Whether this is your first semester or your last, chances are you have experienced a group project or nine. And just like snowflakes, no two group project experiences are the same. Sometimes you will have an awesome experience and you will absolutely love your group because you all mesh surprisingly well. Other times, it’s just chaos and the group message is filled with passive aggressive texts from angsty group project members. Luckily for you, I’ve mostly only ever been in horrible groups (oh the joys of random selection) so I’ve started to figure out how to work with even the most high maintenance of group members. Before we continue on, allow me to remind you that this won’t be easy, but as long as you don’t fail it will be worth it.
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So, you’ve found yourself in yet another group project – you’re beyond excited, I know. Naturally, if you’re luck is anything like mine, you have the worst group in the class (by worst, I actually mean best.) You’re mixed in with the girl that believes the world revolves around her and any other opinion is wrong (she also tends to be the self-appointed leader), some random freshman that is still naive of the ways of the world and still gets daily texts from his parents telling him how special he is, the girl that lives in the asshole of the “new leader” and you. With any group structure, you definitely need to keep an open mind. By keeping an open mind, you are able to be a little more calm when dealing with your oh-so-lovely group project members.
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Get organized! When you put a group of people together to work towards the same goal, you are going to have snafus and that is to be expected. At the beginning of the project, sit down as a group and figure out who is going to do what parts of the project. By doing this you won’t run into issues down the line where some people are doing more than their fair share and others are doing absolutely nothing. Another thing to do is set a due date to have all of your parts together. Doing so allots for enough time to make sure that there is still room in your schedule so that all of the parts flow together nicely.
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Another thing to do that will help keep the peace is to set goals as a group. This kind of branches off of the due dates that you set as a group. Maybe you want to meet up during the week to make sure everyone is keeping up to date or maybe you want to just put everything into a Google folder and meet remotely. It all depends on the type of project it is and how much time you have been allotted. Use discretion when making goals and definitely keep your whole group in mind so that everything can run as smoothly as possible.
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Encourage each other! You are working together; so, by encouraging them to do well instead of criticizing them you are helping yourself too. Chances are this is a group grade so their work is essentially your work. Criticizing your group will just add to the already short rope that you’re all on together. Treat your group like a friendship, build each other up instead of tearing each other down. You want to see your friends succeed and you want to see your group succeed. Remember: their success equals your success.
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Communicate!!! I cannot stress this enough. Communication is key in any and all group projects. I have been in some down-right horrible groups and they were horrible because we didn’t communicate, among other things. We did our own thing and waited until the last minute to criticize each other. By communicating clearly and effectively you will be able to have a less hostile group and your finished product will definitely be a lot better than it would be without any communication.
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No one likes group projects, but we all want to do well with them. Don’t forget that we’re all dealing with different things in life. Just because you’re all in a group together, doesn’t mean you’re all the same. One person could be taking 15 credits and be involved with nothing outside of class and another could be taking 20 credits, be involved in multiple organizations, and work. Not to mention people’s personal lives. Be respectful of your group mate’s time. Don’t schedule meetings an hour before you want to have it and try not to cancel on them either. Treat your group members like actual human beings that have lives outside of the class that you share and everything will go a whole lot smoother. Good luck out there, Collegiettes… group projects aren’t always the best, but you can work to make them bearable.
