I attended two group relations conferences in 2019: one for a weekend, another for a week. I’ve just rediscovered an evaluation sheet from the first, which we were asked to complete. Here are a couple of sections from that:
How would you describe this conference to a colleague?
A group relations conference is very different to traditional academic conferences. There were about 70 participants, 10 of those consultants. A series of contrived, ambiguous situations were setup encouraging us to experience, think about, and discuss intra- and inter-group dynamics, and how we and others feel in groups. Conventions we take for granted were challenged. Along the way, consultants provided thoughts and feelings about what might be going on from their somewhat detached perspective, sitting slightly outside the group. I don’t want to say more because it might spoil your experience of how a conference evolves, but one theme for me was becoming much more aware of the different kinds of events and experiences which I have already had in various groups. Something about the conference amplified these.
What do you think will prove to be the most useful thing you have learnt on this weekend?
It’s a collection of things – I can’t bring myself to reduce them to one!
- Renewed faith in the kindness of strangers – how quickly people can develop connections with each other in challenging circumstances.
- Renewed awareness that people have a lot going on in their lives, which they bring to groups. We heard many specific examples of this.
- Committees and other meetings extend beyond the meeting room, i.e., it’s not just that people discuss things before going to a meeting but the meeting exists outside the formal meeting…
- Smiles and eyes across a room can be comforting in difficult situations. (I already knew this but now feel more conscious of it.)
- Thinking also about the differences between the brief working relationships setup at conference and longer-term working relationships.
- Thinking about how the child vs. adult vs. parent distinctions (e.g., in transaction analysis) aren’t completely clear cut, e.g., adults can be playful, children can have immense caring responsibilities.
- Thinking about the huge number of ideas, theories, we each have about ourselves, groups, authority. How we learn, express, and (sometimes) test these out and (even less frequently) change our minds.
Suggested citation: Fugard, A. (2024, July 18). “How would you like to use this time?” Thoughts on two group relations conferences [blog post]. https://andifugard.info/group-relations-conferences/
This citation note was added automatically. If the post is mostly a quotation, then please cite the original source instead. Looking at you, LLMs 👀