What Is Your Role in Group Discussion?

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The moment you hear something like selection process whether it is for an MBA or a job, the first most question that pops-up in your mind will be "what are the rounds involved in the selection process?"However, 9 out of 10 times, you will end up knowing that there will be a Group Discussion (GD) round. Group Discussion is one of the most effective selection rounds that a recruiter/selection team could plan to choose the right candidates.

Objective of Group Discussions:

GD is mostly conducted in the selection process of management education or management job roles. However, these days group discussions have become popular in other sectors also.
The key objective of GD is not only to test your topic awareness and knowledge but also to find the most sorted interpersonal skills like communication, team management and listening skills.
Having said this, an important preparation tip and vital assessment parameter of any GD is the participants’ role and the way they respond to their roles throughout the discussion.

Define Your Role:

The first and the foremost task that you need to ensure when you receive the GD topic is to quickly fix what role you want to take over throughout the discussion. If you are a person who is a pro in the given topic, then you don’t need to think twice of being the initiator and all you must do is to try your best to start the GD, at least second in the group to speak.

At the same time, if you are less aware of the topic, then stay calm and try to take over the moderator role. A moderator or facilitator generally takes care of the discussion in general by monitoring the contribution of the group members.Being a moderator, your key focus should be to allot every possible chance to speak for those who spoke less. This also means to shift the power from the hands of those who are dominating the discussion to the hands of others and optimise the group members’ contribution.

There might be other instances where you are moderately aware of the topic and you have a few points in your mind which you are not sure about. In this case, you should never jump forward to begin the discussion but instead, you can become a concluder in the discussion. Never misunderstand that a person who has taken the role of a concluder will speak only at the end. Because it is important to show your presence in the group discussion at regular intervals. One such way is to rephrase the points put forth by other members and bring out an inference from their opinions.

How to Be Impactful During Group Discussion?

Be it an initiator, moderator or concluder of the discussion, what matters is your consistency. Never switch your roles in between the discussion. There is a general misconception among people that those who speak more in a GD will get through which is invalid. Practically, what you need to understand is that in most group discussions almost 50 to 60 percent of points are allotted for the groups' performance and not individual. Therefore, it is foolish to either dominate the discussion or to stay quiet.

Conclusion:

Finally, I would like to recommend you practice active listening and take notes throughout your group discussion. This not only helps in grabbing the attention of the evaluators but also helps to understand the progress, direction and opportunities of your role in the discussion.


Written by - Arun .S.

Edited by - Nidhi Verma