Kavita Rikhy
As a beginner to group relations, the eGRC workshop was an enlightening experience both from the perspective of hearing from experts and reflecting on my experience.. Before the workshop, I found it difficult to understand what to expect and what would be expected of me. My mind was like a clean slate which was going to be painted through this first experience. I vividly remember a question in the pre-conference survey, which was “United & Divided we stand: Leadership, Authority, Political Identity, and _____________”. After this conference, I felt it could be filled with “Empathy”, “Values” and “Humanity”.
The workshop started with quick introductions of the consultants and staff. I expected to gain some understanding about the structure of the workshop and the roles we should play in the conference. Later I realized that the conference was self-driven with little familiar format. During the initial Small Study group (SSG) there were a number of people to interact with. The discussion started with hearing about participants’ opinions about their political affiliations and their current beliefs. The discussion became more heated; participants started picking on others and sharing strong reactions to other’s comments. Some participants responded by taking a back seat in the discussion. There were instances when I felt attacked for sharing my opinion and not providing details about my reasoning for the comments I made. I felt that their reactions stemmed from the difficulty in getting more information from me to clarify their understanding about what I was saying. Their curiosity was thwarted. The session ended with an overwhelming feeling of not being able to express myself completely because of my increased discomfort arising from the conversations.
After an intense discussion in SSG, we moved to the large study group (LSG) to discuss our views. During this session, participants also shared their views on how the discussions in SSG impacted them. During the break time many participants came to the breakout/networking room, where participants felt comfortable to share their feelings/emotions with participants other than those in their closed SSG Group. Some wished for more time in the SSG to understand the discussions better.
During another session named as PAJC, the group had 5-6 participants. In my group, all the participants were different than those in the SSG, which provided a better comfort factor to share my opinions openly. Also, I felt that the initial sessions were stepping stones to set the expectations of the participants. The expectation setting made all of us value each other’s opinions and thoughts in a better way. There were experienced group relations participants in my group and they were very open to hearing from everyone including participants with no group relations background. Everyone shared their opinions about their political affiliations, and leadership. I was glad to know that I was looked upon as a leader who can value everyone’s strengths and knowledge while operating collaboratively. Some participants had biased opinions about white participants, in terms of their comfort with them as a leader.
At the end I believe this conference made me more self-aware in terms of how I operate in a group environment, how well I can receive criticism and how I can get my voice heard without hurting anyone. I also felt that the consultants were not helpful in changing the direction of the discussions. I do understand that the consultants do not guide or instruct in these conferences. More reflections will come into my mind as the time passes by. This was an enriching experience. The fact that I could meet great people across the world virtually and built some great connections is incomparable.