Seeing as I’ve got group assessments coming up for all of my subjects very soon, reading about collaboration felt like a good move. One of this weeks readings, an excerpt from Keith Sawyer’s Group Genius: The creative power of collaboration, was a very interesting read. Sawyer argues that group oriented activities are most successful when “group flow” is achieved. Group flow is described as a state in which all members of the group are completely focussed on achieving their goal and are able to “flow” from one moment to the next, in complete control of their actions.

The introduction of the excerpt seems to me to be a little bit separate from the main argument the author is making. It is unclear whether or not he is suggesting that group flow is responsible for the inclusive nature of the pick up basketball games. While I’m sure group flow would help the basketball teams to play better, it seems like a stretch to claim that it was instrumental in unifying the judge, the youth and other members of society. Having said that, Sawyer goes on to give some very strong examples of things that enhance group activity.

Interestingly, he refers to deep listening as one of the necessary components in achieving group flow. I think this is a very good point, and from having worked in groups in the past, I can certainly say that listening of any kind is vital for getting anywhere in a group. In high school I did group music performance as a year 12 subject, which required me to work with the same 4 musicians every week to hone our performance skills and do a performance exam at the end of the year. I definitely felt that the times when we played our best were when we could all concentrate completely on the task at hand and focus on creating the best sound possible as a group.

Using an example of comedic writers, Sawyer explains that when they achieved group flow they “felt as if they belonged to something greater than themselves”. I believe he is saying that the mindset of the group should be to achieve something on a group level, not for personal satisfaction. I think this is very true, and I will try to bear it in mind when approaching my group assessment tasks.