Representing the Group

For complete information on the eleven leadership competencies, order Resources for Leadership.

This competency enables the learner to:

• List four things you can do to represent a group effectively.
• List three reasons representing a group is important.
• List three competencies important to representing a group.
• List three things you can do to assess individuals feelings
• Identify who can perform as a representative of the group.

About Representing the Group

Representing the Group is accurately communicating to non-group members the sum of group members' feelings, ideas, etc., and vice versa. A leader must represent his team on a great variety of issues. Some of these issues and the need for a decision representing group interests will be known in advance; others will not be.

Under any circumstances, to faithfully represent the group, you must:

• Fully understand the nature of the problem.
• Know how the decision (if any) was reached and be able to communicate it to others.
• Accurately and responsibly communicate from and back to the original group.
• Realize that other groups may derive their entire picture of another group through you, the representative. You must be consistent, possess integrity, and be fair to all parties.