„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

saying what you wanted to say in the way you just expressed yourself, you probably
would have given me, at least, a basis for feeling bad about myself, as if I had done
something wrong. And that might have led to my wanting to hurt you or put you down
or cut you off [somewhat hypothetical personal feedback]. I wonder if you can think of
a different way of saying the same thing...a way that is less likely to result in your
feeling cut off from the group?” [an invitation to consider and experiment with an
alternative form of performing needed task or maintenance functions].
Member A (to the client group, after a long pause): “Yeah, I think so. Let me know
how this comes across” [unilateral negotiation for focused feedback]. (Pause.) “It seems
to me that we’ve gone over the same points several times. It’s as if we’ve been recycling
[description of group behavior]. I’m finding myself feeling unproductive, as if I’m not
able to do anything that seems useful or helpful...and that leaves me pretty impatient.”
(Pause.) “Has anyone else been experiencing anything like this? If so, what do we want
to do about it?” [Considerably more self-disclosure and ownership of the speaker’s
ideas and feelings are publicly expressed here; also, instead of making a critical and
punitive accusation about the other members of the client group, A is including himself
as a part of the problem and is inviting the rest of the group to collaborate in dealing
with it. Action, taken on the basis of the person’s observations and feelings, carries the
idea of implications one step forward: out of the hypothetical and into tangible reality.]
Example B
Here is another example of a process-observation intervention:
Consultant (to the client group): “I’ve noticed that we’ve been spending a lot of
time jumping from one issue to another without finishing any of them. For example,
Sam raised the question about whether or not we wanted to spend our time giving one
another feedback. Then Toni pointed out that we could handle feedback in a way that
would enable the recipient to decide whether he or she wanted to renegotiate some
interpersonal contracts with the person giving the feedback. In making this point, Toni
seemed to direct the group’s attention away from Sam—a kind of topic jump—about
which Sam did nothing. Then, before the group responded to Toni’s idea, Joe stated that
he thought we ought to focus on some of the things that had happened three days ago
during the general session, things that he thought were getting us hung up this
afternoon—another topic jump [a demonstration of the tracking or summarizing taskfunction].
All of this seems to indicate to me that we’re having trouble figuring out how
we can make group decisions about what we’re going to do with our time [spelling out
the apparent problem that is confronting the group]. Now I’m finding myself rather
uncertain about just what is going on and a bit impatient [expression of feelings] for a
clear, explicit, group decision. Just what is it that we would like to do?” [statement of
expectations and a direct request to the client group’s members to disclose their
opinions and thereby flesh out the problem statement].
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 235