How to get the most out of group work

Strategies to support group work and collaboration on projects.

Benefits and challenges of group work

Working with others is something you will be asked to do time and time again, both at University and beyond. Try to make the most of opportunities to develop your team working skills.

Group work can be challenging but we have lots of resources to help you.

If you are feeling worried about group work, remember:

Other students are in the same position as you, going through the same experiences and likely to share a lot of the same worries you do.
This is a safe and supportive environment in which you can discuss ideas, learn from each other and develop key skills that will benefit you throughout your entire career.
Group work is a chance to learn from each other. Your peers might have ideas about how to approach a subject you are really struggling with, or you might have knowledge that can help other people.
Even if you experience challenges in your group, you can learn from this. Dealing with difficult situations and finding solutions will help you to develop essential skills such as communication, problem solving and collaboration. You can use what you have learned the next time you have to work with other people.
You do not have to do everything yourself. If you cannot resolve problems within your group, talk to a tutor.

Follow our guidance below to get the most out of group work, or try our Group Work interactive digital workshop (Xerte).

Getting started

To work well as a group, you will need to understand each other. You will need to consider different peoples' learning styles, their different strengths and weaknesses, what motivates them and what makes them lose interest in a task.

Understand yourself

Reflect on how you like to work. For example:

Do you prefer to work on big ideas or small details?
Do you prefer to get something done quickly or to spend time getting it right?
Do you like to complete work well ahead of time or do you always go right up to the deadline?

Get to know your group members

Spend time getting to know each other before getting started on the task.

Ask members about their interests, their skills and preferences.

The following activity will help you to map out your team’s skills and preferences.

Use our Skills and preferences mapping activity (Google Doc)

Set expectations

Use a team operating agreement to agree how you will work together. Make sure that everyone is involved in the process of developing the agreement.

You might want to use the following template to help to plan an effective team operating agreement.

Create a Team operating agreement (Google Doc)

Get organised

Plan ahead, check deadlines, find out everyone’s availability so you can plan around busy times.

Group roles

Identifying roles within a group can be a good first step to working together.

Have a look at the list below and think about which of these roles might suit you within a group project.

Are there roles that you can recognise yourself adopting? Are there roles that you think are missing within your group?

Organiser: Plans and schedules meetings.
Facilitator: Sets an agenda, chairs meetings.
Recorder: Takes and shares notes and actions.
Liaison: Asks questions and reports back to the tutor.
Timekeeper: Sets milestones and keeps the project on track.
Prioritiser: Identifies key tasks and responsibilities.
Reporter: Feeds back on the project as appropriate.
‘Devil's advocate’: Challenges the prevailing thinking.
Harmoniser: Aims to keep the group working well together.

Certain roles can help to keep the group focused and organised around a task, such as a facilitator, timekeeper or prioritiser. Others will help you to encourage and critique one another's ideas, such as the innovator, ‘devil's advocate’ or harmoniser.

Remember, not all groups need all roles, but thinking about the appropriate ones for your project and allocating them early on can help you get started.

The roles can change throughout a project, for example you might take it in turns to chair meetings or take notes.

The following video will introduce the principles of group roles in group work:

Watch the Group Roles in Group Work video (Kaltura, 2 minutes)

Understanding group behaviours

Working with others can make you behave differently than if you were working alone.

It's the same for everyone, which makes seeing those behaviours unfold and change as the group comes together one of the pleasures – and potential challenges – of group work.

So the question becomes one of working through and making the most of the dynamics that emerge within a group, rather than trying to work around them.

The more aware you are of how you are behaving, the more potential there is for changing and helping the group change too.

Awareness also helps you understand why others in the group behave in certain ways. You can step back and ask whether or not this behaviour has to do with you as individuals, or how you as a group are working.

The University of Sheffield Behaviour in Teams project has identified a number of behaviours that influence group work both positively and negatively:

Initiating

Proposing procedures: putting forward ideas about how the team operates and organises itself
Proposing ideas: putting forward new ideas relating to the task
Building: adding to or expanding on someone else's ideas within the group

Reacting

Supporting ideas: expressing your support for someone else's idea or opinion
Supporting others: expressing your support for someone else's approach or contribution
Disagreeing: raising objections or obstacles to someone else's ideas

Clarifying

Checking understanding: asking for further information to clarify someone else's ideas or opinions
Seeking task information: asking questions about the nature of the task or process
Seeking personal information: asking others about personal facts or feelings

Balancing/process

Shutting out: reducing other's opportunities to contribute (e.g. by interrupting)
Bringing in: encouraging another group member to contribute or speak
Lightening the mood: telling jokes or making humorous interjections

Try to notice these behaviours in yourself and other people. Think which behaviours you could use in different situations.

The following videos give more information about the different behaviours and how you can use them effectively:

Watch the Bringing in and shutting out video (Kaltura, 30 minutes)

Watch the Proposing and collaborating video (Kaltura, 30 minutes)

Understanding group behaviours eases some of the heartache of group work, as you realise that difficulties are not always caused by particular individuals within a group (yourself included), but rather about the way you have all approached the task together.

The main thing to remember on group projects is that you are all working towards the same goal and you want to achieve as much as possible. Creating an environment where you can all contribute to this end goal is the job of every group member.

Tips for effective discussions

Active listening

Active listening can help you to understand group members and show that you value their contribution to the group.

When another person is talking:

Focus on listening to what they are saying. Don’t just wait for your own turn to speak.
Show that you are listening, for example through nodding or other positive body language.
Wait until the person has finished speaking before asking questions or making comments.

Air time

Not everyone finds it as easy to 'think on their feet' or to contribute to a fast-paced discussion. This does not mean that less vocal members of a group have anything less useful to say.

Groups that encourage balanced contributions from members are likely to enjoy greater shared ownership of a project and its outcomes.

Air time, or the proportion of a meeting that each individual takes up through their contributions, is a useful way to think about maintaining a balance. Key questions to ask yourself include:

How much air time are you using in a meeting?
Are there group members who are using less air time than others?
Can you use positive behaviours to share out air time equitably? For example 'bringing in', ' 'building' or 'checking understanding'.

Remember, some group members may need more time to think things through before speaking up, so try to find ways for everyone to prepare in advance or build in thinking time to meetings. For example, use post-it notes or online documents to generate ideas before launching into open discussion.

Dealing with difficult moments

You will probably experience challenges during group projects. This can feel frustrating or stressful, but it is an important part of learning how to work with others. The point of doing group work is to learn how to work with other people, including learning how to navigate through difficult situations.

The following video provides some tips and ideas on dealing with difficult moments.

Watch the Dealing with difficult moments in group projects video (Kaltura, 2 minutes)

You can usually resolve problems through talking to your group members. However, if there is a problem that you cannot resolve, talk to a member of staff.

Reflecting on your experience

In some group assignments, you will be asked to reflect on your experience of group work. If you have had to overcome difficulties in your group, you will have a lot more to think and write about!

Talking about how you resolved a problem or responded to a difficult situation is also useful for job applications and interviews.

If you experience a difficult situation in group work, spend some time reflecting on what happened, what you did as a result and anything you would do differently in the future. See our guidance on How to reflect in an academic context.

Tools for digital collaboration

Digital tools can help you work together, whether you are in the same room or not. The following page on Online Collaboration provides some suggestions of how to make the most of the process of working with others remotely.

Find out more about Digital tools for collaboration

Generative AI and group work

Generative AI (GenAI) tools such as Google Gemini can provide useful ways to develop your ideas as a group and to plan your projects. You can use Generative AI to support your group work in a number of ways:

As an additional group member: You could test out ideas by asking the GenAI tool for feedback, which might help to generate constructive criticism in a non-confrontational and objective way.
To support communication: if you have English as a second language, you might find it helpful to use GenAI to help formulate your ideas and contributions to a discussion either during an in-person meeting, or via email.
To create a realistic plan: consider using GenAI to develop a timeline for the project with suggested milestones and deadlines. This may help to make the planning process more focused, specific and objective.

You can find out more about using GenAI for your academic work via our suite of resources:

Explore our GenAI online resources

Top tips

Think about what your own strengths or positive attributes are, as well as things you are less comfortable with. This will help you identify what you can bring to the group, as well as the things you would find more difficult on your own.

Try to stay open to the ideas and contributions of others, even if they contradict your own thinking.
Be a good communicator. This means genuinely listening, as well as being able to present your own ideas. Be constructive with your feedback.
Be organised. Treat the process professionally. So, set ground rules, allocate different roles or tasks to each member and make sure everyone is kept aware of developments.
Reflect and review. Make sure you are sticking to deadlines and dealing with any issues as they arise. Most importantly, do this as a group. Make sure that no one is making decisions individually.

You will encounter difficulties, this is inevitable. The important thing is how you deal with them.

StudySkills@Sheffield