HOW TO PREPARE FOR GD (GROUP DISCUSSIONS)
GD Preparation
While
selection tools and techniques like tests, interviews etc. provide good
data about an individual, they fall short in providing real life data
of how an individual would be performing in a real life situation
especially a group situation. Team work being an integral part of the
BPO work profile, it is important to ascertain group and inter-personal
qualities of an individual. Group discussion is a useful tool to
ascertain these qualities and many organizations use GDs as a selection
tool along with Personal Interviews, aptitude tests etc. A GD is an
activity where
- Groups of 8-10 candidates are formed into a leaderless group, and are given a specific situation to analyse and discuss within a given time limit, which may vary between twenty minutes and forty-five minutes, or
- They may be given a case study and asked to come out with a solution for a problem
- They may be given a topic and are asked to discuss the same
1. Preparing for a Group Discussion: While
GD reflects the inherent qualities of an individual, appearing for it
unprepared may not augur well for you. These tips would help you prepare
for GDs:
Reading: This
is the first and the most crucial step in preparation. This is a never
ending process and the more you read, the better you are in your
thoughts. While you may read anything to everything, you must ensure
that you are in good touch with current affairs, the debates and hot
topics of discussion and also with the latest in the IT and ITES
industry. Chances are the topics would be around these. Read both for
the thoughts as well as for data. Also read multiple view points on the
same topic and then create your point of view with rationale. Also
create answers for counter arguments for your point of view. The
electronic media also will be of good use here.
Mocks: Create
an informal GD group and meet regularly to discuss and exchange
feedback. This is the best way to prepare. This would give you a good
idea about your thoughts and how well can you convince. Remember, it is
important that you are able to express your thoughts well. The better
you perform in these mocks the better would be you chances to perform on
the final day. Also try to interact and participate in other GD groups.
This will develop in you a skill to discuss with unknown people as
well.
2. During the Group Discussion:
What do the panelists assess:Some of the qualities assessed in a GD are:
Leadership Skills -
Ability to take leadership roles and be able to lead, inspire and carry
the team along to help them achieve the group’s objectives.
Communication Skills –
Candidates will be assessed in terms of clarity of thought, expression
and aptness of language. One key aspect is listening. It indicates a
willingness to accommodate others views.
Interpersonal Skills –
People skills are an important aspect of any job. They are reflected in
the ability to interact with other members of the group in a brief
situation. Emotional maturity and balance promotes good interpersonal
relationships. The person has to be more people centric and less
self-centered.
Persuasive Skills – The ability to analyze and persuade others to see the problem from multiple perspectives.
GD
is a test of your ability to think, your analytical capabilities and
your ability to make your point in a team-based environment.
These are some of the sub-skills that also get assessed with the skills mentioned above:
- Clarity of thought
- Group working skills (especially during a group task of case study discussion)
- Conflict handling
- Listening and probing skills
- Knowledge about the subject and individual point of view
- Ability to create a consensus
- Openess and flexibility towards new ideas
- Data based approach to decision making
While,
it is not possible to reflect all these qualities in a short time, you
would do well if you are able to show a couple or more qualities and
avoid giving negative evidence on others.
How do I take my chance to speak: Trying
to interrupt others while speaking would only harm your chances.
Instead, you may try to maintain an eye-contact with the speaker. This
would show your listening skills also and would help you gauge from his
eye-movement and pitch of voice that he is about to close his inputs.
You can quickly take it from there. Also, try and link your inputs with
what he has spoken whether you are adding to or opposing his arguments.
This would reflect that you are actually being participative rather than
just doing a collective monologue.
- How to I communicate in a GD: Be crisp and to the point. Be fact based and avoid making individual opinions that do not have a factual base. Make eye contact with all the members in the group and avoid looking at the panelists while speaking. The average duration of the group discussion provides an average of about 2-3 minutes per participant to speak and you should try to speak about 3-4 times. Hence, you need to be really crisp to reflect the most in those 30-40 sec. slots.
- How do I convince others and make them agree to my view point: A lot of candidates make it their mission to make the group reach to a conclusion on the topic. Do not forget that some of the topics have been eternal debates and there is no way you can get an agreement in 15 mins. on them. The objective is not to make others toe your line but to provide fact based, convincing arguments which create an impact. Stick to this approach.
- Do leadership skills include moderating the group discussion: This is a myth and many people do try to impose their order on the GD, ordering people when to speak and when not to. This only reflects poor leadership. Leadership in a GD would be reflected by your clarity of thought, ability to expand the topic in its different dimensions, providing an opportunity to a silent participant to speak, listening to others and probing them to provide more information. Hence, work on these areas rather than be a self-appointed moderator of the group.
- Listening: This is a key quality assessed during the GD about which many participants forget. Active listening can fetch you credit points and would also provide you with data to discuss. Also, if you have an average of 2-3 minutes to speak, the rest of the 20-25 minutes is required to spent in active listening. For this, maintain eye contact with the speakers, attend to them (like nodding, using acknowledging words like -I see ok, fine, great etc.). This would also make you be the centre of attraction as you would appear non-threatening to the speakers.
- Behaviour during the GD: Be patient; don’t get upset if anyone says anything you object to. Stay objective and don’t take the discussion personally. Also, remember the six C’s of communication – Clarity, Completeness, Conciseness, Confidence, Correctness and Courtesy. Be appreciative & receptive to ideas from other people and open-minded but do not let others to change your own viewpoint. Be active and interested throughout. It is better to participate less if you have no clue of the topic. You may listen to others and take clues from there and speak. You would be assessed on a range of different skills and you may think that leadership is key, you need to be careful that you don’t dominate the discussion.
- Quality Vs Quantity: Often, participants think that success in group discussions depends on how much and how loudly they speak. Interestingly, it’s the opposite. Also, making your point on the topic, your views are important and the group needs to know. This will tell you are knowledgeable and that you participate in groups
- Summarizing: If
you have not been able to initiate the discussion, try to summaries and
close it. Good summarizing would get you good reward points. A
conclusion is where the whole group decides in favour or against the
topic and most GDs do not have a closure. But every GD can be summarized
by putting forth what the group has discussed in a nutshell. Keep the
following points in mind while summarizing a discussion:
- Avoid raising new points.
- Avoid stating only your viewpoint.
- Avoid dwelling only on one aspect of the GD
- Keep it brief and concise.
- It must include all the important points that came out during the GD
- If you are asked to summarise a GD, it means the GD has come to an end.
- Do not add anything once the GD has been summarised.
Some Positive Task Roles in a Group Discussion:You may want to play one or more of them:
- Initiator
- Information seeker
- Information giver
- Procedure facilitator
- Opinion seeker
- Opinion giver
- Clarifier
- Social Supporter
- Harmonizer
- Tension Reliever
- Energizer
- Compromiser
- Gatekeeper
- Summarizer
Negative Roles to be Avoided
- Disgruntled non-participant
- Attacker
- Dominator
- Patronizer
- Clown
Feedback template: While
doing mocks for GD preparation, you would get benefited by the feedback
of others. For the purpose, we are providing a template for feedback –
both quantitative and qualitative. The items described over there are a
suggested list and not a complete one. You may make changes in it
depending upon your need.
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