How Journalism Teams Succeed

Jonathan Rogers 2009

WORKINGWELL

What is required for people to succeed in social systems such as groups: Knowledge Attitude Skills Habits —Paul Nash

How groups (newspapers) succeed

Interpersonal skills and knowledge of one another are the needed keys to working well in group environments.

Most of the following content comes directly from the handout Ideas for Groups by Rob Melton.

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION Learning is an activity that research has shown can be enhanced by students getting to know each other. It has also been well documented that students don’t know other students very well. One-third of students are going to move every four years and there is a tremendous turnover in all students choice of activities. Due to all these factors it is important to spend some time at the beginning to develop a positive learning environment among the group.

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A positive learning environment is one in which students perceive that the teacher thinks they can learn what the teacher wants them to learn.

R e s e a r c h suggests an environment that “Learning is an is positive is one activity that research has in which students shown can be learn the best. In enhanced by students getting terms of teacher behavior, it also to know each other.” suggests teachers should have a high forgiveness quotient, that is, be “enabling” of learning through failure.

For students groups the key, according to Couselor Paul Nash is based on Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills, and Habits (KASH). The m o s t d i f fi c u l t o f t h e s e interpersonal skills according to Nash are attitudes.

THE JAHARI SQUARE One of the most important studies of how groupswork was created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram in 1955. They were attending a meeting in California, and were involved in group work with people they had not met. Each was in several different groups, and they began discussing individuals in those

JONATHANROGERS 2009

Working Well Continued... groups and why some groups were effective and some were not.

What they did was to diagram the way new groups function, which is called the JoHari Square (formed from combining their first names).

The groups which were successful, they discovered, were ones in which individuals knew a great deal about themselves and about the others in their group (Open). They also noted that groups in which individuals either did not know a great deal about themselves and/or others (Blind, Unknown, and Closed) performed poorly. They theorized and later showed that moving individuals in a group from Blind to Open, or Closed to Open, or Unknown to Open, improves group dynamics and the eventual success of the group. A brief discussion of each of these characteristics follows.

Blind

This is sometimes called the “halitosis” rectangle, because the person doesn’t seem to know something about himself or herself, while others do. This type of blindness is often seen in movies and literature when others and the audience can recognize a problem, but the individual is blind to themself.

How do people move from Blind to Open? Usually, someone has to tell them. Teachers get paid, for example, to tell students these things so the students can move from Blind to Open. Feedback is not always negative, either. When an editor or Mr. Rogers makes marks on a paper they are not all bad.

For many years the talented and gifted students were the most unrecognized groups of students in school.

John Lennon fell into this category.

Open Groups

Information is free and available to others. Some information is always open information, like a person’s name, where they live, where they work, or Closed their family. People make inferences based on this Everything about a person is unknown until you information, although not in proportion to other have a conversation. To a great extent, each person controls information about themselves. No one can information they learn about a person. make another person do something they don’t want to do, or reveal a secret they don’t want to reveal.

Even though it is healthy to keep some things secret, the more open a person is, the less guarded they have to be as an individual. How do people move The Johari Square from Closed to Open? Through self-disclosure, or divulging information willingly about themselves.

People need to learn to self-disclose successfully.

OPEN BLIND Information should relate to the here and now. Our Known to self culture values openness. it must happen willingly Unkown known and without coercion. Often it is an invitation to to self to others reciprocity. This is an important skill to develop in the work environment as well as in social situations

Unknown CLOSED Unknown to others

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UNKNOWN Unknown to self and other

Information is unknown to self and to others.

Everything that happens to a person is remembered by the brain like a recorder in your subconscious or unconscious, including experiences you thought about but never did. That is what explains those unexpected things which you’ll do. It’s knowing how a person performs in battle - you never know until you’re tested.

JONATHANROGERS 2009

ACTIVITYGROUP Getting to know the group and giving feedback directions...

This activity should be done immediately upon the formation of a new group. It is designed to move a group from a closed, blind, and unknown group into an open group.

There are five rounds. The first two rounds are timed and the rest are not. Each group member will have one minute to talk during Round I and Round II. The group will select a timer, who will call time after one minute.

Round I Things you normally tell other people.

Round 2 Turning points in your life.

Round 3 Embarrassing moments.

Round 4 Significant person in your life, and why.

Round 5 Someone walks in with a telegram that brings you good news. What would it say?

Round 6 Choose three to five words that describe each person in your group positively

Feedback Round

One of the most difficult roles of being part of group is to give feedback. Go around to each person in the group and give feedback. The person getting feedback can not speak. Those giving feedback should look at the person you are talking to in the eyes and talk in a believable way.

Try to think like a journalist and follow the guidelines to the right.

Also remember that teachers need positive feedback, too.

Q&A

After completing this exercise, answer the following questions: 1) List some words that describe the impact of the exercise.

2) Is it easier to give or get feedback?

3) Why was there not any talking allowed during the feedback round?

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FEEDBACK GUIDELINES FEEDBACK SHOULD BE:

...descriptive, not judgmental ...well-timed, so the person can hear and accept it in the best way possible. ...something the person can change. ...heard in the correct way by the learner.