Seven Tips for Leading Group Discussions

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Seven Tips for Leading Group Discussions ne of the keys to a successful training session is strong participation from everyone in

attendance. But as you’ve no doubt discovered in your own training sessions, knowing this and

achieving this are two very different things.

People are reluctant to participate in group discussions for a number of reasons—ranging from

personality to culture to group dynamics, and beyond. But in a professional environment, employees are

expected to meet certain standards of performance and behavior. It’s not unreasonable, then, to expect

them to offer their ideas, opinions, and feelings in training sessions, meetings, and any other group

environment. Following are some tips to help you get participants involved in group discussions.

1. Make it safe to participate. One way to do this is to avoid condemning anyone’s response as

“wrong” or comparing it with someone else’s response.

2. Use open questions to solicit responses from class. Open questions aim to get someone talking

(as opposed to closed questions, which aim for a yes or no response). Following are some

general open questions:

What questions do you have?

What can we hope to achieve with this new initiative?

Why do you feel that way?

How might that happen?

3. Use participants’ names. This helps to create an open, informal atmosphere.

Ronald mentioned something about that earlier.

Tamara, what do you think?

4. Thank participants for their input. Not only will this give positive reinforcement to those people

who are participating energetically, but it will also inspire others to do the same. Everyone likes

to be thanked.

Thanks for your insight, Marvin.

Thanks, Judy.

I’m so glad you said that, Maria.

5. Use participants as resources. If you want participation from the whole group, it’s important to

make sure you’re not seen as the only authority in the room. When questions or comments

come your way, deflect them back to the group.

Who wants to answer Shelly’s question?

Where would you find the answer to that?

O

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6. Create a seating arrangement that encourages discussion. If possible, arrange the chairs in a

semi-circle or put all the chairs around a central table. Many people are more apt to participate

if they are facing the other members of the group.

7. Create discussion groups. One thing you can do to get participants to open up is to put them in

small groups for a few minutes, direct them to discuss the topic, and then reconvene the large

group and ask each sub-group for a report.

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