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.
@ASilentObserver
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
one issue I have noticed is when people disobey the chatroom guidelines such as bypassing censors, arguing and not being supportive, to handle this I remind them of the guidelines and the rooms purpose - Light-hearted conversations, if the behaviour is repeated I remind them again and if needs be and they are deliberately not complying I shall use the Mod button as needs be. I do this to maintain a positive environment and make it fair for other users in the chatroom as well
All around the chatrooms are an amazing place when rules are followed however, in the event they are not I act accordingly to maintain the positive environment I strive for at 7Cups
I notice people sometimes get frustrated and irritable with the chat rules and I’ve noticed that kindly reminding others of the rules helps a lot. Thanking people for what they did right, asking everyone to remember the rules, thank them again for what they contribute. I notice it diffuses things so much easier that way, and it validates the people for what they are positively contributing.
I agree with your answer and how important the chatroom rules are for the group. It's important to ensure that everyone feel safe and welcome in the groupchat and the chatroom rules exist for that reason. I'm also glad to hear you won't hesitate in enforcing the rules as they are extremely important to maintain positivity in the group chat. Thank you for the wonderful answer.
@KyleBorg it's very important to remind others the purpose of the chatrooms <3 when people bypass censors and don't listen to the guidelines, it can cause so much conflict in the group chats which is what we want to avoid :( everyone should feel safe and comfortable !
@KyleBorg
Kyle, that is great to remind them about guidelines especially in a structured support room. Just saw member came in the middle of a share and asked provocative questions to the sharer, they were not new to the room, they know the guidelines.
Question : What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
Answer :
1 cultural issue I recognize in the chatroom is the tendency for participants to speak in languages other than english. I personally don't encounter this trouble a lot but have seen this happen and cause confusion in the room. What I would do in that situation is to gently remind the participant to use english since not everyone understand that language and it can make other participants in the room feel excluded and divert everyone's attention from the topic.
@BloomingSakura i agree with your point <3 sometimes, other people will be speaking different languages which can confuse 7 cups members and discourage them from talking in the group chat. it is definitely important to remind people to speak english when using the group chats so that everyone will feel involved and included :)
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
Cultural exchange is healthy. But when many people from same culture gather in a group, it can lead to a clique.
To avoid that, we need to ensure that the inside jokes and references are kept to a minimum or avoided.
If there is something funny being said, we need to ask the person to explain so that people from other culture can also understand and relate.
@DonaldDraper
I've heard that same thing about cliques many times, but I haven't run into it yet. I've been lucky, I suppose, and will keep my eye out. I want everyone to feel included.
@DonaldDraper
That is totally understandable and crucial to keep everyone feeling included! Great job <3
@DonaldDraper
Sometimes cliques also not because of the same culture, but because some people have been in the support room as regulars for years that they kind of feel that it is their place and tend to ignore the rules / guidelines in the room.
I've noticed that some members become upset if they can't immediately start sharing in the Sharing Circle chat room. That's especially true if the queue is closed. I try to remind them that the queue will open back up shortly and that a new Sharing Circle starts every hour, so if you can't share this round, just wait until the next. If they can't wait, then I point them to the 1-to-1 listener chats or towards the Support Group 24/7 chat room. Sometimes I encourage them to stick it out and offer support to the person who is sharing right then. Listening and giving encouragement often uplifts me, so I figure it might help them too.
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
An ethical issue I’ve encountered is listeners divulging chat details in the Teen Listener Room. Usually, more than five words about the chat are discouraged. This can be clarified by simply stating the rules to the listener and warning them of repercussions that could occur if they continue with the practice.
@usefulSummer3139
I have seen that happening too Summer, and yes absolutely, a quick reminder can usually help to calm everything down!
@usefulSummer3139
I didn't even think of this 😮 100% yes!
@ASilentObserver
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 that I have recognised would be that when members are not following the rules correctly e.g. by sharing confidential information. I would handle it by calmly educating them on the rules and why following these rules is essential. I recognise that some members might simply forget or not realise their actions are incorrect so its important to calmly respond.
@Reemhelp
That is a really good point, and I like your reaction to it! Keep it up Reem! 💛
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
Experience: I have never had a ethical, cultural or group management issue, which I am really grateful for. I can still imagine many difficulties though. So how would I handle them?
What I would do: I would remind people to please respect our community guidelines, in case that should not work, I would drop them a private message, warning them to please respect the guidelines. In case the member or listener still goes on about the issue, I would call a mod into the room to handle the situation the right way.
Thank you for reading this! 💚
@MelodyoftheOcean It's great to hear that you have encountered no issues in the chat support room. And in this scenario, I agree that doing those steps will help greatly, since most will just listen to your advice and go along accordingly :)
@RandomAravyre
Glad to hear that you agree Ara! ❤️
@ASilentObserver
Discussion: What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
@SpecialSnow9454 is absolutely right"Sometimes a discussion turns more into a 1-1 chat and others feel excluded from the chat."
My suggestion to avoid this is to have a queue and have certain rules like no one can interrupt a discussion. No one - one in the room and make sure that non-verbal queues which show the persons geographical location should be banned like when an indian uses the word "Bro" in all setences and there are a couple of indians who join in leaving the rest of the crowd behind.
I've definitely been in situations where one person accidentally offended a religious group. In this situation, I have gently let them know that what they said was hurtful and given them a chance to apologize and learn from the situation, then try to quickly move on to prevent conflict. However, if anyone from the group is present, education can be a way to diffuse.
@WarmLightXOI think that's the right approach. Indeed education and empathy can really be a good way to resolve conflict. I really love how you try and take control of the discussions and move it away from the conflict as fast as you can :) That's something I need to do more often too!
@WarmLightXO @RandomAravyre
GLDD mentors: Richuyulin, blissfulForest7074 , 29Amy , HealingFox210 , AriadneLove, CaringHeart123
Agreed! There are many ways to resolve a conflict, and empathy and education go hand in hand.
@ASilentObserver
What is one ethical, cultural, or group management issue you recognized in the room? What would you do to handle it?
Ethics:
Most of the times there are members who take their turns to share soemthing in a group. Then someone joins a group and then type a whole paragrah about whats wrong without waiting for their turn while this should be discussed in a 1-1. After politely pointing out the rules, they can keep interrupting, which ruins the experience for the group.
@niens
@Ninziesss
Whenever there is a potential disruption in a structured support room I think we need to try to step up. Just about two days ago, a member tried to pick up a fight/arguments by pointing out something in another member who just came into the room, that they found upsetting. I saw the room is getting disrupted, I just said the queue is open, so that people focus on the purpose of the room, luckily there were members who were not provoked and the situation was de-escalated.
