Division 2 – Small Group Development Consultants

Division 2 work is defined as the planning, designing and leading of integrated and cohesive activities for a group or for individual participants. There are three purposes for these activities:

  1. Learning
  2. Expanded awareness
  3. Development and change

Group development consists of data-gathering, diagnosis, planning and research, as well as implementing and evaluating activities and interventions. The consultant works with all group members to determine the objectives, constraints and consequences governing the group’s activities. The consultant utilizes and transfers to the members the most appropriate knowledge, techniques and skills from the social and behavioral sciences. The basic focus of this work is the group. The group participants’ learning is primarily derived from their immediate experience and face-to-face interactions. The goals to be achieved are those of the group as distinct from the goals of a larger organization (organization development consultant), or of a larger system (societal change consultant).

Broad Criteria for Work in this Division

These are expectations about what a new member should be working in or on – not that a consultant would meet all of these criteria at the time of application. A consultant meets the requirements of this division when she or he has the following, proficiencies:

    1. Performs all professional acts ethically and competently.
    2. Establishes and maintains an effective working relationship with a specified client, a group, its leadership and representatives. 3. Has a thorough understanding of the theories of interpersonal and group dynamics as well as applicable skills.
    3. Knows, appropriately utilizes and is able to perform according to relevant design principles and selects or creates methodologies appropriate to the purpose of the group.
    4. Clearly understands the appropriate application of design principles in both task and process oriented groups, and clearly understands their unique differences.
    5. Competently evaluates learning, development and training outcomes. Evaluation work is planned and executed to measure the effectiveness of the activities undertaken and to assess the longer-term success of the participants in using the knowledge and skills gained.
    6. Designs and creates the climate, physical arrangements and group norms and chooses a suitable environment so that the group can accomplish its objectives effectively.
    7. Designs all steps in the developmental process to maximize the self-responsibility, the self- management and the learning of the participants.
    8. Determines the current knowledge and skill of the proposed participants, designs structures and processes which build on those current capabilities and establishes realistic and efficient stages for the group’s learning and development.
    9. Determines the current assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices of the proposed participants and designs the group activities so that these conscious and unconscious biases are surfaced, examined and addressed appropriately.
    10. Continuously evaluates the work being done to ensure that appropriate changes in direction and methodology are made, to accommodate the needs of the participants, or better meet the objectives of the work.
    11. Demonstrates the capability to establish a trusting, learning oriented climate that permits group members to safely and appropriately self-disclose in a manner consistent with the purpose and contract of the group.
    12. Demonstrates the capability to deal with issues of inclusion, control, intimacy, etc., track and facilitate sequences of group development and to assist the group to process, share, discover and/or learn about group phenomena, dynamics, norms and the reciprocal effects of individual behavior and group norms.
    13. Demonstrates the capability to lead groups through and facilitate learning about task accomplishment, setting goals, planning, making decisions, team development and the evaluation of those processes and experiences.
    14. Enables a group to learn from inter-group phenomena and large system dynamics.