts helped stimulate engagement, allowing members to participate in a way that felt comfortable for them.
@ChillingRain
I very much agree, that providing a welcoming environment is important, especially for those who may be less motivated to talk or share. Finding balance of participation is a challenge, indeed. Sometimes, I will go through the participants list & ask how they are doing, if I haven't seen much chat from them.
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms? What did you learn?
CHALLENGE: Recently, had a challenge in Positivity Room, where there was a bit of chat going on more focused on problem support (ie chat support), as opposed to focusing on positive vibes. I replied with empathy & support, with hope the member would feel better & more positive being in the room. I then proceeded to ask room questions based on 7 Cups Positivity Plaza questions, as well as pasting the room description. This helped to get the room a bit more focused on the room's purpose, as well as having a fellow listener helping to support these efforts.
WHAT DID I LEARN?: I learned it is important to understand the room's purpose, while also being positive, empathetic & supportive of anything that comes up. I appreciate other Listeners, Mods, Community Leaders, helping out & supporting. :)
@ASilentObserver
A challenge I faced is lack of participation even when the room shows that users are joining. Sometimes users watch instead of actively participate during free flow open floor typed sessions.
Something I learned is that asking ice breakers to those joining can help invite them to join in when the room is slow.
@Takitoteka
I had a similar experience as you with adults in the group chat joining but not participating. The ice breakers were a great idea. Was it an open chat or did you have a topic you were exploring in the group chat? I'm curious because I usually do topic chats and I'm wondering how that would work with a topic driven chat and if you had a topic or not.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
@KristenHR
I host open chats far more often than topic chats, hence a little more freedom to go with the flow rather than sticking to certain topics.
@Takitoteka
I don't know about anyone else but i am not incentivized by ice breakers. Most i can't even relate to.
@Gettingbettertoday
Everyone is different, feedback is always welcome and I try to change things up based on what I see to work for sessions I host.
@Takitoteka @ASilentObserver
i too have experienced this and have utilized and had success with icebreakers to help promote participation.
@ASilentObserver
Share a challenge experienced while building a group in the chatrooms? What did you learn?
1) A challenge I experienced was in Depression Chatroom with a member, that,even with empathetic, supportive chat, the member was "stuck", causing more distress for others.Even with supportive words & resource referral, sought support from LSR & a Mod to intervene.
2) What I learned from the experience is that, as much as we try to help in chatrooms, sometimes one needs additional support to help.
@CaringSub
That would be a very challenging chat to be in. It's good that LSR is there to seek support from on how to possibly make a positive directional change. It sounds like you learned a lot from that experience. I know that it's a little rattling to have a situation like that, but it also builds confidence as that happens during training because you have help. Here we are never alone - there is always someone in LSR - at least every time I've gone in there.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's a good learning for all of us.
@CaringSub
i support the depression chatroom too and it can be a difficult one for sure. It can be a slippery slope when dealing with conflict in that room. I find it important to let the main person get their words out as long as they are not harmful or triggering
