Well, I am sitting here wondering what IS the important thing about groups.

E.J has said: "You can accomplish as a group what you could never do alone".

Invocations of higher energies and entities is possible in groups in ways unavailable to anyone alone.

A group gets formed and comes together to fulfill a certain task. The main goal of a group is to fulfill that task. Groups are temporary, they are of different sizes and configurations. They have a beginning, middle (if you will) and an end.

Early morning Bardo Training meeting...literally

A healthy group accomplishes it's goals and at the same time nourishes it's members.

Of course, you and everyone else in your group brings their personal issues and agendas to it, not the least of which are patterns, often unconscious, you learned in your birth family, or adopted from the cultural context in which you grew up or find yourself in now.
Some important issues are inclusion/exclusion and how conflict gets dealt with.
In the life of a group there are different waves in which these issues will present themselves as potential hazards to fulfilling of the groups purpose.
So, in a group, you will have to deal with what comes up for you as a result of that. It can be one of the most difficult things you'll have to face. Plenty of opportunity for PWOS.

There are different patterns group members can use to relate. The model that seems to work best is when there is a connection with each member of the group to each of the other members. New leadership is considered by some to be from the bottom up while guided by certain principles. Of course it helps to have a few people in the group that have some experience with this.
The healthy group moves and works as a single enity. When it begins to be dominated by only one or a few of it's parts, or a subgroup, it risks it's functioning in the long term. EVERY VOICE COUNTS.

In a single organism, the thing that needs to be said will come through one of its parts, one of the group members.

The clearer the channel, the clearer the message. This needs to be understood. The more colored and charged by personal issues, fears or agendas, the more challenging it can be and the more dangerous to the purpose of the group if it does not get dealt with. Of course, you don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water either.

But you might begin to understand, just to be a bit more practical, that, even though you really want to say something but then you don't, it can hurt the group! The reason you stay quiet (withhold) does not matter, wheather you're "shy", lazy, feel unworthy or no longer want to risk saying anything because you can never seem to say it the right way and feel you get hit over the head for it.
Withholding what needs to come through can do serious damage. Your missing voice could have been the one essential thing that was needed (and for voice you could substitute gift or talent or work effort).
On the other hand, just blurting out anything that comes to mind all the time also is less productive. Being pushy and wanting things your way (because that is obviously the best ^_^), and suppressing other voices will hurt the group and jeopardize it's mission and very survival.
A group needs to be able to consider the typicality of a group member and work with it, having as a goal to create a free channel for each voice to get heard. Each member of the group has to be willing to work to contain their personal reactions, willing to learn new ways of seeing or doing things. Knowing, or, learning how to give and receive feedback is important.

A healthy group will balance and harmonize itself and work as a unit to meet it's goals.

Unless a group has all it's parts to fulfill it's goal, it cannot do the job the way it would be able to if it did. It needs all the group members.

This is where the necessity of different types comes in. Most people do not know how to "BE" any typicality they choose, in fact, don't have any real understanding of other typicalities and what world they live in, what the world feels like to them and how consequently they, just as obviously, would take a different approach than they themselves would.

Myself, I was dumbfounded when I finally really grogged at some point that there are people out there who really live in a different world, while apparently sharing the same space with me....omg, and then, studying the differnt ways people develop their personalities, or defensive structures...it was amazing....

In a larger context, the group you are in may be a single cell and part of a larger entity, which consists of several groups....it can get pretty big...

In you have never voluntarily and for a while been part of a group, you may have escaped the chance for some essential PWOS.

Contact us if you are interested in being part of a work group.

We consider working in a group essential.

We are here to help you, and there are also excellent and mindfulness based programs out there that deal with group dynamics and their beingness as a single entity.

Please use the contact form if you would like further information.