Last Updated On: November 25th, 2025
Why Smart Teams Still Melt Down in College Group Projects
Oh no! Group work!
Most students by the time they have started college have participated in all sorts of groups. Unfortunately, this “lots of group experience” often translates to “lots of bad group experience”. Group members end up either doing too much work (or even all of the work) or having other group members pressuring them to do work. It seems that often either no one seems to care about the project or they care so much that they bombard their groupmates, sometimes even taking over their groupmate’s part without warning.
Happily, it is possible to change “Oh no! Group work!” to “Ok! Group work!!” There is a goal that, if achieved, can make group work not only tolerable, but fulfilling. The goal: make it easy for everyone in the group to succeed in their group roles. The solution for achieving this goal is to set expectations and communication within the group, and this starts with your Initial Group Meeting.
In a group, everyone has had bad past experiences and have commonly responded to these past experiences by protecting themselves. Often these protective behaviors cause bad experiences for others, and the pattern escalates. To complete a group project in a way that is not only successful but enjoyable, each member needs to feel valued and gain a sense of accomplishment from their participation. With awareness, focus, and a concrete strategy, you can start strong and help get your group past the common pitfalls of vague ownership, unequal effort, slipping due dates, silent disagreement, and last-minute chaos.
It is infinitely easier to set up properly and maintain than to pull a derailed group back on track. This starts with the first group meeting. In the same way that a clear and detailed outline makes writing a paper smoother, setting up your group properly makes the process of group project completion smoother.
Agenda for a successful Initial Group Meeting
Topics vital to group organization and communication make a great agenda for your Initial Group Meeting. If you can start with an understanding of the organization and communication of your group, you are setting yourself up for a smoother group experience. Depending on your available time, you can set a 30-minute or 60-minute Initial Group Meeting. Having your group pre-read this article can make a difference in explanation time!
A solid 30-minute agenda could look as follows:
- Articulation of goals (5 min): 2 min brainstorming and 3 minutes presentation/discussion
- Review of Guidelines (7 min): Review of instructions and rubric. Discussion of questions.
- Establishment of Norms (18 min): Discuss (15 min) and finalize (3 min) decision and communication norms.
If you have an hour, add this to your agenda. Otherwise this can be your second meeting:
- Group Deliverables (20 min): Breakdown of Project Deliverables into Group Deliverables
- Group Deliverables Spreadsheet (5 min): Assignment of roles for Spreadsheet development and due date for completion of spreadsheet and completion of interest entry. Deciding process of role assignment for Group Deliverables.
- Establishing next steps (5 min): Setting next meeting. Setting the next meeting agenda.
More on the Components of Successful and Fulfilling Group Work
Goals:
What is the goal of each member? Do not assume that your goals are the same as others’. Some common goals are to get through the project with the minimum time, to produce the best project possible, to learn new skills or practice weak skills, to raise a course grade, to make friends, to explore a new concept, and to impress a faculty member. Some people may not be aware of their actual goals, and some people might find motivation in new goals if you suggest them to your group. Any goal that a group member has, yes, even to complete it quickly, can be used for motivation for success in your project. Open communication about each member’s goals can help reduce surprises and make the process smoother.
Guidelines:
Every project comes with guidelines, and setting up the project for success will include a review of these in the first meeting. Instructions, rubrics, and due dates are important guidelines to cover in the planning stages.
The instructions for the project will set the scope of the work that you will be doing together. An overview of the instructions will spark ideas about how to complete the project and get members thinking about how they want to fit into the project.
The project rubric will give each member a standard of excellence to reach towards. A common difficulty for groups is a disconnect on what is good enough for a member’s contribution. Reviewing the rubric in the first meeting, and frequently after that will keep the instructor’s requirements fresh in everyone’s mind, which will partially address coasting and poor work submission. It will also help keep the goals clear and quantifiable, which will dramatically help people who tend to get overwhelmed or distracted.
Due dates will set a sense of time on the project. To break apart a project to steps that can be distributed, the timeframe of the project must be clear. Additionally, a review of the due date(s) can remind group members of why the due dates of the steps that you will put together are important.
Norms of Leadership, Communication, and Decision Making
Without a doubt, failure in these areas lead to the most problems in groups. Spending time to make sure that there are clear processes for each of them will eliminate many common group hassles.
Leadership:
- What is included and not included in leadership for a particular goal?
- How are leaders selected?
- What is the process if a leader misses a role or needs to switch out?
Communication:
- What method(s) of communication will be used in the group?
- How often will communication occur?
- What reasons will require communication, and to whom will the communications be directed? Completion? Feedback? Concerns? Offers or requests for assistance?
- What timeframe is expected for responses, and what process will be followed if that time passes?
- How will shared documents be maintained? How should changes be made?
- How often and in what formats will future meetings take place? Who will set the agendas?
Decision Making and Responsibility:
- How are decisions made? Consensus? Majority vote? Leader?
- When will a Group Deliverable be considered complete? Who makes the decision and how will it be marked complete?
- How are missed roles approached? What are the consequences and backup plans for a missed Group Deliverable task? How can we ensure that members are communicating supportively in this situation?
Deliverables
Each deliverable in the project— things that will be submitted or performed for grading— will need to be broken down into component tasks to outline the scope of the work. Documentation will need to be broken down into areas like brainstorming, research, outlining, drafting, editing, finalization, formatting review, and image selection. Presentations may contain brainstorming, research, outlining, drafting, layout review, editing, and finalization in the preparation of both presentation and audio/visual materials. Each step of your project becomes a group deliverable.
For the best group work, you will want to get as many steps listed in your initial meeting so that you can schedule them and make a plan for who is responsible for each one. Additional steps may come up as you go along, but the more steps that you get assigned throughout the group in the first meeting, the fewer surprises you will have to deal with later.
Although you do not need to set them in your first meeting, your group will want plans for early and late completions of group deliverables. For early completions, a plan adjustment can move that task forward, and the person who completed early may move onto their next role. These decisions may include a review and/or a reassignment of roles with approval of the group, but it is best if the person who completes early gets control of their assignments to prevent penalizing fast workers or members who worked ahead to free time for their own needs. Late work is common and, counter to common assumption, is not generally due to laziness. If the communication norms are strong, delays can be caught early. Often vagueness, uncertainty, and overwhelm lead to work delays. These concerns can be addressed by the group if communication norms are easy to follow, which assists members who may suffer decision paralysis or overwhelm. Having plans for these two conditions, even to the point of pre-made communication templates, can make it easy to adjust workflow and keep group dynamics positive.
Roles
For each group deliverable, you will want to set up the role of each member. Some common roles to assign are lead, planner, recorder/tracker, researcher, media curator, author, editor, quality assurance/rubric review, and presenter. It is common for the same person to do multiple roles on a deliverable, but it is best to have multiple pairs of eyes on each section. Strategies such as applying RACI codes can also help with organizing roles. Additionally, unless there is a strong reason, the roles will rotate for each project. For example, if one of your members will be going out of town or having a major life event, they may do more of the early steps, such as planning and researching, and not take the role of editor or quality assurance/rubric review. This is a highly unusual situation, and most group efforts will involve rotating roles, where you will be lead on one deliverable, editor on another, and media curator on a third, for example. Rotating roles spreads out each person’s efforts, keeps the process interesting, and stops people from being trapped in one role.
When assigning roles, members’ strengths, experiences and desires are all considerations. Avoid assuming people’s experience or lack of experience. Many people have experiences and skills that are transferable to project roles. After the work breakdown, have each person forward relevant experience and desire. Consider a group spreadsheet with project tasks and places for group members to express desired levels for each role. When assigning roles, consider who would do the best job most quickly based on their experiences and who has motivation to develop skills related to each goal. If possible, match a member with experience with someone who is seeking it.
If time is short for the initial meeting, not all roles need to be assigned for all deliverables, especially if the project is long-term or intricate, but the first steps need to be assigned and a time to select the remaining roles set.
By setting expectations in a strong Initial Group Meeting, your project will be positioned to be efficient and rewarding. Group members in a well-functioning group can gain experience, knowledge, and maybe even friendships. When pressures are reduced by clear organization and support, groups can find that their project is a source of pride, and that they gained, individually, experience that will make each following group a bit easier.
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