Preparation for Leading a Group

Abstract

This chapter has two purposes. First, to identify why preparation for leadership is essential for effective groupwork and to outline how this may be done. Secondly, to provide a framework in which practitioners can place their developing confidence and skills in groupwork. This framework is offered because each new experience takes social workers into both familiar and unchartered territory. Previous assumed mastery may feel questionable or the demands of a new situation may fit uneasily with old routines. The new task may lead to or be part of a more fundamental questioning of previously held beliefs and values and will provoke hopes and preoccupations. The skills and expertise, once confidently taken for granted, may be thrown into question to such an extent that groupworkers may be unable to practise as confidently as they had been accustomed to. Indeed, groupworkers may find it difficult to identify the skills, knowledge and experience they are bringing to and their relevance for the task.