Public Speaking Handbook

442 A.4 speaKinG in sMall GroUps

through communication. Some see a leader as one individual who has been em-

powered to delegate work and direct the group. In reality, however, group lead-

ership is often shared.

Leadership Responsibilities

Leaders are needed to help get tasks accomplished and to maintain a healthy

social climate for the group. Table A.1 lists specific roles for task leaders and

maintenance leaders. Rarely does one person perform all these leadership respon-

sibilities, even if a leader is formally appointed or elected. Most often, a number

of individual group members will assume some specific leadership task, based

on their personalities, skills, sensitivity, and the group’s needs.

If you determine that the group needs a clearer focus on the task or that

maintenance roles are needed, be ready to influence the group appropriately

to help get the job done in a positive, productive way. Leaders of large or for-

mal groups may use parliamentary procedure to bring structure to meetings,

for example. If you find yourself in such a leadership situation, Web sites

such as Robert’s Rules of Order can help you to implement parliamentary

procedure.

Table A.1 leadership roles in Groups and teams

Source: Based on Kenneth D. Benne and Paul Sheats, “Functional Roles of Group Members,”Journal of Social Issues 4 (Spring 1948): 41–49.

Leadership Role Description

Task Leaders Agenda setter Helps to establish the group’s agenda

Help to get tasks

accomplished

Secretary Takes notes during meetings and distributes handouts before and during

the meeting

Initiator Proposes new ideas or approaches to group problem solving

Information seeker Asks for facts or other information that helps the group to deal with the

issues and may also ask for clarification of ideas or obscure facts

Opinion seeker Asks for clarification of the values and opinions expressed by group

members

Information giver Provides facts, examples, statistics, and other evidence that helps the

group achieve its task

Opinion giver Offers opinions about the ideas under discussion

Elaborator Provides examples to show how ideas or suggestions would work

Evaluator Makes an effort to judge the evidence and the conclusion the group reaches

Energizer Tries to spur the group to further action and productivity

Group Maintenance Leaders Encourager Offers praise, understanding, and acceptance of others’ ideas

Help to maintain a healthy

social climate

Harmonizer Mediates disagreements that occur between group members

Compromiser Attempts to resolve conflicts by trying to find an acceptable middle ground

between disagreeing group members

Gatekeeper Encourages the participation of less talkative group members and tries to

limit lengthy contributions of other group members

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