How do I get my group members to concentrate on their task rather than sidetrack into conversations about unrelated topics?
It is always good to have a little bit of small talk at the beginning of a group meeting so everyone feels relaxed. However, it is important that this only lasts for a few minutes and then the group gets focused on its task. The best way to achieve this is through a well structured meeting. Your meeting should have a chair (someone in charge of the meeting for the week) and you should have an agenda. The agenda needs to have all the issues which need to be discussed, plus scope for other business. If there is persistent digression by several members, this is a point at which a person assigned to the role of observing and reporting on group process can comment that the group is currently having difficulty focusing on the task, and invite members to speculate about what might be contributing to this. Once there is agreement on this the group may well be able to address the problem and then return to the task. If it is a single person regularly talking about unrelated topics, it is import
