Discussion 05: Ethical, Cultural, and Group Management Issues
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 04: Group Leadership
, then check here!
This discussion highlighted some of the major points related to ethical, cultural, and group management
The competent group leaders act ethically in leading the groups. And, achieving this type of competence requires more than good intentions. Many well-intended group leaders have engaged in an activity while lacking solid ethical principles. It could probably be because of unawareness of the code of conduct and guidelines. So, a high level of familiarity with the guidelines is important so they act as professionals and leaders while leading any group.
A few points to remember:
Privacy and Confidentiality. It could be possible a group leader may also be a long term listener for a member. Members might have shared their situation in detail with them in a 1:1 setup. But, when you are a group leader, you need to ensure you are not bringing up the matter discussed in 1:1 with members unless the members themselves bring up the topic and discuss it with the rest of the group as well.
Follow Community Guidelines. Preach what you can follow. As a group leader, you would need to intervene from time to time to ensure the group is running effectively. Reminding users that they follow community and chatroom guidelines while participating. But, at the same time, remember to be the first to follow the guidelines too. So, you are able to model the role behavior in the groups.
Make unbiased decisions. In a group, everyone is equal to you as a leader. Even if you communicate with some of them more frequently than others. If anything goes wrong or you find anyone being unsupportive or unacceptable behavior, take the decisions without any bias. So, the group could trust you and know that you are impartial and there for everyone and against wrong behaviors. For more, here are the community guidelines.
Members in the group come from different backgrounds, demographics, and cultural differences. So, as a leader, it is significant to respect and acknowledge the cultural differences and highlight the common grounds to connect all members of the group. Such behavior allows members to feel inclusive and comfortable in the groups to share.
And the group management issues include conflict management. You may observe that sometimes misunderstanding or disagreement causes conflict between two or more people leading to an unsupportive and unhealthy environment in the room. So as a leader, it is your time to take action and settle down the conflict to ensure room and group stay supportive and comfortable around each other. Spontaneity is the key to restrict such events from happening.
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
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.
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it? I think one ethical issue that I recognize in a room is that if someone asks a question or others wont read prior messages or the members or listeners dont feel heard. Something I do is I repeat the question or ask the person to repeat it and I also mention to hold typing for a couple minutes and that usually works.
@blissfulTouch29 yes this happens a lot since many users are accessing group chats from different platforms, so the way they can see earlier messages can vary. Which is why it's good to repeat sending the questions or topics so that everyone can catch up with the discussion, even though it can be quite tedious depending how crowded the group is :)
@OakSerenity
Yeah
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
I recall a group management issue I had when I was volunteered as an on-spot host in a chatroom for the new hour. For some reason, this caused a few members to be unhappy when I proceeded to start a new session. They assumed I was ignoring the queue (which I already took note of) of one member that has yet to share. This was already a new hour, so I chose to follow the script as usual knowing that it's a new session with a new host (me). It lasted several minutes of arguing between members and listeners before the moderators were able to sort it out.
If it were to happen again, I have to make sure to share and explain how the chatroom works as there are support rooms that more structured than others, this way the group members will know and understand what to do in this particular chatroom. This is mostly found in the script anyway, so it's good practice whenever I always start a new session. And if one were to ask questions during the beginning of a new session, I'll happily answer so that they'll be able to understand. Then usually half of the hour during the session I have to post the rules again for those who joined late, which also works out.
@OakSerenity great idea of repeating the rules halfway through, I will have to use this!
One cultural obstacle I have encountered came in the form of geographical differences. Be this language barriers, abbreviations being confused, variations in terms such as "high school" or not being able to engage in a conversation because it does not relate to your area. This have been difficult to navigate as you don't want to interrupt someone or seem as though you are scolding them but you also want to create an open space for everyone <3
Abbreviations are absolutely horrible in my opinion.
And it can be so challenging to feel included when you don't have a clue of what is
being talked about in the room. I don't like them to be used at all, especially when it
comes to New Listeners who have no idea of their meaning at all.
Thank you for an amazing answer!
@MaggieListens00
Abbreviations definitely prove to be a challenge for those who are new to rooms and platform. It's why pages like this: https://www.7cups.com/forum/listenerjourney/ListenerResourcesMockChatGuides_2381/TheABCsof7Cups_229878/#2616133 prove to be extremely helpful.
often new people who enter the room are forgotten.
And those pesky abbreviations, they are never helpful for New Listeners,
they don't understand the meaning of them, they barely know what is going on.
So they need guidance and using abbreviations is very confusing.
It doesn't matter that there is one single Forum Post on Abbreviations,
there is no one who wants to bother to post that link 10x during the span of 3 hours.
So skipping the abbreviations and remaining inclusive is important!
And that no one can expect New Listeners to know what they mean, even though someone
linked the Forum post some 30 minutes ago. Not everyone opens the links.
So I always explain what each abbreviation means when I see it, or say what it stands for.
That has helped other listeners understand what is being spoken of and they also feel
more included.
Having New Listeners feeling included increases the chances of them coming to us
when they are in need of support or have any questions.
I also always make sure to welcome each person who enters whatever Chat room I'm in.
Inclusivity is the key to positive communication.
@AnnaSilverberg
Very good point, just cause someone sent the link, those who access the platform from mobile app may not be able to access link right away. With chatrooms designed the way they are, links can get easily lost. A trick I've learned is to ask afterwards at times if they would prefer for me to share the link to their DM so they can always go back and find it again.
@ASilentObserver One ethical challenge that I observed pertained to privacy and confidentiality. As a group leader, it's crucial to navigate the delicate balance between information shared in one-on-one sessions and maintaining group confidentiality. To address this, I would emphasize the importance of respecting members' privacy and refraining from discussing individual details unless explicitly brought up by the members themselves within the group.
@ChillingRain
These are great points! Definitely upholding privacy for everyone is important, as like you mentioned, as some of us are coming from, or still involved in 1:1 chats, and may come across a member whom we may have provided 1 on 1 support.
I also like how you mentioned about cultural differences & a need to find common ground when different cultures come together.
I really like your post!
@ASilentObserver
One group management issue I've noticed is members purposely getting on each other's nerves but not necessarily breaking any rules. I observed this to be a frequent issue when there are no mods active in the room.
I would handle the situation by leading by example. Make it known the kind of behavior that is positive rather than focusing on the negative. Address situation accordingly if things start to spiral. Much has changed since I was doing this program last.
@Takitoteka
You make some great points of leading by example, positive reminders and addressing issues before they spiral out of control (this one is my favorite). It is great to know, that as leaders & supporters, we have others to come help when things go awry in a room, even though we may have done all we could.
Thanks for sharing!
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
One group management issue I recognized was of a member staying stuck in a negative thought loop, although room members & I were trying to be as supportive and providing support resources. The ongoing negative interaction by the member was causing discomfort for the rest of the members. I reached out to a Mod in another room for help. The Mod came to the other room and helped intervene in the situation.
@CaringSub
Well, you were lucky someone intervened! That doesn't always happen! I would say that if someone gets stuck in a negative thought loop, that sometimes we as a group have to recognize that we have done what we can, with encouragement, validation and so on, and that sometimes ending the interaction is really best. There is progress at times even when it is hidden progress. You were "with" the member during their time of need. There is not always discernible progress, yet, by "being there" with the Member, we at least validated their existence and their problem.
@CaringSub
Having a member who is in a "stuck" place and the discussion is unable to be moved forward can be very difficult. It's good you were able to find a mod to help you with this situation.
Being able to move forward in the discussion while still validating the member is a challenge. Great job on knowing when to reach out for help.
@ASilentObserver
The biggest ethical issue I see in the LSR is listeners asking for support on personal issues. A solution that I can think of is a pop up before you enter with a reminder that the LSR is for listener support and to please sign on to your member account if you need support on personal issues.
The biggest ethical issue I see in the member chat rooms is confidentiality. I think about how a member that I’m a listener for would feel if I mentioned listening to them in a main room. It’s kind of like a therapist can not acknowledge you if they see you in public unless you acknowledge them first. This is the same concept.
@Kristynsmama
This is a good point. When we spend most of our time on our listener accounts, we forget that there is a need to change to our member accounts and what the LSR is for.
Also, the communication for those struggling personally vs struggling after a chat can be challenging when sometimes it is confusing with triggers and such. Being in LSR, comes with special challenges and responsibilities, but in general, I've seen listeners to be very receptive of redirection with encouragement.
Great notice on this challenge and notice on potential risk of confidentiality.
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
I've had listeners who are brand new and very experienced. It has been a good experience to be able to help new members to feel part of the discussion and encouraged as they learn about the discussion chats while being with the experienced listeners who already have a lot of experience. I think the biggest challenge has been new listeners questioning if they're responses are good enough, but the best part has been that some of the new listeners have given really great responses and this has not only brought positive feedback from the experienced listeners, but has helped the new listeners to gain some confidence.
While I didn't experience any challenges, I think there could have been challenges with topics that might be seen differently in different counties. Some topics might have a higher stigma and that could impact the discussion between listeners which I would need to remind those in the discussion of all of us being from all over the world and recognizing that we need to respect each other even when we may disagree with each other. Being able to validate individuality while encouraging group discussion and respect is important.
@KristenHR
hmmm….. I hadn’t thought about this. Great insights Kristen!
